On 8/22/06, Sandwichman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 8/22/06, Carrol Cox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The search for a "simple" (one phrase or one sentence) description of
> the difference between animals and humans continues to be frustrated.
I'm sure that other animals are much less impressed by human technical
achievements than humans themselves are or than they
anthropomorphically suppose other animals to be. So maybe the main
difference is the value we place on the difference.
I published Susie Day's latest yesterday:
<blockquote>Just in time for the 5th anniversary of the World Trade
Center disaster, scientists have discovered that United States
citizens -- alone out of every other people on planet Earth -- possess
qualities identifying them as homo sapiens.
The finding was announced today at the Center for Global Disaster, a
Washington-based conservative think tank. Dr. Richard Shrapnel, Head
of the Center, termed the finding a paradigm shift. "I'd bet my
opposable thumbs on it," he stated.
Called a "real morale booster," this discovery is seen as one of the
few victories to be snatched from the jaws of massive foreign policy
defeat. "Our research funding was cut, due to mounting military
expenditures," Dr. Shrapnel explained, "so we at the CGD were reduced
to watching hours of TV war news and reading the tabloids. Again and
again, we saw Americans embodying nobility, reason, self-actualization
-- traits that we think of as human. Conversely, non-Americans --
Iraqis, Lebanese, Palestinians, for example -- appeared not to have
these qualities. We were stumped. Then, one day, we looked at each
other and realized we held the key to Western Civilization: United
States citizens are human beings! All the other nationalities are
just people wannabe's!"
Researchers immediately set out to test their hypothesis by
interviewing typical Americans on the street.
"For cryin' out loud," exclaimed Marine Sy Plunderton, on leave and
visiting Ground Zero. "I spent two years in Iraq -- any moron knows
people there aren't human. You can tell because when they die, we
don't care. What more proof you want? Hey, you think I should get
this framed wiggle-picture of the Statue of Liberty? Look, she's
crying."
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/day210806.html></blockquote>
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
