I have a hard time understanding human behavior

[MannyGoldstein]

I'll start by stating that I'm hell-a-grumpy, in bed with a fever.

IIRC, roughly 1,000 impoverished children die around the world each day from dehydration due to diarrhea. Almost 100% preventable with sanitation and medical care that would probably cost less than one F-35 "fighter" jet. Almost never see that info on the Internets, right?

Yet, a voracious carnivore gets shot by some nitwitted dentist, and a torrent of grief pours out across the world. People's hearts are torn apart and said nitwit is forced into hiding.

Do we need to put lion costumes on impoverished children to fix this insanity?

(Yeah, I'm guilty too. Someone please tell me where to send a check or how to otherwise make this better, thanks.)

[AngryAmish]

1. It is a social display.

In religious groups, it is external displays of piety.

[virtualobserver]

2. If we were shown pictures and video of these children dying on a daily basis.....

maybe this would get fixed.

The news organizations are nothing more than greedy businesses and they show us shiny things and sell us products.

For a couple of days, that poor lion was an "interesting" story.

[Zorra]

3. We need to collectively learn how to teach our children to respect all life.

This is a part of the beginning of the process of how we make this better.

But you already know this, you got that quite awhile ago.

[Angry Dragon]

4. This is my take on this

Most people feel powerless in society today
How can they feel they can save 1000s of dying children??
However, they see one person that they perceive as being cruel and they can do something about one person ........ just my take on the world today

[hifiguy]

17. Agree100%

It's not something that is institutionalized and protected. The anger feels more effective.

[Rex]

5. When you make homeless, impoverished, abjectly poor people famous and noteworthy

let me know how you did it. Currently, nobody cares enough to make the destitute famous enough to warrant a strong social change by us and the PTB.

Also, nothing will come from the lion being killed...just like nothing will be done to end world hunger, thought the means and money are available and waiting to do so.

[Adrahil]

6. The spectacular is always more remarkable than the mundane.

100 people dying in a plane crash is front page news.

500 people dying by the twos and threes in car accidents are a statistic.

We see it in our culture all the time.

It is a human technique to both avoid going insane, and have an excuse to not change.

[geek tragedy]

7. 1. 230,000 people on earth for every lion in the wild.

2. he wasn't just any lion, he was a big tourist attraction that drew people to Zimbabwe as well as being a part of that country's natural heritage. So this was a very real crime against not only a lion, but against the entire country of Zimbabwe.
3. It's symbolic of the exploitation of Africa by rich sociopaths from Europe and North America

[LostOne4Ever]

12. This!

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]There are also only ~30,000 lions left in the world.

Soon there won't be any.[/font]

[840high]

23. yep +100

[REP]

33. Thank you

But don't think reason is going to get in the way of anyone's posturing. This is simply too good an opportunity for some to let us know how very very much they care.

[ronnie624]

50. Addressing point #3,

some reporting by US media on the diamond mines and cocoa plantations in Africa, would much better demonstrate modern Western exploitation of the African people and their resources. Some footage might be particularly effective at illustrating the injustice of it. However, through their advertising dollars, the diamond and food industries exercise considerable influence over media companies. The selective 'reporting', couldn't be more obvious, to me.

[Cleita]

8. I think it's because this lion was Zimbawe's pet.

It had a name and a fan club. People are reacting like they do when some asshole shoots the family dog. In my county the authorities have killed three cougars that I know of in the last decade because people saw them. Fortunately, most of them are elusive enough to stay hidden. The big cats seemed to have been hunting ducks in a lagoon that was close to recreation spots. No one has lifted an eyebrow. The cougars attacked no one. I see them occasionally moving through the brush. This country is part of their range, something the real estate agents fail to tell prospective buyers of ranches or vineyards here.

I feel bad every time it happens, but no one gives a damn because I guess they are nameless wild animals trying to survive.

[Prism]

9. Being angry about a lion costs us nothing

It's free and anyone can do it. Posts on Facebook, Yelp, message boards? Free, free, free.

Police brutality and oppression? Costs money. Involves paying attention to politics, getting up to vote, donating to the right candidates.

Kids in another country dying? Costs money. Not only money, but potentially our money that should be going to our kids!

We behave this way because it's an easy infusion of moral righteousness, a costless self-esteem high - the best kind. As Amish said above, a display of piety.

It's what social media are absolutely best at (and very nearly little else).

[n2doc]

10. Maybe we could send folks out to make videos

since 1/2 of America seems more concerned with fetuses than the children they might become.

What one person do you suggest we hound into hiding over diarrhea?

And you might educate yourself as to the scope of the problem. 1 F35 won't do it. Clean water and hygiene is an enormous problem for billions. Dropping some water purifiers into villages won't cure it.

[kwolf68]

11. More lectures

Why don't you send us a list we should be outraged about. Then we'll be outraged. People react how they react. At least those of us on this side care. And it's not like we DON'T have real feelings, concerns and even put our time and money into those things you mention.

What's the point of pitting cause against cause? It doesn't bother you, then go help those impoverished children.

[Flaxbee]

16. There you go. This isn't a competition, or whose cause is more worthy. I think the despair

some feel is from wondering why humans are so violent, and what sort of mental illness makes a person enjoy the stalking and killing of another sentient being.

Why are humans eager to hunt when, for most, there's no need to?

Why are humans wiping out all non-human creatures on this planet?

Why are people so violent?

Why do 50% of trophy hunters come from the US? Why do Americans fetishize guns and the senseless killing of any living being?

I just couldn't take one more thing yesterday: those two boys missing while out sailing, sad for their fear and most likely loss; that an 8 year old girl's body was found in a dumpster in California (I think it was Ca), and that some mentally ill dentist paid to kill, skin and behead a magnificent creature.

I understand why children die - corporate greed and Republican and religious idiocy over birth control and food and medical aid to the needy worldwide.
I don't understand the insanity that is trophy (or any non-necessary-for-immediate-survival) hunting.

[GoneFishin]

42. You cover a lot of good points here.

[The2ndWheel]

44. "Why are humans eager to hunt when, for most, there's no need to?"

The resource concentration mechanism we call civilization is still a relatively recent thing. It's tough to get hundreds of thousands+ of years of adaptation out of the system. We're still tribal in a globalized world too. This website being just one of many examples.

[Flaxbee]

47. I know - that we call ourselves civilized is really quite ridiculous - whether

we're disproving it through trophy hunting or trumped up fearmongering campaigns to get us into wars for profit, or oohing and ahhing over ivory trinkets.

Tribal, indeed. Programmed, yes. I just wish our so-called mental prowess could triumph over the base instincts of fear, greed, and violence.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

13. More than 7 billion humans left, fewer than 30000 African lions left.

Each African lion represents something like the equivalent of 233000 humans dying, or roughly 2/3 of a year's worth of dead humans from diarrhea.

And now they're also saying in some reports that up to 2 dozen of his cubs will probably end up dead as well, without him to protect them (although in other reports, they only say 6, and I'm not sure what the disparity is there.) If it is 2 dozen, that would be what, around 6 million human's worth of lion population?

Scarcity gets more news.

[Lizzie Poppet]

14. It's not an outrage competition. There's no first place trophy.

[Dont call me Shirley]

15. I'm outraged about all of it Manny. Humans need birth control. Lions need fertility treatments.

Psychopaths need help fixing their fucked up thinking and feelings.

[DeeDeeNY]

18. The Carter Center is out there helping

And a worthwhile organization to donate to -

"A leader in the eradication and elimination of diseases, the Center fights six preventable diseases — Guinea worm, river blindness, trachoma, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and malaria in Hispaniola — by using health education and simple, low-cost methods. The Center also strives to improve access to mental health care.

These efforts have brought to resource-limited countries better disease surveillance and health care delivery systems. Because communities often are burdened by several diseases, the Center also is pioneering new public health approaches to efficiently and effectively treat multiple diseases at once."

Jimmy Carter's humanitarian work doesn't get publicized enough

[MannyGoldstein]

19. Thank you!

I'll check it out.

[MannyGoldstein]

21. I just made a small contribution

I feel less curmudgeonly already!

Thank you!

[DeeDeeNY]

22. That is great!

[Facility Inspector]

20. Hakuna matata, bro

[Cassidy]

24. A way to make things better.

I loan money to individuals around the world through an organization called Kiva.
http://www.kiva.org

For only $25 you can contribute to a loan for a person or group of your choosing. When you are paid back, you can get your money back or you can re-loan that money to someone else.

There are a wide variety of things for which people request loans. You may be interested in searching on their loan page for "water", "drinking water", etc.
http://www.kiva.org/lend#/?perPage=20&queryString=drinking+water&countries%5B%5D=

There is even a DU team already on Kiva!
http://www.kiva.org/team/democratic_underground

I also agree with things that were said above, i.e. lions being driven to extinction. Also, as humans, we respond more readily to individual tragedies, individual need. This is also a reason why kiva can be a little addictive. It is individuals helping individuals, rather than addressing a tragedy represented by statistics. (I love statistics, but they don't affect peoples' hearts or heads in the ways I wish they would.)

I hope this suggestion helps.

[MannyGoldstein]

30. That's great, thank you!

I'll look into it.

[Flaxbee]

48. And here are 7 organizations that are trying to preserve big cats in the wild, if your urge

to contribute leans that way:

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/honor-cecil-7-lion-conservation-organizations-support.html

[RufusTFirefly]

25. Thanks Manny. Get well soon!

Based on your test results, it looks like your prognosis is good.



Oh. Wait. That's the racing form.

[MannyGoldstein]

29. Why thank you Dr. Hackenbush!

I hear that you're a specialist... a veterinarian!

[HFRN]

26. so you're ok with what happened to Cecil nt

[MannyGoldstein]

27. Yes, that's what I wrote.

[HFRN]

28. says a lot about you nt

[REP]

31. The need for posturing is puzzling, isn't it

Children were dying before Cecil was killed. Why weren't you bothered enough before now to post about them?

[MannyGoldstein]

32. I have. nt

[REP]

34. And that's why you know the name of child-aid organizations?

Funny that. Not my issue and I can name five.

[RufusTFirefly]

35. I'm not sure what your point is, but it doesn't seem very constructive

People travel different paths and take different journeys. Regardless of what triggered it, Manny's increased sense of urgency should be good news for everyone I should think.

[REP]

40. Uh, why?

Why is it "good news" that the deliberate misunderstanding of a news event has led someone to tell us they want to "send a check or something" to do something about something else? If one was really moved by the plight of childhood deaths in developing countries, one might do a little research into which organizations are actually helping; how to get involved; etc and pass that info along rather than wanly request where to send a check. That's literally the least one can do - besides write an empty post.

[Surya Gayatri]

56. For those with pontifical propensities, this platform is too much to resist...LOL!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapbox

The term is also used metaphorically to describe a person engaging in often flamboyant impromptu or unofficial public speaking, as in the phrases "He's on his soapbox", or "Get off your soapbox."

[Bobbie Jo]

36. Well

One can always "send a check" or something.

[MannyGoldstein]

41. "sending a check"

Could anything be worse?

[The2ndWheel]

37. How many people get more upset

when their family pet dies of old age than when a child dies half way around the world because of the lack of this or that? I'd say most people will react that way.

Why this particular lion? I don't know, maybe because it has a name? Maybe because it's a simple story? Maybe the reaction is one of those random things that just happens? There was a post a few days ago about hundreds of whales being slaughtered on a beach. I doubt it got the same reaction as this lion.

If you're looking for a no doubt about it answer to a question about human behavior, good luck with that.

[lumberjack_jeff]

38. I figured it was because the lion had a name, but then again, so do the kids.

It's like a weird kind of anthromorphism, where we turn animals into people, only better.

[Unknown Beatle]

39. It wasn't just any lion that was killed.

It was a well known beloved lion. Lions get hunted and killed constantly, most of the time legally, nary a peep. But, if someone kills a celebrity lion, the shit is definitely going to hit the fan.

So there ya go, Manny. It wasn't just any ordinary run of the mill lion. That's why people are up in arms, figuratively speaking.

[GoneFishin]

43. Off topic. But I wouldn't stop them if they extradited the guy to Zimbabwe to be hunted while

forced to wear a Zebra costume.

[MisterP]

45. by that same logic we should be caring more about the adults dying than the 2-month-olds, nu?

adults have great hopes and dreams and feelings, while infants just know how to focus their eye and grab onto things: mice can outwit 'em

money may be a finite resource, but by definition empathy can't be

[snooper2]

46. 1st World Problems, trying to win an argument on a random website when your spouse is asleep

I'm in video mode so how about one of the best female singers of ALL TIME!

[applegrove]

49. Fevers often lead to less delusional thinking. You are

a great example of that today.

[Change has come]

52. what a strange response.

I don't understand this.

[applegrove]

54. When people are in a fever...they often perceive things with more clarity. I read it somewhere.

Sometimes those mid fever rantings are right on.

[AtomicKitten]

51. There's plenty of outrage in this world to be had. We just have to deal with it the best we can.

[joshcryer]

53. Outrage requires a tangible, often single, target to blame.

The state of clean drinking water access and sanitation is extremely complex, due to in part colonalism, and due to in party USAID, and due to in part corrupt governments, and due in part to lack of education and cronyism.

There's no one to point fingers at.

This is why we have outrage threads about crap like TPP which in reality matters little on the scheme of world suffering.

First world problems.

[Juicy_Bellows]

55. I think we both have enough ire to go around.

Topic du jour syndrome i suppose. Feel better, try the vichyssoise. Cheers!