The unwritten theme throughout this article, is the unwillingness of onlookers to see or seek out the nuance and grey of the world. No doubt played out through social media where the premise of "circus elephant" can't possibly leave any room for anything less than pure condemnation on these platforms.
Sad, but true. I'm all for preventing this scenario from happening in the future by banning the exploitation of these animals. However, the elephant in the story has been with it's owners for over 40 years now. Maybe it's Stockholm's syndrome, but I wouldn't risk the potential torment to both the elephant and the humans in this situation based on that amount of time. So while they should be able to keep this elephant, they should not be allowed to acquire a new elephant in the future.
Twitter is very toxic. It gives very dogmatic people an oversized cudgel to beat others over with. I wish whatever alternative takes shape for the other side of the aisle that Twitter sidelines, makes an effort to neutralize this effect, but I'm not optimistic. It's too alluring.
When one tactic didn't work, they chose another, then another, then another. Relentless in their thirst for things to become their vision no matter what.
I was heartened by the village public servants serving the public and ignoring the intrusion of these busybodies who had no stake in the locality whatsoever beside some remote association with their "passion". I mean, some big wig like Cher prancing in and calling some French minister to heel. This is outrageous.
You want cruelty of elephants, go to Africa and stop the tusk harvesting --oh, right, they might get shot. It's pathetic what gives these activists meaning in life.
It's ironic even, because their cartoon version of reality is so far out of touch that their desires would often do more harm than good to a particular animal. They treat all animals without subjectivity, forcing them to fit their idealized version of reality... this was made particularly apparent in the article for the rescued elephant at Longleat... where the group "Action for Elephants UK" want to take this 60 year old abused (recovering) elephant from her home of 10 years and transport her to a different country. It's beyond insensitive to just assume this is a good idea.
> Twitter is very toxic. It gives very dogmatic people an oversized cudgel to beat others over with.
Yeah, it's basically a distributed mechanism for organizing villagers with pitchforks and torches to burn witches, throw Jews down wells, or lynch blacks.
I do not think history is going to agree that this was a good idea.
Why can't we just leave these majestic beings alone? :( We have crap ton of stuff to entertain ourselves, why force a 3 tonne animal perform stupid tricks? :( This just sucks
I think the world has changed faster than those in certain occupations can accept. We don't see linotype operators and ice cutters anymore, and it is unfortunate for them that there is no public nostalgia for them, such as there is for ranchers, for instance. Ranchers insist on being able to continue their occupation even though the market and changes in diet have massively shrunk the demand for beef. Ranchers somehow have tied themselves to the American identity to hang on, and there exists a sympathy for them, even if red meat literally kills people. The circus is something that the modern world has outgrown. IMO, every elephant the world over that is still in captivity should be confiscated and set into a suitable sanctuary environment, as well as any large animal that is still used and bred for entertainment, such as the large cats. The cruelty of animal captivity should be made extinct. We can retrain circus workers and zoo keepers to be web developers and help desk technicians.
It was interesting talking to my Indian wife about elephants, for her, growing up on a farm, elephants were primarily a dangerous hazard, not necessarily to life, but they could certainly destroy her father's crops.
It was an interesting perspective since India as a country has some pride in elephants, and Indian Americans such as myself are very proud of India being the land of the elephants, but Indians who live in proximity to wild elephants tend to have a more pragmatic view of them.
Yes, elephants can certainly destroy crops. But proximity is a symmetric concept. The problem has been the massive expansion of our (speaking as an Indian) population (~360 million in 1950 to ~1.4 billion in 2021) into previously untouched areas, not the migration of elephants (and other species) into Bombay, Delhi and Chennai.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 31.0 ms ] threadWhen one tactic didn't work, they chose another, then another, then another. Relentless in their thirst for things to become their vision no matter what.
I was heartened by the village public servants serving the public and ignoring the intrusion of these busybodies who had no stake in the locality whatsoever beside some remote association with their "passion". I mean, some big wig like Cher prancing in and calling some French minister to heel. This is outrageous.
You want cruelty of elephants, go to Africa and stop the tusk harvesting --oh, right, they might get shot. It's pathetic what gives these activists meaning in life.
Yeah, it's basically a distributed mechanism for organizing villagers with pitchforks and torches to burn witches, throw Jews down wells, or lynch blacks.
I do not think history is going to agree that this was a good idea.
After a separation of more than 20 years, they recognised each other
Wow, incredible animals. Make sure to watch the video (linked in the article) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-77wtMxT3-M
Why can't we just leave these majestic beings alone? :( We have crap ton of stuff to entertain ourselves, why force a 3 tonne animal perform stupid tricks? :( This just sucks
It was an interesting perspective since India as a country has some pride in elephants, and Indian Americans such as myself are very proud of India being the land of the elephants, but Indians who live in proximity to wild elephants tend to have a more pragmatic view of them.
There are organizations that are working on more wildlife-friendly farming: https://elephantfriendlytea.com/ as well as on preventing the capture of elephants, see: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54026294.