I read the article "Why Look At Animals" by John Berger. A very fascinating and thought provoking piece I must say, once I got through it. For anyone who has been struggling to read this article, here is brief a summary I have written.
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In "Why Look At Animals" by John Berger, he examines the break in the reliance of man on animal and argues that humans have risen above animals with our ability to transcend the limits of earths natural environment. He questions when were animals first seen as simply leather and a pair of horns and argues that it is though the emergence of meaning in language that first separated man from animal. When a man was able to confirm another man, and the animal remained silent, began its exclusion from the human race, and the loss of "the gaze" between human and animal.
Previous to the recognition of the distinctness of animals, humans used them as explanations of the surrounding environment, in fact, the first symbols of language were animals. In a piece written by Aristotle, he argues that animals, like humans, express traits such as gentleness or aggression. However, Berger calls his argument invalid now that anthropomorphism is not a key part to the relation of man and animal, and also states that anthropomorphism was the last residue of the animal metaphor found in early language.
Descartes put the final nail in the coffin of man and animal by writing that man has a body and soul, while animals only have a body. Berger says that Descartes reduced the animal to a machine, with a type of innocence not found in humans because of our spirituality. Soon after, with the industrial revolution, animals were removed from cities and processed in factories like manufactured commodities.
Berger then goes on to describe the sad state of the modern house pet, sexually deprived, sterilized and fed artificial food, modern pets no longer serve any purpose but to resemble their masters. With very little real contact with animals, Berger argues that humans have made up for it by creating animals of the mind such as the quirky Daffy Duck, realistic stuffed animals, and picture books with anthropomorphic characters resembling animals. Pictures taken of animals shows our index of power and how far separated we have become from what was once done organically without artificial creations from man, From that, Berger argues that the life of a wild animal becomes an idea and the starting point of a day dream. Children are surrounded with animal imagery which explains their disappointment at the zoo when the lethargic and dull rhino turns its back. Berger says the animal in the cage with the theater prop decorations no longer has anything to occupy a central place in its attention. The human species has finally isolated itself from animals, resorting to sad zoos and silly cartoons for our dose of nature.
-Inuk
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