What's an alligator to do?

I fear the American public is descending into a series if mind-numbing, stupid combats between morons, idiots, and haters. This latest online "expose" reveals the basic lack of knowledge of the real world, existence of primeval hatred of the "other" and willingness to either denounce or reasonably approve of the exact demands of nature. Mr. Darwin, amongst his many other other contributions to human knowledge, first clearly declared the doctrine of "survival of the fittest". This doctrine was then transferred without the the necessary adjustments to apply to the entire human race. Hence social Darwinism arose in the 19th Century and held considerable intellectual sway until the early 20th Century.

The fall from grace of social Darwinism is rightfully the topic of more extended essays than this. The kernel of this essay is that the forces of nature must not be neglected because of a misunderstanding of what should be called "human privilege". Stated another way, humans have the misguided sensation that all things should bend to human will and human "superiority".

A derivative theme, here, is that there are people ready to congratulate misfortunes of other people, because the former group considers, correctly or incorrectly, that they have been wronged by the second group. So the following issue: alligator eats boy illuminates the fallacies and HARM inherent in the response to the linked tragedy.

A recent case in point was the death of a toddler, who was allowed to slip inside a fenced enclosure and then was mauled by a gorilla. The gorilla did not act with evil intent; the gorilla merely acted as a gorilla. Does one hate cats because they play with their prey, sometimes before killing them? Why the should the gorilla have been murdered for doing what came naturally? Here is where the "human privilege" issue raises its ugly head. The fault in this gorilla case belongs firmly with the parents who failed to follow both the cautions of the posted warnings and ordinary "common sense". In this case case the gorilla was sacrificed because of human carelessness and neglect. This does not excuse the parent(s) from their guilt due to lack of diligence. Would those same parents allow that two-year old to walk across a highway by itself? No. So why does this situation differ from allowing a 2 year-old to get inside the enclosure of a dangerous beast? If you criticize the parents for allowing the child to cross a highway, then logically, you should criticize the parents for negligently exposing the child to obvious danger.

In the Disneyworld scenario, the situation was less clear, regarding the dangers potential in an inland pond far from coastal waters. I do not fault the parents for this occurrence. However fault does reside in Disneyworld's duty to protect the public.

But this is not why I am posting this essay, or at least only part of the reason for this post. The commentary following the reportage of the incident takes an ugly turn, for which there is no excuse, NO EXCUSE, for the apparent jubilation of non-whites over the unfortunate catastrophe sustained by a white toddler. What possible difference does it make in the tragic loss of life here because the victim was white, rather than of color? The tragedy would be equally sad if the child was non-white. This "us-versus-them" mentality must stop. We must cleanse out society from this hatred.

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but good luck. I try to stay off shit sites and out of their comments when I do go. Other than that, I got nothing.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Meteor Man's picture

over at The Weekly Sift:

One thing I have noticed, though: In previous mass killings, there has been a “We are all …” meme. “We are all Americans“, “Je suis Charlie“, and so on. But one measure of the power of LGBT prejudice is that nothing similar seems to be happening this time. There is no “We are all queer” meme.

And

I’m reminded of a criticism made by a character in the Richard Condon novel Winter Kills about a fictional president who resembles JFK: “He went to Germany and said ‘I am a Berliner’, but he never went to Mississippi and said ‘I am a nigger’.”

(Fair warning- further downpage the link also contains a defense of Hillary's email kerfluffle and Clinton Foundation scandal) https://weeklysift.com

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

lunachickie's picture

There is no “We are all queer” meme.

No, but there's a metric fuckton of other togetherness memes. Unless you've stayed away from Facebook or Twitter for the last week, you should be seeing them. It seems like the writer there is looking for a specific word--queer. He doesn't see it, so it assumes that there are no other memes that are appropriate enough to convey togetherness?

That seems really shallow. And yes, it is definitely interesting, all right, but it makes me want to throw shit at it. Particularly when it also reinforces the Hillary is IT!! crap and tries to make light of her email server exposing state secrets.

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Meteor Man's picture

Got fed up with FB and have never done twitter. I have never been impressed with the entire "we are all (fill in the blank). That's why I used "interesting".

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought it was shallow. I used to enjoy the Weekly Sift until the Hillary coronation. Same problem with Political Animal and one of my favorites, Hullabaloo.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

riverlover's picture

Odd? We are ALL odd? We don't give a f^&k about your lifestyle unless you cross the line to murder or mayhem? We are all not alligators, save for ed? We are happy not to be at a Disney resort? WTF is going on in Orlando? At least the airport train runs on time. Watch your step...

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

stevej's picture

The fault in this gorilla case belongs firmly with the parents who failed to follow both the cautions of the posted warnings and ordinary "common sense". In this case case the gorilla was sacrificed because of human carelessness and neglect

The fault lies 100% with the zoo. Kids run off and go where they shouldn't - it is what they do. There should have been no way that any kid should have been able to get into the enclosure.

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

but as a responsible parent it is your job to watch them.The bigger question is why do we have zoo's in the first place it's just prison for animals not much different than prison for people. Btw the pond the boy was in had no swimming signs posted and it was after dark.

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stevej's picture

that Zoos are a bad thing - absolutely no argument there.

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

Raggedy Ann's picture

I'm pretty sick of this zoo one and blaming that mom.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

featheredsprite's picture

Are you serious? Has there been any jubilation anywhere over the death of this child?

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

riverlover's picture

And OMG another Orlando tale of woe, will there be one every day hence?

I had not read the child was white.

I have no love of Disney, Inc. and they have a major PR and Liability problem now. I never had a desire to take my kids for a line-filled expensive vacation to Orlando. My college son went several times while in Daytona Beach. I wonder if those surrounding hotels cleared out today? Not looking.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

but I've been told by friends who are native to Florida that almost every body of water has a potential alligator in it. And when I was last at that airport I remember looking down at a pond from that train and wondering how many were in there.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

it's called instinct. You go to the zoo, the mall or any place in public with a little one you don't take your eye off of them. They are unpredictable and fearless! It's common sense!
Living in the South you have to be aware that any lake or large pond might harbour a Gator. It's what you know when you live here. Even the swimming pool in your backyard...better check before you jump in.
A gorilla was killed and a child died because of the negligence of people who should know better.

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" El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. The people united will never be defeated "

Both my sons attended college in Florida. My parents, in laws, and grandparents lived there. I have been there many times. I have seen small gators in drainage ditches. They are everywhere - the state is a swamp despite Disney, Busch Gardens, and the Gold Coast. There are gators on campus at UF. My son told me yesterday that when he lived in Florida, he was told, if there's a puddle, it could have a gator. To think that a toddler is safe after dark in the water in a freshwater lake, well, that would be a grave mistake.
Disney is on the hook for not signing, specifically, that gators were there and to stay out of the water, especially after dark. (Lots of out of state tourists requires better warnings.) If the gator will eat your chihuahua or kitty cat, it will eat bigger more precious living things, too. They can eat grownups if they are big enough or hungry enough.
Sad face.

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riverlover's picture

Death by animal. Death of animals. Wait til the wolves return. And the bears. Colbert was right.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Are you serious?

Safety precautions so lacking that a SMALL CHILD can get into the gorilla exhibit? That's NOT the parents fault. You obviously don't even have kids.

The gorilla incident was ENTIRELY the zoo's fault. EN.TIRE.LY.

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Bulldawg's picture

People were happy because it was a White kid?

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“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” - John Steinbeck

Haikukitty's picture

is one I feel very strongly about. We continue to act as if we are separate from "nature" and at war with it, when the reality is that we cannot survive or exist without it. Is a child being killed by an alligator a tragedy? Of course it is. But tragedies happen in nature all the time. I'm not trying to downplay the truly heartrending loss of the child's family. But we have to stop seeing humans as above and exempt from the laws of nature. We can't keep nature in a safe little box.

And speaking of boxes, there should be no zoos with caged enclosures. There is a case to be made for having rescue-based reservations, like the Big Cat refuge that takes in large felines who have been kept as "pets" or mistreated in traveling caravans. They cannot be released in the wild, so giving them a refuge to live in is a kind thing to do. But zoos are something from the past that need to go away now. Just as we no longer ship indigenous peoples overseas to be displayed in human zoos (thank goodness!), it's time to stop taking wild animals out of their habitats for the amusement of humans. The animals now in zoos probably must remain, as they are no longer "wild" in any true sense. But zoos should be phased out as animals pass away. Especially these rinky-dink zoos as amusement parks. I remember going to Hershey Park, and making the mistake of walking through their "zoo" - where I saw a beautiful Lynx pacing back and forth in an approximately 10 x 20 foot concrete enclosure, with no greenery whatsoever. I have a soft spot for cats, big and small, obviously, and I just started crying and had to leave, so, I didn't see how the other animals were being housed. But I imagine that Lynx wasn't an exeception.

Some commentors have said it's 100% the zoos fault that the toddler got into the gorilla pen. I don't totally agree with that, as apparently the toddler had been repeatedly saying he wanted to get in there with the gorilla, so it's not like the parents were unaware of his interest. But I certainly agree if you are going to have a zoo, the animal pens should not be accessible by any spectators, large or small. For the protection of both the visitors and the animals.

This same human privilege mentality causes us to take over all of a species habitat, then punish that species for invading our suburban lawns once they have nowhere else to go. It's not the animals that are the invaders. There are ways for us to live comfortably while still allowing space for the rest of the natural world to exist, but we sure aren't doing so at this point.

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gulfgal98's picture

nearly my entire life. Alligators are everywhere in any body of water including drainage ditches. A couple of years ago, I saw a four foot gator walking through my neighbor's yard and the nearest water was nearly a half mile away. I have even seen gators swimming in salt water along the north Florida coast.

Generally gators are not dangerous to adult humans, but they will snatch small animals from the shores of lakes. From what I have read about the toddler at Disney is that the family was at an outdoor event near the lake and the child wandered too near the shore when the gator grabbed him and drowned him. While there were signs saying no swimming, there was no sign warning about alligators. Most tourists have no idea just how prevalent gators are throughout all of Florida.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

she sent me a picture one day of what she thought was a little tiny baby lizard. Ha, one look at the thing and I could tell it was a baby gator, and when she remarked that it kept snapping at her, it was even more obvious. Her dad has a pool that is completely fenced in, but the hole in that fence was big enough those little ones could get in there.

Disney does need better signage for that, agreed. I guess they don't want to scare the tourists by reminding them just how close to real nature they are so they don't make it a big deal, but they should. I know I read one time that a gator pulled an adult woman who was jogging into water and I think it killed her. Since it's common knowledge in the state, they really need to be better about that. Put a fence around it too.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur