Wild Kingdom
I love animals, but my love isn't blind. I like to look my love in the eye. One of the many, barely questioned, ideas about the animal kingdom is that those that inhabit it are somehow morally different than us in fundamental ways. Sure there's violence, but that's just the food chain. It's different than what we do. Human beings, scum that we are, have done things that no other animal would do. We've destroyed the environment. We've wiped out other species. We have wars. We murder our own kind. Have you heard people say this? I know I have.
The thing is that it's dead wrong. Basically, I have three points to make.
One
ALL animals will destroy their environment if their population grows to a certain size. Elephants will eat up every form of plant life, scrape the bark off of trees, and trample what ever is left into dust before moving on to the next spot if the herd is big enough. Predators, if they become too numerous, will kill almost every living thing in their area. The human species is very, very, very populous, and we are reasonably large mammals to have such an immense population. This thing that we've done, taking every natural resource in our environment that we can use, killing it dead and sucking the bones? This is not qualitatively different than what any other animal species does. No species lives in harmony with its environment, it just doesn't have the ability to utilize every factor available to it (except those elephants I mentioned... those guys pretty much just leave a big sandy patch 'o nuthin' when they're done). The difference between human beings and the rest of the animal kingdom here is quantitative. There are a lot of us, and because we've developed sophisticated tools we can take from the environment in ways that other animals can't. We've made more of a mess, sure, but that's not because humans possess some particular quality of evil.
Two
Many animals are violent, cruel, and destructive toward members of their own species. We are not alone in this. A male lion will kill any male cubs that might grow to threaten his supremacy. Chimpanzees will actual go to war with rival tribes and commit acts of ritual cannibalism involving the bodies of the victims. The insect kingdom is rife with examples of war and slavery. Predatory fish, especially those who go mad for the smell of blood, like sharks and piranhas, don't really distinguish between who or what becomes their prey based on species. You might not like to compare us to sharks (notorious villains, according to the musical scores of many nature shows) but they are animals. You could argue that all this is just biology. Something in the biological make up of that species causes them to do these things, unlike human beings, who are just jerks. But recent studies into the human genome reveal that murderers, gang members, and serial rapists may have their genetic code to thank for the impulses that drive them to commit the crimes they do, so you can go ahead and thank biology for that too.
Three
We no longer sleep in trees and shit in bushes. We changed that, we can change this. Don't imagine that this connection I'm pointing out is an attempt to excuse human behavior. I just think that this idea "we must paint the Wild Kingdom as something, good, pure, noble, and true, so much better than us" is a pandering foil to encourage environmentalism. Now, I do not think we should DIScourage environmentalism, I just have a problem with clumsy, obvious lies. We should not need lies to care about and respect animals, or to want to protect their natural habitats. Just like we rose above our previously shitty existence, we can rise above this tendency to rip through everything around us like a soccer mom on black friday too. I have nothing against a power grab, but when it ultimately comes at your own expense, it's time to take a moment and think things through. The problem is that many groups of humans have always worshipped the animal kingdom in some regard. From Native Americans to Ancient Egyptians to Indian Hindus, with a lot of Pagan stops in between, we have seen in them the qualities which we ourselves wish to aspire toward. The present environmental movement is no different.
As a Thelemite, I consider the law of nature to be among my highest values, certainly in harmony with the pursuit of the Great Work and one's True Will. If God made nature, nature is a reflection of God. And people are very, very afraid to take a rational, honest look at that reflection. As well they should be. The reason that this liberal hippie whitewash annoys me is that I also see nature as something to aspire toward, but I want it to be the TRUTH about nature. Not a mask that I put over it to hide God's face, and serve my own fear. What could we, as human beings, become if we saw what nature truely is, and used THAT as a startingpoint for what we need to change, and how we need to change it? If we want to rise above and better ourselves, where does our idea of "better" come from?
"Wherefore, O Zahid, so afraid
to see the Maker in the Made"
-AC Bagh-I-Muattar
The thing is that it's dead wrong. Basically, I have three points to make.
One
ALL animals will destroy their environment if their population grows to a certain size. Elephants will eat up every form of plant life, scrape the bark off of trees, and trample what ever is left into dust before moving on to the next spot if the herd is big enough. Predators, if they become too numerous, will kill almost every living thing in their area. The human species is very, very, very populous, and we are reasonably large mammals to have such an immense population. This thing that we've done, taking every natural resource in our environment that we can use, killing it dead and sucking the bones? This is not qualitatively different than what any other animal species does. No species lives in harmony with its environment, it just doesn't have the ability to utilize every factor available to it (except those elephants I mentioned... those guys pretty much just leave a big sandy patch 'o nuthin' when they're done). The difference between human beings and the rest of the animal kingdom here is quantitative. There are a lot of us, and because we've developed sophisticated tools we can take from the environment in ways that other animals can't. We've made more of a mess, sure, but that's not because humans possess some particular quality of evil.
Two
Many animals are violent, cruel, and destructive toward members of their own species. We are not alone in this. A male lion will kill any male cubs that might grow to threaten his supremacy. Chimpanzees will actual go to war with rival tribes and commit acts of ritual cannibalism involving the bodies of the victims. The insect kingdom is rife with examples of war and slavery. Predatory fish, especially those who go mad for the smell of blood, like sharks and piranhas, don't really distinguish between who or what becomes their prey based on species. You might not like to compare us to sharks (notorious villains, according to the musical scores of many nature shows) but they are animals. You could argue that all this is just biology. Something in the biological make up of that species causes them to do these things, unlike human beings, who are just jerks. But recent studies into the human genome reveal that murderers, gang members, and serial rapists may have their genetic code to thank for the impulses that drive them to commit the crimes they do, so you can go ahead and thank biology for that too.
Three
We no longer sleep in trees and shit in bushes. We changed that, we can change this. Don't imagine that this connection I'm pointing out is an attempt to excuse human behavior. I just think that this idea "we must paint the Wild Kingdom as something, good, pure, noble, and true, so much better than us" is a pandering foil to encourage environmentalism. Now, I do not think we should DIScourage environmentalism, I just have a problem with clumsy, obvious lies. We should not need lies to care about and respect animals, or to want to protect their natural habitats. Just like we rose above our previously shitty existence, we can rise above this tendency to rip through everything around us like a soccer mom on black friday too. I have nothing against a power grab, but when it ultimately comes at your own expense, it's time to take a moment and think things through. The problem is that many groups of humans have always worshipped the animal kingdom in some regard. From Native Americans to Ancient Egyptians to Indian Hindus, with a lot of Pagan stops in between, we have seen in them the qualities which we ourselves wish to aspire toward. The present environmental movement is no different.
As a Thelemite, I consider the law of nature to be among my highest values, certainly in harmony with the pursuit of the Great Work and one's True Will. If God made nature, nature is a reflection of God. And people are very, very afraid to take a rational, honest look at that reflection. As well they should be. The reason that this liberal hippie whitewash annoys me is that I also see nature as something to aspire toward, but I want it to be the TRUTH about nature. Not a mask that I put over it to hide God's face, and serve my own fear. What could we, as human beings, become if we saw what nature truely is, and used THAT as a startingpoint for what we need to change, and how we need to change it? If we want to rise above and better ourselves, where does our idea of "better" come from?
"Wherefore, O Zahid, so afraid
to see the Maker in the Made"
-AC Bagh-I-Muattar