Man is a Reasoning Animal

Salvation Army – A Protestant international charitable organisation based in London

Wapping – A district in London

Regular readers will know that usually at the end of each blog there is a quote and sometimes the quote is relevant to the story. Today it’s the other way round. I trust that you will humour me as I indulge in what is a personal pet annoyance. Maybe a little philosophical, but read on and if you don’t already know about the extraordinary animal relationships featured at the end they will make your day.

“Man is a Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal…. In truth man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals can easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I had taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace even affectionately.

Next in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary and as soon as he appeared tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China and a Brahman from Benares. Finally I added a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping.

Then I stayed away for two whole days. When I came back to note the results the cage of the Higher Animals was alright but in the other there was a chaos of body odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh…..not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a higher court.”

Mark Twain, letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings.

We live in times of conflict and division. It’s June 2022, the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation is over 100 days old and counting, thousands are dead, and the destruction is beyond comprehension. In America, the divisions are so high that the Democrats and the Republicans can barely agree on which day of the week it is. In the UK over 40% of the governing party has voted to indicate their dissatisfaction with their party leader the Prime Minister. Across the world violence, disease and poverty reign, usually the result of selfish, incompetent politicians who having promised their electorate the Earth and turn out to be just another group of corrupt, lying, self seeking, disagreeable con artists.

There are of course moments of good news where we come across examples of devotion to duty and commitment to the welfare of our fellow human beings. Generally, however, the human race shows that it is incapable of living even with its own species in harmony. Compare this with the ability of animals to show that they can live together quite happily even without having any ability to verbally communicate and only display predatory behaviour as a result of needing to provide food for survival.

And the difference between humans and animals?

Animals’ lives are not hindered by the twin scourge of politics and religion.

If God is looking down surely he must be in utter despair!!

As for politics, I have long held the belief that anyone who wants to be one should be automatically barred and all serving politicians should spend 3 months a year working in care homes, hospitals and similar institutions. There they will learn humility, compassion and an understanding of how people less fortunate live. Furthermore, they must show that they can adequately manage for a minimum period of one year on a salary that does not exceed the level of state benefits available to someone in their particular circumstances.

The electorate should undertake an exam to show that they have a reasonable level of intelligence, are not racist, sexist, homophobic, extremist or show any of the disagreeable traits that plague society today.

Of course, this is all make-believe and won’t ever happen. So having shown how stupid the Reasoning Animals are, now a few examples of the superior behaviour of the Higher Animals.

In many homes around the world dogs and other animals regularly co-exist with cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, pet mice, ferrets, rabbits and cage birds and on farms with many species of animals including horses, cattle and sheep.

In many countries dogs happily associate with indigenous animals.

Some relationships have become internationally famous and have given zoologists a rare opportunity to study this behaviour. Among the most bizarre are Roscoe the coon hound and Suryia the orangutan and just as extraordinary Bubbles the elephant with Bella the dog. Not just because of what appears to be an “unnatural” relationship but the sheer joy that these animals generate as they take so much pleasure in each other’s company.

Having said that, what is natural or unnatural? Only what humans consider it to be and truthfully we have an abysmal record when it comes to relationships both with our own species and others.

Not for the first time I ask why don’t we learn from the animals that we subjugate?