Should an animal raised as a human be treated like an animal?

If you're reading this you must be wondering what on Earth I'm talking about. Watch the video below and you'll see what I mean.

In my opinion, this is the most confusing form of mental torture a person can inflict on an animal. Taken out of the habitat of his biological parents at birth, Nim would have had no concept of chimp life or culture before he was brutally forced back into association with his own kind. But were they really

his own kind?

Picture this: You are the adopted child of an Australian family and yet your biological parents are Japanese. You learn to communicate through sign language with those around you and can associate with the other children in your Australian family, forming a strong familial bond with them despite your visual differences. Then suddenly, you are pulled away from all that you know and forced back to your country of origin where no one understands you, and you understand no one.

How would this experience make you feel? Alienated, alone, confused and betrayed?

I imagine that going through this would be unbelievably emotionally and mentally scarring, even for us intellectually higher beings who have proven time and again that our bodies and minds can overcome incredible amounts of trauma. But how could a young chimp overcome this?

Chimps are one of man's closest ancestral relatives. Their brains and bodies have the capacity to one day be on an equal level to that of present day Homosapiens. It is popular theory that the nature of man is made up of (and is ever changing because of) culture, technologies and their influence. This man made world was all that Nim knew before the lead scientist decided to abort "Project Nim." What evidence is there to say that the nature of chimps is not comprised in exactly the same manner as that of man? How can we expect Nim to instantly discover his true chimp nature when placed among them again after having no recollection of his biological family or seeing another chimp? It is practically the complete reversal of the story of Tarzan, only with the addition of brutal animal testing utilizing hundreds of syringes and triggering the onset of Hepatitis. I really do question where the humanity in that lies. An extreme superiority complex in the value of ourselves over any other living being is clearly visible here. Animal testing is already protested by many, but this use of Nim, referred to as "the Chimp who would be human" is to me just as unethical as the use of humans for testing if not more so. At least a human could have a say.

Nim died 20 years earlier than the life expectancy of a Chimp in the wild. His life was cut significantly short by the utter lack of humanity displayed by the scientists who were responsible for his well-being. Scientists continue to exploit animals in such a way even now. Today, man looks back at the past and realises how many cruel and unforgiveable things they have done in the past. I can only hope that in the future we can look back on the numerous acts of animal cruelty we have inflicted and acknowledge these mistakes in the same way.

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Social networking.....is it really "social"?

Social networking has become a major aspect of a lot of peoples lives these days. It's not suprising that someones daily routine involves checking their facebook/twitter/google + at least a few times. What happened to the old school methods of communicating with each other you ask? Have we just gotten too lazy to call each other? Or actually make the effort to individually invite people to an event, instead of just creating an event on Facebook?

Social networking, contrary to what its name suggests....can actually have the effect of making its users actually less social(in the physical sense).



Does sending messages, posting on friends "walls", really count as being social? To answer that question, we need to define the word "social". Here are two definitions I've found:

• Pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations
• Seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious. 

Key words such as companionship and relations, do tie in with social networking. So in my opinion, social networking does keep us social, just not physically....which isn't really a problem. The internet has evolved to a state where it can be used as an avenue for quick and easy communication with friends, whether they are across the other side of the world, or they live next door.

But social networking can get old and boring. Which proves that there really is no replacement for physical, face to face socialising. The simple things such as, seeing someones facial expressions does a lot to change the experience of socialising, and this is what these websites lack.

But it's come to a stage where, if you don't have a social networking account, you have no idea what's going on in your friends lives, you're completely shut out. Then comes the peer pressure, forcing you to create an account, and then you find yourself being a part of Facebook, and joining the trend. At least until the new fad takes over .......

..... -coughgooglepluscough-

Maria, over and out.

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Media

“Media”. A small word that is associated with considerable amount of power. The power provides them with the ability to change and influence our thoughts, views, opinions, and perspectives. They can make us fall in love with someone and detest the existence of something/someone. As you are reading this, you might be agreeing with me or contesting my thoughts. You might think that people are not that naïve to be so easily influenced by what we are told by the media.

Think about it again.

We see/read/listen to something on the news and believe it without question. The media tells us a story and how often do we actually question, “Wait a minute, there might be another side to it.” We are given one side of the story and we BELIEVE that it is the full story. But, do we actually KNOW?  Every morning/afternoon/evening we are informed about the big attention grabber, “BREAKING NEWS”. Have we ever considered that there might be significant news out there that we were not informed about? And I am using the word ‘we’ because I do the same thing.

Lets consider the power of the Media:

Consider the Schappelle Corby’s case (apologizes to everyone who is reading this and is not from Australia). Who doesn’t know about Schappelle Corby’s case in Australia? If you have lived in Australia for the past 6-8 years, you probably do know about this case.

This case involved an Australian importing drug into Indonesia. The media, when this matter initially commenced, had portrayed Corby as innocent. It was constantly and overly emphasized that Corby was not guilty and was just a victim of the circumstances. This was made a national issue, where a “simple, sweet Aussie girl” was just travelling with friends for fun and got caught in such a big misunderstanding. This portrayal heavily contributed in initiating a movement that insisted Corby’s freedom and return to Australia. As the case progressed, it was ruled in court that Corby was guilty of possession of drugs.

Media portrayed Corby as innocent.

On what grounds did the media conclude that she was not guilty? It was just hearsay. The media’s portrayal of her being innocent resulted in millions of Australian believing she was innocent.

The media made this is into a national issue where nation pride was involved. This evidently resulted in grabbing every Australian’s (okay, so maybe not every Australian, but most Australian’s) attention, resulting in them watching all the interviews and piece of news related to the case. Even I remember watching news about Corby. Even I remember believing that she was innocent and the Indonesian officials were harsh and lacked understanding.

Whether it was the interview of Corby’s mother or Corby’s best friend, Australians watched/listened/read it. Even the slightest thing that was related to Corby grabbed people’s attention.

In my opinion, this piece of news was not as significant as it was portrayed. Rather, this piece of news was made important by the media. It was used to increase the reader/viewer/listeners because a large audience meant more people were viewing the advertisements, which meant attracting more advertisers and charging existing advertisers further.

This portrayal of Corby’s case resulted in influencing everyone’s views. Despite Corby’s sentence, many still believe that she is innocent. This is a great example of the influence that the media has.

Lets consider the influence of the media in other example:

Prior to the Commonwealth Games in India, all media channels in Australia (again, apologizes to those who do not live in Australia) had continuously shown one thing over-and-over again. This was that India was not prepared to host the Commonwealth (Cwlth) Games as the infrastructure was not complete, there was a lack of security, and existing infrastructure was inadequate. This resulted in some athletics not participating in the games because they were concerned about their personal health and hygiene.

Commonwealth Games India

My question is that were the Commonwealth Games in India a success or not? Were there any reported health or safety concerns for the athletics or tourists that relates to the above issues?

Did the media personals every post a retraction apologizing to India and all those workers who worked day and night to ensure the comfort of the “guests” in their country?

No.

The influence of the media in this case was so significant that tourists and athletics were not going to India. Do you still believe that the media is not so powerful and influential?

Okay, so why am I telling you all this. Well, I am just asking you to consider the other side of the coin. When the media informs us of something, do not automatically assume that it is set in stone. Do not use the glasses given by the media to see the world.

I apologize and thank all the journalists out there who are true to their profession and are focused on presenting the world with facts. It is only because of you people that the news is actually newsworthy.

I thank all of those who actually read this post. If you have different views, have suggestions or comments then please do voice them…

Thank you

=)

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"What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?"-A Perfect Circle

Why do we have wars? As far as my understanding reaches (which may not be as extensive as some) the top reasons for war these days involve:

• Religion
• Conflicting political views
• Greed for resources and money.
• Opposing cultural positions

So admittedly, every country and state has their own motivation for declaring war, but really, what price do we put on human life? There are few religions that whole-heartedly promote the deaths of others, and yet mass murder continues to be committed in their name. Our media and education system have pushed the concept that democracy is the best political system, and yet the fear of the individual's freedom of choice has led to the illegalisation of many political parties and has ignited many conflicts between states. If we accepted and attempted tolerance towards the ideas of the "others" of the world many of the current wars occurring could be avoided. And even so, what end is accomplished through continuous bloodshed other than one of hate and vengeance?

Soldiers are paid handsomely to voluntarily risk their lives and take the lives of others, but there are no rewards for the victims of these wars, especially those who are caught in the cross-fire. The utter hypocrisy of the 1st world government organisations is astounding. In America and Australia, extremely harsh disciplinary measures are put in place for committing murder or manslaughter, including capital punishment and life long gaol terms. However, a single soldier employed by the government can kill twenty or more opposing soldiers, and countless civilians then be hailed as a hero and a patriot to his people. In my opinion, all human life is precious human life. All should have a right to live regardless of skin colour, beliefs or any tax payer provided, cash prize incentive offered for murder. 

This cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" is a thought provoking video by A Perfect Circle.

And now, in modern day the more "civilized" nations, those with money, who wield political, economical and military power plan to create machines with which to fight wars with. As if America's possession of atomic weaponry capable of destroying the world isn't scary enough? Now there is the potential for a new kind of warfare, one which targets the weaknesses of the global technological divide and has the power to crush developing countries into submission. 

http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1991/b319819.arc.htm 

It seems as though governments are adopting techniques which work against the idea of peace and toward the most efficient way of bringing death to others without causing harm to their own people. This attitude, on a micro scale does seem selfless and patriotic, but on a universal scale it is forcing others apart, bringing even more death and breeding hate and vengeance. If this is what the governments of the world continue to strive for, I cannot help but question why we choose such cowardly, blind people to lead us into the future. 

Make love not war <3

-Renee

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Why do you volunteer?

It was just last week, when I overheard, (I wasn’t eavesdropping :P) this girl telling two other girls how ecstatic she was that she got picked to volunteer for a charity program in Cambodia and how excited she was to go. I was happy for her as well, only until she said she applied mainly because it would look good on her resume and that would give her an added advantage when applying for jobs…
The reason people used to volunteer was to genuinely lend a helping hand to the less fortunate than them. Evidently things have changed.

Why don’t people have the genuine need to give back to community without expecting anything in return, be it rewards or recognition for their efforts? What happened to giving without expecting in return?  It’s true that what we put into the world has a powerful influence on what we receive, but that doesn’t mean we should expect because we give. The less we expect, the less we are disappointed.

Nothing can compare to giving whole heartedly, as Maya Angelou put it “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”

The whole point of voluntary work is to help another person, why volunteer at all if you’re looking to help yourself? The whole purpose is lost. Almost everything people do today is for personal gain. Whatever happened to being selfless?
Giving without expectation is easier said than done, but it makes a difference in the heart of the giver :)

“What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given” -Francois de La Rochefoucauld
I’m sure many of us would have volunteered at a charity at some point in our lives?
So why do you volunteer?

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