Like the title of the thread?
My library got in a new book about zoos so I got it out for a read. It is called "Thought To Exist In The Wild" and it turned out to be an anti-zoo book (it's subtitled "awakening from the nightmare of zoos", which is a bit of a giveaway). It's a book where all zoos are death-camps and all zoo-keepers are evil monsters. Author Derrick Jensen ("Called the philosopher poet of the ecological movement" says his probably self-written bio in the back) is one of those people who live in a world where animals aren't shot or put down: they are murdered, executed or assassinated. Now, I'm more than willing to criticise zoos if need be, as I'm sure probably well over 95% (99%?) of the members of this forum are, but I really find it difficult to understand how someone can have such a vehement hatred of anything (zoos, race, religion...I'm sure its all the same) that it blinds them to everything including their own deluded stupidity. Its hard to imagine how these people even function in everyday life.
Some selected quotes from the book's text:
"A zoo is a nightmare taking shape in concrete and steel, iron and glass, moats and electrified fences. It is a nightmare that, for its victims, has no end save death." -- page one (and, so readers get the point, repeated word for word on page seven)
"Its not entirely accurate for me to say that ancient zoos contained "tremendous numbers" of animals, just as it wouldn't be entirely accurate for me to say that zoos today contain "tremendous numbers" of animals. Zoos don't contain numbers at all. They contain animals, individuals one and all." -- page two
"Zoos are deadly, with "stock turnover" of between one-fifth and one-quarter of the animals per year." -- page five
"Standing in the zoo, I wish I had a gun [....] to end the bear's misery." -- page 129
Other amusements in the book include the lengthy treatment of how animals were captured and killed by Romans, how they were captured and transported in Hagenbeck's day, etc, all accompanied by the not-discrete implication that the same occurs in the zoo world today. In fact its stated that zoos today still obtain their gorillas, elephants, rhinos, etc by heading out into the wilds and gunning down the adults in order to steal the babies.
I was likewise amused by the "[sic]" that follows every quoted "it", "what", "which" or "that" which reduces the animal to an object instead of a being. Or this, on page 6, "The zoo's director of animal care [sic] and conservation [sic]...". The whole book's like that.
On page 15 Jensen goes off on a bizarre tangent about his internet **** viewing habits, using explicit comments that I for one wouldn't want any kid of mine reading.
Perhaps not surprisingly "This book was turned down by numerous commercial publishers."
Was the most entertaining thing about the book that fact that there is an endorsement from the drummer of "Grammy-nominated rock band Fall Out Boy" on the back cover? You bet it is.
My library got in a new book about zoos so I got it out for a read. It is called "Thought To Exist In The Wild" and it turned out to be an anti-zoo book (it's subtitled "awakening from the nightmare of zoos", which is a bit of a giveaway). It's a book where all zoos are death-camps and all zoo-keepers are evil monsters. Author Derrick Jensen ("Called the philosopher poet of the ecological movement" says his probably self-written bio in the back) is one of those people who live in a world where animals aren't shot or put down: they are murdered, executed or assassinated. Now, I'm more than willing to criticise zoos if need be, as I'm sure probably well over 95% (99%?) of the members of this forum are, but I really find it difficult to understand how someone can have such a vehement hatred of anything (zoos, race, religion...I'm sure its all the same) that it blinds them to everything including their own deluded stupidity. Its hard to imagine how these people even function in everyday life.
Some selected quotes from the book's text:
"A zoo is a nightmare taking shape in concrete and steel, iron and glass, moats and electrified fences. It is a nightmare that, for its victims, has no end save death." -- page one (and, so readers get the point, repeated word for word on page seven)
"Its not entirely accurate for me to say that ancient zoos contained "tremendous numbers" of animals, just as it wouldn't be entirely accurate for me to say that zoos today contain "tremendous numbers" of animals. Zoos don't contain numbers at all. They contain animals, individuals one and all." -- page two
"Zoos are deadly, with "stock turnover" of between one-fifth and one-quarter of the animals per year." -- page five
"Standing in the zoo, I wish I had a gun [....] to end the bear's misery." -- page 129
Other amusements in the book include the lengthy treatment of how animals were captured and killed by Romans, how they were captured and transported in Hagenbeck's day, etc, all accompanied by the not-discrete implication that the same occurs in the zoo world today. In fact its stated that zoos today still obtain their gorillas, elephants, rhinos, etc by heading out into the wilds and gunning down the adults in order to steal the babies.
I was likewise amused by the "[sic]" that follows every quoted "it", "what", "which" or "that" which reduces the animal to an object instead of a being. Or this, on page 6, "The zoo's director of animal care [sic] and conservation [sic]...". The whole book's like that.
On page 15 Jensen goes off on a bizarre tangent about his internet **** viewing habits, using explicit comments that I for one wouldn't want any kid of mine reading.
Perhaps not surprisingly "This book was turned down by numerous commercial publishers."
Was the most entertaining thing about the book that fact that there is an endorsement from the drummer of "Grammy-nominated rock band Fall Out Boy" on the back cover? You bet it is.
. Boof you're more than welcome to kick him in the nuts- as long as I'm far away from this angry author when you do it!