Note to viewers: No wild animals were killed during the filming of this video.
I watched this video on You Tube after seeing it featured on a new ABC show last night I accidentally stumbled over (the name of which I don't remember, nor care to). But this is a remarkable study of Nature at work and, undoubtedly, incredibly rare footage of the dramas played out daily around the world.
But then I went to the computer and replayed this video for Mrs. Dada. And while viewing it a second time it became something more than just some study of natural adversaries, it became--for me--a metaphor for this nation's current struggles.
While anyone can derive their own unique comparisons of this struggle between lions, crocodiles and buffalo with our own national drama between terrorists, our leaders, and we 'the herd' as it frighteningly unfolds week after week, I took inspiration from the buffalo.
This angry, emboldened "mob" gave me a few moments of hope that we, as Americans, could maybe become buffalo, too, someday. That the young buffalo calf therein represents our own struggling, still young nation among the herd which, if exercised, actually has the power to save it!
No terrorist crocodiles or blood thirsty pack of DC political lions can prevail over us if, as a herd, we challenge all these bastards. But to do so, we must first realize we have the numbers and therein lies the power. We must then step outside our mindset as lemmings, act as a herd of buffalo, and come to the aid of our "baby."
8 comments:
I saw this story on " i-caught", kind of a TV version of youtube. That was amazing footage- and a great analogy you made. That baby buffalo looked doomed, until the herd banded together & kicked ass. Maybe there is hope after all?
Hi, Dada
What an interesting video. Sorry we missed you at La Fonda. Mrs. Joven's conference was actually AT La Fonda, so we naturally we had to partake of that great NM chile to be enjoyed therein!
As for the metaphorical significance of the video one can, in a way, identify with the buffalos in terms of the "volk" vis a vis the guv'mt in DC. And yet, in my zoo walks I notice how people ooh and ahh over our cute little tiger cubs. So how about the little lion cubs in the pride who didn't get anything to eat due to the buffalos' righteous behavior? One can at least see the "sporting" nature of the lions' hunt. NPR had a feature today on the "walled-off" hunting phenomenon, wherein defenseless and "enclosed" animals are "hunted" into oblivion by non-hungry humans with high-powered rifles. Mentioned also was the obscenity of "internet hunting" whereing a guy (a guy,of course) targets his prey on a computer screen, "shoots" it, and is then sent the carcass head to be mounted on his wall. Several states allow this, including Georgia, a place filled with self-righteous indignation over the Michael Vick dog fight abuse. So I'm left with wondering as to which animal's behavior, the buffalo's or the lion's, is the metaphorical equivalent of "us." As for the crocodile, that animal also had mouths to feed back in the swamp. Well, one thing's for sure, the anthropomorphic metaphor certainly stimulated me to check out Dada's blog in more detail. And to recall the Hatch bounty to be had in the high desert.
Eljoven
I'm glad you put the disclaimer about no animals being killed or I couldn't have watched the video. I'm still not sure the little calf was OK since the lions would all have been working their teeth into veins (not the mention the crocodile clamping down), so I wonder.
Although I like your analogy, Dada, I agree with Eljoven about the lion's need to eat & the predator's importance in any viable ecology. I can't recall the exact quote from "Out of Africa" when the author witnessed a lion bringing down a live meal. Her african guide said something like, "do not be angry, Sabu, she is a lion". On a safari when the author actually beat back a lion who was trying to take one of their pack animals, the guide was also pragmatic, saying something like "now this lion will go hungry tonight, Sabu".
Without ascribing natural felid or crocodilian behavior to our DC pack of criminals, I agree that we could all learn something from the water buffalo's power as exercised in concert. However, I confess complete ignorance about Eljoven's last line about the "Hatch bounty". Can you illuminate? ~~ D.K.
Ok, ok, I'm glad my analogy evoked challenges. That's great. As I stated in the blog, "anyone can derive their own unique comparisons of this struggle" and, obviously, you did.
Yes, I'm sure as cute as the little fuckers George Bush or Hillary Clinton are as young cubs, are we to feel sorry for them if they don't feast on one of US tonight? Would they starve? Would Hillary shrivel into a bag of bones and perish if she didn't eat the weakest among us? No.
But if allowed to thrive by picking off the weakest of the herd day in and day out, how long until that weakest one is us...and is next? How long until the entire herd is decimated and vanishes? (Not so much in the balanced 'natural' world, but more in the unbalanced unnatural world we now find ourselves.)
Maybe that's why I chose to equate the buffalo with the members of the biggest, innocuous herd here, the American people. Hence my pride in watching the normally passive buffalo rise up against their historically aggressive, carnivorous adversaries.
D.K. As to Eljoven's reference to the "Hatch Bounty," I'm not exactly sure what that means, unless, springing as he and I have from a world of hyperbole, i.e., "The Lemon Capitol of the World," we thus have a fondness for places like Hatch, "home of "The World's Best Chile Pepper"?
LOL, point well taken, Dada! Yes, I'm sure georgie was a cute tyke, nutured on elite entitlements, who grew up to dine on the free bones given him by a complaisant public.
However, something banged on my brain & sent me to Wikipedia about the African Buffalo. It is responsible for more human deaths & injury in Africa than any other predator! Even lions normally avoid them, unless they can grab off a small isolated herd member. I hope that bit of knowledge doesn't shatter your image of them. I enjoyed seeing them kick ass because it demonstrated there is power in numbers.
Oh, if only HW & Babs had gone on safari with little georgie way back when. Their parenting skills being what they were, I'm sure he would've found himself isolated & in some hungry predator's stomach before the moon rose over the serengeti. If only!
ps, hyperbole is not to be underestimated ... someplace has to house the world's best chile pepper ~~ D.K.
Watch Lil'Bush on Comedy Central to see all of them as young cubs.It's a VERY funny show!
Nice post & comments!
great post...I like anything that makes us look at our lot differently and see the challenges in a different light....and we need to learn how to fight back and if that is a lesson we can learn from Buffalo- then so be it....but the Buffalo - the Herd KNEW when to fight for their Young....and that matters...it is a valid lesson.
psycho: Thanks for the reminder. I've been intending to ck. out Lil'Bush but am always forgetting.
enigma: Thanks, while it would appear from earlier comments herein my analogy leaked like a sieve, it worked for me too.
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