InSolace
This thread shows a grand example of humans projecting human behaviours and expressions onto an entirely different family of mammals. This is a wild
animal deserving to be wild. Haven't we effed enough with felines and canines?
This goes out to all the "you don't care about Quokkas" anti-domestication fanatics, not just Solace (whom I happen to agree with).
First of all, everybody chill. No one here is going to go out and actually procure a quokka for domestication and start dressing them up in little
hats and crap, emasculating the entire marsupial subspecies until it's completely dependent upon human support for survival. Why do we always have to
be so cynical and serious and hysterically antagonistic about things that ought to be simple and joyous on ATS? What's wrong with simply appreciating
the quokka's profound natural cuteness for a moment?
I know ATS is a serious forum intended for serious debate about serious issues, and I 100% understand and agree with you and your perspective
(Solace)... but that doesn't mean I don't find the quokka to be an admittedly adorable creature that I
wish I could develop a friendly cuddly
companionship with. I'm not actually going to go out and do it, because I am well-aware that I would not be acting in the best interests of the
quokka. But does innocently fantasizing about it with others on the internet make me really so evil or insensitive an individual?
Does the awareness of the fact that the quokka is in a serious existential predicament mean that we should not openly admit that we, as compassionate
& empathic human beings prone to moments of brief infatuation, find the quokka adorable and perhaps even desirable as an animal companion? We're only
talking about the little guys, in a purely hypothetical sense, on the internet. Sometimes human beings just like to enjoy the natural allure of
their wild animal neighbours. Especially bored humans who use the internet.
If one cannot find happiness & joy in occasionally appreciating the earth's natural environment & wildlife from an objective observational standpoint,
then what is the point of subjective beauty? This was intended to be a quokka
appreciation thread, not a subjugation rally & call to arms. I
wish for all the prosperity, happiness and freedom that life and mother earth can fairly provide to the cute little sentient critters! And I'm sure
(probably) everyone who has posted in this thread feels the same way, deep down... but, if by chance someone here does not share such benevolent
sentiments towards a creature as cute as the quokka, then that is only an indication of their own toxic lack of emotionality & dormant psychopathy -
not their base human nature.
We're not all insensitive brutes just because we find the quokka adorable & indefensible. That is not the problem. The problem is that not enough
(effective) social awareness of the REAL issue has been raised (being the ecological destruction of the quokka's natural habitat(s) & the quokka's
unfortunate predator epidemic) - not the domestication of this gorgeous marsupial. Half the people here (myself included) didn't even know the quokka
existed until they read this thread/article, so how can you expect them to understand the precarious situation of the species? If you have the
knowledge and the will and the energy to assist the quokka, then by all means go for it! Tell us everything you know. Protest in the streets. Lecture
us til we fall asleep. But don't turn on your fellow man for finding this creature cute. I mean how can you blame us? The quokka
is
ridiculously cute.
Besides, they're going extinct because they are not being adequately protected from the collateral repercussions of modern civilization's
ecologically-negligent expansion and unapologetic exploitation / pollution of earth's natural resources, coupled with a pandemic of social
indifference and human apathy; not because fellow ATSers are snatching quokka's out of the Western-Australian bush! Domestication is a serious issue
for serious heads to debate; but it's not what's killing the quokkas.
So... chill.
Anyway, that's enough thinking & writing for one day. This is meant to be a quokka thread, not an 'Ethics of Animal Domestication' debate. I didn't
share this so that we could argue. You were supposed to smile
at least the quokka
looks happy. They certainly look a lot happier than the
average human being, that's for sure.
Peace. Namaste.
edit on 23/2/2014 by TheAnarchist because: ~