>"My worry is that the ease of putting such horrid things in children's
>books desensitizes little readers. As a whole, we should be moving
>to fight things like this....
Move to fight things like video games that encourage the player to shoot,
maim, and kill other *people*, and rack up points for doing so. But
don't shield kids from the facts of nature (OK, so hippogriffs aren't
real, but you know what I mean).
Think about it: Most kids go through a "dinosaur stage" when they just
want to read about dinosaurs and collect dinosaurs, and talk about
dinosaurs. This happens pretty young (ages 6, 7, 8...) And what
dinosaurs do they usually think are the coolest? Not the nice plant
eating Brontosauruses, but the ferocious meat-eating Tyranosaurs, and
raptors, and pterodactyls. At least, when I went through my dinosaur
stage (many many many years ago), that was what I wanted to know most
about.
My favorite animals to read about and learn about and watch on TV (thank
you Marlin Perkins!) while growing up were predators - wolves, mountain
lions, etc. I *knew* that they had to kill other animals for food, and
that the prey animals did not particularly like the idea of being lunch.
This did not make me desensitized and heartless. The natural world is
what it is. Did you know that cheetahs (and probably other predators as
well) sometimes start eating their prey before it's decently dead? Talk
about heartless!
Kids are likely wiser than we give them credit for, as long as we don't
shelter them and keep them in a fantasy world where all creatures play
nice together and well, yes Johnny, some animals have to eat other
animals, but we don't have to think about it and can pretend it doesn't
really happen or that it happens in the nicest possible manner....
>Even though many will say it is just a course of nature - some
>animals eat other animals - could you imagine if Buckbeak ate dogs?
>And Hermione was throwing dead dogs to him? That would be seen as
>distasteful and would not be accepted by the public.
Well, if they were dead Chihuahuas, it wouldn't bother me, and they're
even approximately the right size! (HUMOR ALERT - NOT TO BE TAKEN
SERIOUSLY)
>In all, it is hard for many (me included) to read and even harder to see
>animals treated in such a manner. I can't imagine how heartbreaking and
>scary it would be to a child who has a ferret in the family. However, I
>still love the books and will continue to read them. "
Give kids a little more credit. If a child can't distinguish between
fantasy in a movie, and real life, then maybe they shouldn't be seeing
the movie at all.
Tell your children where kibble comes from. Better yet, teach your
ferrets to eat the occasional mouse or chick (preferably frozen-thawed)
and let the child see it if they wish. It's better nutrition for the
ferret anyway, and the kid isn't going to become a serial killer because
of it.
Karen
[log in to unmask]
===================================================
"It's no wonder it takes eighth graders several attempts to pass the
U.S. Constitution test. They are too busy learning about the rights
of homosexual foreign terrorists who are petitioning the UN to condemn
the United States for not embracing an entitlement program for illegal
immigrants who want abortions performed by non English speaking
graduates of colleges favoring affirmative action."-Frank Salvato
===================================================
No trees were harmed in the production of this message, however
a rather large number of electrons were somewhat inconvenienced.
===================================================
If you love ferrets, check out:
http://www.ferretwise.org
My personal site:
http://members.localnet.com/~ricochet/
===================================================
[Posted in FML issue 4542]
|
