Re:A gorilla who was brought up as a boy in an English village
by ewmiller on Monday February 08, 2021 @05:48PM
(#26071347)
I think you can acknowledge the evils of the circus during that time and still also acknowledge that a gorilla is far stronger than most adult men, and more difficult to reason with should it get angry or violent.
Re:A gorilla who was brought up as a boy in an English village
by bredren on Monday February 08, 2021 @08:31PM
(#26072751)
This worry over the potential for harm was the justification used in the killing of Harambe.
Re:A gorilla who was brought up as a boy in an English village
by camjohnson26 on Monday February 08, 2021 @09:13PM
(#26073073)
Humans have been exhibited in this way too in exhibits praised by the scientific community. The practice only died out after the horrors of the holocaust made scientific racism unfashionable.
The low point may have been the New York zoo displaying a black man in a cage with monkeys in the early 1900s. The black clergymen who protested were shut down by the city’s mayor. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo
My immediate reaction is horror at the unspeakable cruelty of selling a person - a participant in society - into caged slavery in the circus. Imagine the feeling of confusion and betrayal he must have felt. Imagine the trauma from suddenly having personhood privileges withdrawn. I don't see any justification for that. The article rather lightly glosses over the gory details of that shameful episode.