I’m talking, of course, about the child falling into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Watch this video and tell me it doesn’t chill you to the bone.
It absolutely boggles my mind that people are so outraged at the zoo’s decision to save this child’s life by killing the gorilla. Is it sad? Yes, of course it’s sad, I’m not heartless. But this situation came down to one of two outcomes – either the child lives and the gorilla does not, or the gorilla lives and the child does not.
I’m pretty sure there’s not a third possibility – animals will do what animals are created to do. Animals do not have the ability to reason or come to logical conclusions. They are emotional creatures who exist on instinct – it’s an instinct to survive. We have no way of knowing if this gorilla perceived this child as a threat, or simply as a play thing. WE. DON’T. KNOW. ITS. INTENTIONS. All we know? There was a child in a habitat with an unpredictable animal and shooting it with a tranquilizer would not effectively stop it from harming the child. A tranquilizer would take precious minutes to take effect, it would just take a moment for the animal to throw the child up against the rock wall and smash his skull.
People’s sympathies are so screwed up nowadays. Where is that same anguish and heartfelt outrage over terrorism? I’ve said this, and I’ll keep saying this – being politically correct will kill us someday. Where is that same anguish and heartfelt outrage over abortion? Just because we can’t see the fetus doesn’t mean it’s not there.
But getting back to this gorilla episode. Do you really value the life of an animal over a child? Really? For real?? This situation came down to the gorilla or the child. You’re going to sit there, with a straight face and rational mind and tell me that you would choose the gorilla? Because an alarming amount of people have done just that.
It was a life-and-death situation. Knocking the gorilla out would have taken too much time. The boy was THERE, in the CAGE, with the animal. Defenseless. Terrified. No one to help him. You’re really going to tell me that it would have been more humane, more compassionate, to save the gorilla and not the child?
Stop blaming the parents. Kids get away from us. It happens. Even the most diligent parent can’t watch his/her children 24/7. It’s impossible. I’m quite certain the parent didn’t tell the child, “now, I’m going to turn my back for just a second, that’s all you have, a second, and then I want you to crawl under that fence, (or however the child found his way into the exhibit), and go play with that animal.” Children get away from us. They are not mature enough to grasp dangerous situations. They are programmed to be curious, their sense of caution hasn’t developed yet. Now if the parent(s) had forgotten the child and were an exhibit over, or it could be proven, (key phrase here), that the parents let the child run wild through the park and didn’t discipline, or consistently rein the child in and/or control the child, that would be one thing, but you can’t blame parents who blink one second and find their kid in a dangerous situation the next. ALL parents go through this. It’s one of the many mysteries of parenting – children will be children. So to call for these poor parents, who have already been scared our of their minds into almost losing their child, to be punished for an action they had no control over is ludicrous and cruel.
Over the last couple of days, we’ve been treated to another round of our trademark National Outrage. People have been creating petitions and venting their seething rage on social media. A Facebook memorial page was immediately created, with a picture of Harambe accompanied by the caption, “I was someone, and my life mattered.” Heartbroken citizens planned a candlelight vigil. Others left flowers at a statue of the beast, borrowing a page from the pagan animal worshipers of ancient times. Some protested outside the zoo, claiming the gorilla should not have been shot. Scores of others have echoed this sentiment, insisting that Harambe was only very gently dragging dragging a child around his cage like a rag doll.
We are living in the days of neo-paganism, where legions of depraved souls seem only capable of mustering compassion for wild beasts. As for human beings, they feel only contempt and indifference.
Write From Karen 