Of Bipeds as the Main Terran Parasites

I’m going to start this post with a weird story first (what a surprise? You’re getting used to the way I present things, aren’t you?).

I’m a fan of Star Trek (The Original Series). I’m a Trekker, or as I sometimes like to joke by blending the two possible words to call fans, I’m a Trekkerie or a Trekkier (I like both).

I long to live in a world like the one imagined by Gene Roddenberry. I’m not a total fan of Starfleet, but the Federation is a brilliant idea.

And here’s why I mentioned Star Trek: if we want to survive on Earth, and, one day, be able to go out in space and explore things beyond our solar system, we must stop behaving like parasites.

I’ve always thought that, but the idea of the Federation is what my brain cells were aiming for, without being able to come up with a single name and concept that could summarize my dream. In fact, I remember being shocked by tankers killing coast lines, the lack of elementary ecology in everyday life, and dolphins and whales being slaughtered back when I was as young as seven (and that wasn’t exactly yesterday – though I didn’t go to school with Conan Doyle, either!).

I can feel, like so many people (and a good number of them Trekkers, too), that we need to work together if we don’t want greed to kill us all. *points at the title of this post*

I’ve always felt that way, and I’m not going to change now.

Why am I posting this today, and where am I going?

Well, I could tell you that the numbers of wars (civil and otherwise) or the recent heartless attacks that have been reported from all over the globe made me sad to the point that I started typing, but they’re not what triggered this post (incidentally, I do wish that I could do something to help my fellow bipeds who are suffering, but I’m just too insignificant in the food chain to actually achieve much, but I try to do small things here and there, though).

I think I had a bit of a last straw effect this morning before the caffeine kicked in, and since I started listening to the news and reading the many newspapers from various countries that I devour each day (yep, I am that masochistic… or stupid… or a mix of both) my sadness and anger has increased a bit lot.

The tiniest disappointment for the day is political and linked to space.

Yesterday, Curiosity landed on Mars. It’s a success for NASA, but a slight acknowledgement of the cooperation involved in that success would have been great (because I heard that, at least, there were two elements on board the rover that came from Europe; there’s the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) provided by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA); there’s Russia's contribution, the DAN neutron detector, developed under an agreement between NASA and Russia's Roscosmos Federal Space Agency, that can search for water in shallow underground minerals along the rover's path… and I haven’t done full research on the topic!).

NASA’s damn right to be proud, and President Obama is right to be happy and proud (and since it’s a dangerous election year for him, he was strategically wise to use this fantastic feat in order to boost himself in polls).

Before I go on, allow me to be clear. Crystal clear. President Obama isn’t my president (wrong country, and entirely wrong continent even!), but he’s one of the few current politicians I like. I admire him for what he’s trying to do.

He’s not my leader, but I think I’m really a fan. 
Yet… when the ‘Statement by the President on Curiosity Landing on Mars’ starts with ‘Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history’. I can’t help but be a tiny lil’ bit disappointed that the whole focus is on American success (election year, I get it. Some Americans thicker than millennial sequoias, I get it, too).

A part of me is dreaming of someone strong enough to include neighbours and allies, but I guess the Federation is still a rather far away dream (if Star Trek inspired its fans to create real things that were mentioned in the show, the humanity behind the Federation is not about to start showing in politics).

This is how we react between bipeds, and it’s not pretty, but it gets downright ugly when we turn to the ‘animal’ kingdom (because bipeds don’t want to be reminded that they’re just successful mammals).

Once more, I’m about to have epidermic reactions. I haven’t really done my research, but the general background is making my blood boil.

We cannot get along together, and we treat the other living creatures on this planet like possessions. I’ll even dare go a step farther and say that it really looks as if some bipeds think that they own the other creatures (because they’re oh-so-intelligent – whilst, in fact, it’s only because some bipeds invented weaponry that they're allowed such behaviour).

One thought even came to my mind recently, and I bet that most people would gladly flame me for coming up to that conclusion, but a lot of bipeds treat other creatures they deem inferior (fellow bipeds and/or other animals) like slaves (in my book, which might well be a unicum, I know, this is the only way to explain how some bipeds work).

I caught one article on the way wolves might be soon threatened again in Europe. Go read the article. I’ll wait for you.

<Musical interlude>

Done? Good.

As I see things, big farmers (200 sheep, that’s not a small farm, sorry guys!) are used to complain about anything and everything.

I’ve got a lot of sympathy for small farmers who are really struggling to make ends meet, but I do know several big farmers (my mama moved to the country), and I won’t waste the single ghost of a tear on them.

First, it’s as much the wolves’ territories as it is the bipeds' – only the bipeds are vocal and can call cowardly politicos that are going to think about the next election, not what’s right or important to do. 
If we just consider the average wolf, he might be killing a few sheep here and there (though a handful of farmers have been quick to cry wolf, pun intended, in order to get better compensations from their state or the E.C.), but he also eats the carcasses and rids forest and mountains of dead bodies that could very well bring some nasty diseases back into our lives (the same’s true about the bears, who don’t have a better reputation amongst farmers).

The thing is we need biodiversity. We need a bit of everything on this sad rock in order to have a balanced life cycle.

But what are most bipeds doing? They kill.

Exhibit 2: near Reunion Island, there have been about eight shark attacks in the past thirteen months, and three since January of this year.

Who’s being attacked? Surfers.

I do not wish them any harm, but I’d have more sympathy for them if they weren’t so damn vocal about slaughtering the endangered species to the last one, in a marine reserve, for Merlin’s sake!!!

Just like wolves and bears in forests and mountains, we must protect sharks in the oceans. They eat dead fish and other dead sea mammals and help make sure that our oceans don’t become a massive poisoned dustbin (we’re doing that with ships, boats and drillings perfectly well).

If the sharks could walk onto the beach to chew tourists as they mistook them for snacks, I’d somehow understand the angry reactions, but here, we’ve got bipeds who don’t want their fun spoiled (we’re not talking about starving bipeds vaguely attempting to catch one fish in order to feed their dying baby [Yea, I know, sorry about the drama, but I’ve noticed that if one doesn’t use strong and weird images, the message doesn’t go through too often; let’s blame that one on my students]).

I bet there are to be irate surfers, but there must be bipeds interested in tourism as well (the mayor of Saint Leu, Thierry Robert, looks very active. Perhaps he's truly concerned, or he's thinking of his re-election or of his future tourists), since the average tourist going to some exotic location demands that the ocean be as safe as a municipal pool (but jellyfish exist and have fun sometimes!).

I haven’t been able to find (in English or French) an accurate article on the topic. Some newspapers say that the Minister will be forced to agree to the slaughter, others that it’ll remain illegal to hunt the sharks.

I am firmly on the side of the wolves and the sharks. 
Perhaps it’s the Zen in me. Perhaps it’s the fact that I realized at an early age that everything’s connected on this planet and that bipeds are quite incredibly arrogant.

Bipeds aren’t the emperors of Earth.

Earth and her creatures do not belong to bipeds.

The sooner we realize this, the better for us if we want a future.

Right. Off my chest.

One day, when Japan will have angered me enough (well, just the Ministry responsible for the massacres), I’ll tell you about whales’ slaughters.