Dozing polar bear, Indianapolis Zoo

Friday, May 04, 2007

As always

Jon Katz makes me think.
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4 comments:

Jennifer (ponderosa) said...

It seems to me that people are that way about the environment as a whole. Unwilling to let it be wild.

They are going to "enhance" the river here so that it will be more fun for white water rafting. (Of course it needs to be made more interesting for rafters because a lot of water is drained out for irrigation, and some bits are dammed and have been rechanneled.) So earlier the river was deliberately "tamed" and now it's being made artificially more wild. It is all ironic, isn't it?

5/04/2007 4:31 PM
Trailhead said...

That's a really interesting point. I hadn't connected it to that issue, but you may have a good point.

5/04/2007 4:43 PM
kris said...

Hi - just read the Katz article. We watched our neighbors prolong the life of their dog for several more years than I hope I would have been willing to do. Same mentality: look how noble we are to do all this for our beloved dog. Except, the dog's life appeared to be less than ideal - and certainly not dog-like. I can't stand to see people mistreat animals, but I guess it boils down to there being many forms of mistreatment. It is thought provoking.

5/05/2007 9:41 AM
Trailhead said...

The funny thing about Katz is -- and your post kind of reminds me of it -- that he can take a situation in which I basically disagree with his actions and use it to illustrate a larger point with which I'm in complete agreement.

Your post reminded me of this because I agree with what you said, and I think that's the point Katz wants to make, but as I think about this more, I'm not sure Katz does it successfully with the lamb example.

He sets up sort of a false dichotomy in the lamb situation; either you shoot the lamb or you're a miserable bastard who prolongs its suffering for your own ego needs. I do think the neighbors probably went a bit far, but only if Katz's observations about the lamb's health after all the treatment were accurate.

Katz is one of those writers I can't quite resist, but about whom I harbor a certain skepticism. But he always makes me think, and I cannot get enough of his writing about his farm.

But I find it interesting that he may be doing all the wrong things, but people may be drawing the right conclusions from what he does anyway.

5/07/2007 12:10 AM

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