Brad:
> I have not followed this advice myself, but
I
> do believe that urban persons (us Laputans...) should,
> at least once in their life be made to do things
> like kill and skin the animal they eat
> for dinner, etc. Experientia docet (hopefully!).
> do believe that urban persons (us Laputans...) should,
> at least once in their life be made to do things
> like kill and skin the animal they eat
> for dinner, etc. Experientia docet (hopefully!).
A few years ago, when still in high school, my
daughter wrote an essay on how the animals we eat are processed in feedlots and
slaughterhouses. The whole business is truly ugly. But then we
are omnivores, and there are billions of us. We need our
meat. There's no time for the kinds of apologetic little ceremonies
man the hunter felt he had to perform.
Ed
> > Can simply *popping* a pretend pistol at a TV screen raise IQ?
> > Perhaps. It may also be good for ducks and geese and other wildlife
> > because if we can imagine we are shooting them we may be less inclined
> > to go out and really shoot them. But there is something that disturbs
> > me about this. Might they not begin to think that we are becoming
> > docile and harmless like the guy going *pop* in front of the TV screen?
> > During recent years, we've had more and more Canada geese occupying the
> > green spaces along the Ottawa River. Pussycats have begun to disappear
> > from outer suburbs located near woodlands. Though I think she's gone
> > quackers, my wife swears she has seen ducks sitting on the branches of
> > our maple trees. We now like to think of nature as benign, harmless and
> > beautiful, but when I was a kid on the Canadian prairies we looked upon
> > it as something a little sinister that had to be controlled and even
> > beaten back. Perhaps it really is inimical to our interests, and when
> > it senses that we have let our guard down it begins to move in. En
> > Garde, to the bastions all!
>
> Sounds good to me.
>
> I think that conservation, ecology and so forth needs
> to proceed from a perspective of promoting human welfare,
> not kissing up to The Other Big Being ("Mother Nature").
>
> Maybe I'm wrong in this analogy, but maybe conservation
> is sort of like if I was in the snake-venom business.
> I would take very good care of my snakes, to keep them
> producing those poisons I wanted to harvest (to
> make anti-venom and other medicines). But I
> would not start thinking my snakes were "cuddly" etc.
>
> We often need to turn to our advantage things that
> do not have our best interests in mind (if they
> have any mind at all, which, if they don't,
> makes then "loose cannons on the deck" of [Brownian
> motion in...] our human lifeworld).
>
> Of course, the mindset that meat comes shrink-wrapped
> in the Super Stop and Shop doesn't help persons
> appreciate the threats "Mother Nature" poses.
>
> I have not followed this advice myself, but I
> do believe that urban persons (us Laputans...) should,
> at least once in their life be made to do things
> like kill and skin the animal they eat
> for dinner, etc. Experientia docet (hopefully!).
>
> \brad mccormick
>
>
>
> >
> > Ed
> >
> > > Ed Weick wrote:
> > >
> > > > I really saw this at a local mall, I kid you not! A rather
> > > > stout elderly gentleman was seated in a very comfortable chair in
> > > > front of a large TV screen. He had something that looked like a toy
> > > > gun in his hand. Every few seconds birds would fly up on the screen
> > > > or an animal would jump out of a bush. The man, no _expression_ on his
> > > > face whatsoever, would raise the gun and it would go *pop*. Down went
> > > > the birds or the animal. I guess it served some kind of instinctual
> > > > need, but it was a very strange sight! Very strange indeed!
> > > >
> > > > Ed
> > >
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > This week's New Yorker magazine explains this: It's probably a video
> > game,
> > > and the man is participating in an activity which, societally, is raising
> > > our collective IQ. Yes, this week's New Yorker has a -- rather
> > > convincing, I think -- review of a book that argues that
> > > current pop culture in America is *raising* our IQs.
> > >
> > > On the other hand, if your gentleman friend is
> > > playing an *old* video game -- from the 70s or 80s, then
> > > he probably is not raising his IQ, because
> > > video games were simple-minded back then.
> > >
> > >
> > > \brad mccormick
> > >
> > > --
> > > Let your light so shine before men,
> > > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
> > >
> > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
> > >
> > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > -----------------------------------------------------------------
> > > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
> > >
> >
> >
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> >
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>
> --
> Let your light so shine before men,
> that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
>
> Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
>
> <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
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