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But when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave.


Can you believe that it is time for Theme Thursday already?

Today we are not talking chocolate, toddlers, mess or ignominy. No, today we're dealing with ANIMAL.

Now I could have posted a picture of a possum, numbat, wombat, wallaby or any other furry killing machine that roams our fair isle, but I figure that I'd use a far more deadly creature as an example of an animal.

Some people - I know them as fools - have chosen to embrace that highfalutin idea that human beans are for some ungodly reason superior to animals. Of course, what these imbeciles seem to forget is that were are simple animals ourselves!

Anyone with a baby, toddler, teenage boy or Queenslander in their household could tell you this.

Look at Henry [above]. One chocolate frog in the back of the car on a sunny day and all of a sudden it's Elagabalus meets Bacchus for a quick shandy in the Serengeti and we're down on all fours carrying on like a cat in heat.

Fair dinkum, anyone who chooses to elevate anything as crude, vulgar and imperfect as a human as anything more than a chimpanzee with ideas above its station has obviously never been to Schoolies Week on the Gold Coast!

I postulated previously (1996 previously) that Descartes needed a kicking. My main beef with the preening philosophical pioneer has nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with hubris. He falls into the trap of thinking that we [humans] are better than animals, rather than - slightly (and that's just some of us) - more complex creatures.

For Descartes, animals are purely physical entities. For him, they have no mental nor spiritual substance. Thus, with the kind of arrogance you can only find in the absurd human, he concluded that animals can’t reason, think, feel pain or suffer. My beef with Descartes then is that this bloke reckons that animals are just machines with no consciousness.

You want to kill 'em for fun?

No problem!

Live vivisection?

Good luck with it! [By the way, that screaming is just a reflex response, it doesn't really feel pain.]

So in this sense, Descartes needs a kicking.

Milan Kundera put it best in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. In it, he mediates on Nietzsche and his final break with sanity. Picture it:

"Nietzsche leaving his hotel in Turin. Seeing a horse and a coachman beating it with a whip, Nietzsche went up to the horse and, before the coachman’s very eyes, put his arms around the horse’s neck and burst into tears.

That took place in 1889, when Nietzsche, too, had re­moved himself from the world of people. In other words, it was at the time when his mental illness had just erupted. But for that very reason I feel his gesture has broad implications:

Nietzsche was trying to apologize to the horse for Descartes. His lunacy (that is, his final break with mankind) began at the very moment he burst into tears over the horse.

And that is the Nietzsche I love, just as I love Tereza with the mortally ill dog resting his head in her lap. I see them one next to the other: both stepping down from the road along which mankind, “the master and proprietor of nature,” marches onward.”


So what I want to know is, who's the animal again?

Comments

KL said…
You want my frank opinion and which I think might offend lots of people (perhaps including you since i really don't know you and sorry about that): we should not compare ourselves to animals as I think they are much above us. They do not kill, murder, rape, do all sorts of nonsense, illogical things without any necessity which we do.

Yeah, we might be having some brain power which is helping us to come up with all sorts of science and technological miracles (and of course in the process destroying the world and the climate), but then that so called intelligence has produced lots of so called enlightened intellectuals all over the world who said all sorts of nonsense about animals, women, people from other countries, cultures, homosexuals and they are still continuing.

There is this American comedian Bill Mahr, who has created a documentary "Religious." If you get it, watch it, and you will find the beautiful logics the so called powerful and intellectuals give in the name of religion, very similar to Descartes gave about animals :-).
Patrice said…
Fabulous post - and a great take on the theme. I've been considered an extremist for my views on the treatment of animals, but I don't get it at all. What could be more extreme than watching species die off one after another while we (the ones supposedly in charge - and absolutely at fault) do nothing.

When the final mammal dies off (that'd be us) the planet may finally have a chance to select for something other than narcissistic nihilism.

And by the way - the child is incredible; the photo, amazing.!!
Kris McCracken said…
KL, it doesn't offend me at all. I think humans have the extraordinary capacity for great, generous, intelligent and creative things that clearly make us 'special' among animals.

That said, we also have a capacity for stupidity, cruelty, destruction and so on that again make us 'special', albeit in a far more negative way.
e said…
Excellent points and posting! Happy Theme Thursday and thanks for your comment on my blog. Henry is a handsome kid!
Kris McCracken said…
Patrice, I've always felt strongly about the day to day cruelties against animals that are fundamentally unnecessary. I do eat meat - I am a mere animal after all - but would rather source it from an ethically sound provider if possible.
Kris McCracken said…
E, when he is not yelling at me, he can be quite charming.
Dakota Bear said…
Kris-you went deep and gave us a lot to think about.

Like you say "who are the true animals".

Your son has beautiful blue eyes.
Baino said…
The things that set us apart - warring, cruelty, sexual perversion, commercialism, consumerism, laziness, politics are what's slowly consuming the planet and will ensure that this 'animal' has a very short tenure. I can only hope it hasn't done so much damage that those more gentler spirits can't claw back the world they deserve.

Although Cats and Orca's also kill for pleasure . . .and chimpanzees are masters of war. OK maybe a few should run the gamut of extinction with us!
Ronda Laveen said…
We have a lot to learn from the animal kingdom if we aren't to egotistical to learn. Thank you!
yamini said…
I agree with KL in that human beings today have surpassed (or it should be called degraded) themselves beyond animals. We only have to take a look around us to see how true this view is.
However, on a lighter note, Henry is looking on as if he doesnt have an inkling of what is going on. Look at those eyes....
Smart lad, I must say!!!
Tess Kincaid said…
Excellent post. And amazing that he skillfully managed to keep the chocolate off his clothes!
Brian Miller said…
great post. quote in the title, amazing. your pic makes me think of my boys and the wonderful messes they make, fun. the rest makes me think to hard this early, may have to get back to you on any meaningful opinion. nice play.
Colette Amelia said…
yes of all the animals we are the ones that really have no soul.
Bleu Mariane said…
Unfortunately, I don't have enough english vocabulary to say what I want on this. But, let me just say, wise link (?) between your lovely kid and the theme.
Dot-Com said…
What a great picture. Chocolate everywhere *grin*
Kris McCracken said…
Dakota Bear, I'm still disappointed that he doesn't have big brown eyes!
Kris McCracken said…
Baino, don't forget that dolphins use rape as a form of social control.

I hate dolphins.
Kris McCracken said…
Yamini, I try to maintain faith in the ability of humans to be wise and generous.

It can be hard sometimes...
Kris McCracken said…
Willow, that was amazing. Even getting out of the car and heading to the sink to wash his hands, he did a pretty good job of keeping the house clean.
Kris McCracken said…
Brian, it isn't hard to get photos of kids covered in gunk, is it?
Kris McCracken said…
Colette, well some of us, anyway...
Kris McCracken said…
Mariane, that says it all!
Kris McCracken said…
Dot-Com, just like his mother...
The Clever Pup said…
Very good post. Well thought out.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my site (less thought out)

I have a dog called Jersey because she's the same colour as a Jersey cow.

I see you like Germany. We're a bunch of Germanophiles over at our house too.
Candie said…
OMG!I can picture my son Andy when he will be eating chocolate too!

We are the cruellest animal ever but capable like you said of creative and beautiful things too,but Dolphins along with many are truely clever and kind hearted not cruel at all.
Tom said…
It is true that humans are capable of horrible things, but of course if lizards had evolved to the point we have, they would also be capable of these horrible things...hopefully we are only partway through a grand evolution that will take us beyond these horrible things.
Then we can look at the evolved lizards and go 'tsk tsk'!
Kris McCracken said…
The Clever Pup, I enjoy German food a lot. Very underrated.
Kris McCracken said…
Candie, dolphins are very intelligent, but it does appear that with this comes a capacity of cruelty.
Kris McCracken said…
Runmotman, I heard that lizard people already control the world.
Jaime said…
great post. and i love that picture of henry. i took a similar picture of my son tonight with thin mint cookie all over him.
Kris McCracken said…
Jaime, they are quite disgusting, aren't they?
Megan said…
Wow Kris. After hopping around all day and laughing at your comments, this was an interesting other side to see.

I agree, let us kick Descartes squarely in the ass.

And have some chocolate.
Mrsupole said…
It seems there is good and evil in every species or animal. So we cannot judge them at all. I just hope that the good will always win. You really make us think and Descartes is a fool. Just look at those loving eyes of a dog or cat, other animals, you know they have a soul and can think. They feel. They just are so wonderful and giving.

The picture of your son is so cute. He does have beautiful eyes.

Thanks for this post.

God bless.
Anonymous said…
Excellent post- I didn't know these things about Descartes (arrogant ***!) and Niets (how-do-you-spell-it?- oh boy, i've got to scroll up to check now)- Nietzsche!

I totally agree- animals have senses we don't have, they also don't have malice. As I said on other comments- dogs are being trained to smell cancer cells- and to give warnings of hypos to people with Diabetes. Which is fine, but as your post has eloquently pointed out- animals must have our respect and care.
My dog has a very sunny disposition. She's always happy to see you, always wants to play, loves everyone, and attacks the world with her inquisitive nose. I try to be more like her. She seems open to love, always wants it. I think we have a lot to learn from our pets, perhaps they bring out the traits that we need most? Great post and very cute pic.
Anonymous said…
Descartes rhymes with fart! Coincidence? (at least the way I mispronounce it, probably)

I think the only thing that gives us the impression of superiority over other animals is, we're more like us than they are.
It's totally presumptuous to assume we can tell what life is like through a dog's or chimp's eyes. I don't believe anybody who says they know that.
They could be way more conscious than us. How would we know that? They ain't talking. Maybe 'cause it's not a smart thing to do.

I don't believe in reincarnation, but I once tried to, and sometimes wondered if we had the whole thing backwards. That as you advance spiritually you're reborn as simpler and simpler forms, instead of moving "up" the evolutionary ladder, 'cause the simpler forms can better accommodate a more advanced spirit.
Aaaahhh! It's all hooey anyway. If I was smart as a dog, I'd be napping right now, instead of thinkin' up goofy crap...or would I...?

Good animal day post.
Kris McCracken said…
Megan, I am a man of great contradictions.
Kris McCracken said…
Mrsupole, yes, on this one Descartes looks foolish. It is difficult to accept his assumption if one has had any contact at all with animals.
Kris McCracken said…
Cinnamon, Descartes influence wasn't all bad of course, as KL said, he did contribute to great advances in mathematics and the scientific method. I think that he's lacking with regard to the mind/body distinction and animals.

Nietzsche is similarly an interesting character. It's amazing how many people have misread him (I'm looking at you Hitler...)
Kris McCracken said…
Evening Light Writer, only the foolish would ever really believe that animals don't have feelings.
Kris McCracken said…
A.Decker, indeed it does rhyme with fart. Coincidently, Hegel rhymes with bagel and in his native German, Kant sounds like a very rude word.

I smell a post here...

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