Saturday, June 4, 2016

"Stop Monkeying Around"

Lovely how we humans do things. We invade animals' habitats, build our homes where theirs used to be, then we get upset that those animals are invading "our space" because, you know, we live there now. Living next to a forest I get bears, cranes, turkeys and snakes aplenty running around. I don't want them exterminated or locked away; I just enjoy watching them. They were here first. WE are invading THEIR space but humans are arrogant as well as destructive. 
We push animals into endangered status, hunt them nearly into extinction and then cage them for "conservation of the species".  Unless they're creatures that frighten us or we deem useless. Then we just keep killing them. Too bad we can't do that with humans. We'd need a lot less of those invasive homes. 

Instead we end up with zoos. That's where we take animals out of their natural habitat, lock them up and put them on display. So people can see the nature we are destroying. Maybe it'll help us appreciate how good we destructive creatures have it. 
Most days I think it should be humans caged up instead. 

So last week a kid wandered away from his mom at the zoo, did a Spider-Man routine and climbed a few barriers to end up in the gorilla enclosure. Cost that poor gorilla his life because it suddenly became "is he trying to save him or is he going to kill him?"  I get that part, I do. But, again, I'm all for natural selection. 
Do I think things could've been handled differently? Eh. Maybe. Shoot that sorry excuse for a mom and toss her in there to distract the gorilla. 

Now, here's the thing, we took these gorillas out of the wild for "conservation purposes". We built them a fun little enclosure/home. This kid deliberately climbed into it. He basically broke into their home. So we kill the gorilla. For having his home broken into. Only in America. 
Look, I'm not saying the kid was solely at fault here. He wasn't. I blame his "mother". She works at a daycare facility? And her response is "accidents happen"?!

Seriously?! People trust her with their kids?! Well it's obvious she's never taken her class on a field trip. Leave with 20, come back with 3. "Where'd the rest of the kids go?" Eh. Accidents happen, I guess. 
Accidents like people like her being allowed to watch kids. That seems a pretty terrible accident. With fatal results for a gorilla after her neglect allowed her child to break into said gorilla's home. 

Surprisingly, I've seen people post in her defense. "She did the best she could. You can't watch a kid 24/7...." True. But, c'mon, how about at least long enough for a trip to the zoo? How's that for a start?? 
I know, I know, I may be asking too much. I must be like world's strictest parent. "Let's go to the zoo, kids, but I expect you to not wander into the animals' homes..." But daaaaad! "Nope. Im going to actually stay with you guys and watch you. We will stay together during the whole trip. Like a family." Daaaad. You're no fun! 

Some of the comments are like "this poor lady is punishing herself.." Blah blah blah. "How would you feel if that were your kid?" Yada yada yada. Simple: she's not punishing herself. Her attitude about it says it all. "Accidents happen". Translation: "it's not my fault." Bullshit, lady. It IS your fault. You're the parent so when stuff like this happens on your watch it's entirely YOUR FAULT. 
As for if it were my kid... Simple. It wouldn't be. I actually watch my kids. That's kinda my job as a parent. Hell, I'm sure my kids would be more scared of me catching them trying some stupid stuff like that than they would be of the gorilla hurting them. 
But I'll play the hypothetical game. Let's say that somehow one of my boys did do something like that. You can bet that I'd be in that enclosure right behind them in a hurry. Not to fight off the gorilla but to light that kid's ass up. They'd be begging the gorilla "please don't let my dad find me..." 

We lack accountability these days. I've seen it in many places, not just in this zoo situation. Go to the mall and you'll see kids acting like wild animals. Or Walmart. Dear lord, the people I've seen there! Kids running amuck to the point you want to run them over with a cart and sometimes their parents are just laughing at how shitty their kids are behaving. Makes me want to slap the parents in the head with a bottle of Ajax. "Clean up your damn parenting skills!" 
Since that's frowned upon or labeled assault all you can do is try to avoid the monkey house that is retail stores. I'm a hermit when I'm home and I'm sure my friends sometimes think I'm borderline agoraphobic because I cringe when they invite me places. Outdoors doesn't scare me, modern society does. 

The other day I saw a video on Facebook of some little kid relentlessly beating on his mom. And she's siting on the couch trying to cover her face. I call bullshit. Smack that kid until he's seeing stars. 
That behavior wasn't just something he suddenly started either and you know it. That's years of failing to discipline. To me it's just like with pets. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners. Same with kids. It's the parents' fault. 

Are my kids perfect? No. They're kids. But they're well-behaved kids who should turn into well-behaved adults. That's how child ownership works. 

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