[lit-ideas] Re: A policeman's lot
- From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:50:43 -0700 (PDT)
Julie's daughter aside, contrasting Hitler with Rin
Tin Tin is I'm sure unintentionally ironic, since
Hitler loved dogs and, as we all know, hated people.
And of course he was a vegetarian. That little nugget
aside, humans are as oblivious to each other's
suffering as they are to animals' suffering. Maybe
the slightest bit less oblivious but only if it's not
inconvenient.
There's an old Russian folk song that is beautiful, so
singable, about a captain of a ship who brings a
maiden onboard and is in love with her. His men tease
him about caring more about her than about them. So
what does the captain do? He throws her overboard to
prove his loyalty to his ship and his men. I,
obliviously at the time (early 90's maybe), loved the
song. It was just lyrics, just words. Then one day I
heard, as in really heard, the lyrics. (The same way
I one day heard the song "Dead Flowers" by the Rolling
Stones after a gazillion listenings and was (I know,
duh) shocked at what he was singing about; or Janice
Joplin's Bobby McGee one day hit me upside the head.)
Anyway, just throw her overboard to prove a point.
I'm using the song simply as an example of the way
humankind in general, collectively, has sleepwalked
its way through the centuries and is still
sleepwalking and it seems at this point will never
wake up.
I don't remember where I read this, but animals in the
wild will rarely fight to the death. They will
posture and fight as much as they need to until one of
them runs away. Humans, because of, literally, their
superior brain, can envision the enemy returning, so
they will fight to kill to make sure the enemy doesn't
return. It seems to follow that if humans were
inherently ethical, they wouldn't need ethics.
P.S. I still like Dead Flowers and Bobby McGee (love
Bobby McGee (who's not dysfunctional, right?)) but I
wouldn't be able to listen to Styenka Razin, even if I
had it on C.D. It's on a record and the stylus doesn't
work. That song is just too sad, too filled with
history.
--- wokshevs@xxxxxx wrote:
>
> One more thought: Is the suffering of a non-human
> animal in some way(s) less
> morally salient or relevant than the suffering of a
> human being? If we had to
> choose between alleviating the suffering of one or
> the other in a certain
> situation, why does it seem a no-brainer that we
> ought to give aid to the
> human?
>
> Hitler or Rin Tin Tin? Tough call ....
>
> Walter O.,
> writing from the snakeless province.
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>:
>
> >
>
http://registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=95228&sid=1&fid=1
> >
>
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