# Are zoos beneficial to humans or animals? Discuss.



## thedreamweaver (Jun 22, 2007)

This rather banal title was recently set as an essay for my GCSE class.

Any comments on this, my attempt:


What is a ‘zoo’? In its conventional use, the definition is usually something alone the lines of a tourist attraction where visitors can observe different types of animal. What is a zoo, then, but a series of cages and their disillusioned occupants being gawped at by intrusively curious strangers? Therefore, the word ‘zoo’ in its broadest terms can be used to describe not only animals behind bars but, perhaps, to humans as well.

Probably because it is most commonly used to describe a place where you might take your kids with a picnic in the summer, the word ‘zoo’ is not one you would use to portray a human (except, perhaps, to illustrate particularly cruel conditions under which someone was suffering). But when you start to apply it to humans who are under observation, you realise it is surprisingly accurate.

Take the example of someone who spent years in a cage, yet still managed to be one of the most influential people in the world. Nelson Mandela is one of the most famous people living – yet spent decades imprisoned. His enclosure served to bring him notoriety, and provided a platform for him to perform to the world. This is a prime instance of a human zoo exhibit: a man who, despite being behind bars, was the centre of attention, with the eyes of the world eagerly upon him. Hence, it could be argued that this kind of ‘zoo’ is beneficial to the spectators and the specimen, in that it provides a potent mix of entertainment for the audience – while the imprisoned gains more power than those outside the coop.

At this point, it is definitely pertinent to mention that, as the term ‘zoo’ can be used to apply to humans, so the word ‘cage’ can be meant physically – or metaphorically. Few people in this world spend their lives in actual prisons (and most of those who do have committed some kind of offence which merited confinement). 

But it is my opinion that most, if not all, of the people on this earth exist in their own private trap – self-fashioned, self-endured and, ultimately, self-destructive. Perhaps, although it is hard to accept, we all inhabit our own cages – traps that exist in the most dangerous place possible: our own minds; traps that we have c constructed painstakingly through the corrosive experience that is life. No one else can build an enclosure in your mind – only you can do that; a cage formed from the roots of your insecurities and cemented by the lack of your own conviction. Everyone has one, and what no one can see is that the harder we try to escape the prison we have made, the harder we kick and scratch in desperation, the tougher and more unyielding its walls become.

Whether any of us can ever break through our mental barriers is debatable, for you can never change your own personality. Who you are withstands all, and so too do your own fears and doubts. 

I do not believe that the ‘zoo’ that is the world that we live in is of benefit to its inhabitants and their viewers. Is it healthy to spend a lifetime relishing, with painful irony, another’s struggle – while you are simultaneously suffocating in your own cell?

As a whole, this topic is a rather futile one. The fact remains that the world is a ‘zoo’; the people who live in it a never-ending stream of shows. We are all gloating spectators, yet equally we are all drowning victims. We spy on people; they observe us. In the end, can we ever ascertain who is watching who?

As you observe somebody (or even the lion in its pen next time you’re at the zoo) in their prison, remember, you don’t know who’s watching you with the dispassionate interest that we afford to exhibits. 

And when you next have a moment to spare, shut your eyes to the parade of pathetic specimens filing past, and take a minute to assess the recesses of your own mentality: what’s your private trap?


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## mammamaia (Jun 23, 2007)

is this the same piece with this title i saw some time back?... that generated a rather heated and lengthy debate... you might want to look at back pages and find it, if this isn't the same one... if it is, why post it again?

love and hugs, maia [a strong opponent of taking animals or humans from their natural homes]


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Nope, I've just joined the boards. And just written the piece. So it can't be the same one! This is weird.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

I've just looked back a lot of pages and can't see anything remotely like the title of my essay... could someone post a link, if this article actually does exist? Even though it's not mine, it'd be interesting to see someone else's opinions.


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## Truth-Teller (Jun 24, 2007)

Humans.

The penguins and polar bears will dissappear soon, and so will the fishes. The only place we'll see them are at zoos.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

What?


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

I imagine a zoo as a newspaper office... oh, wait... that's a circus.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

*laughs*


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

You raise some good points. In fact, I think prison might be good for political figures. They are kept from the public eyes... they can't see faults in the person's character... they sort of become a God.

Like Charles Manson... he's infamous, but no one really realizes that he's a harmless crazy guy that could be dropped like a sack of potatoes.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Surely, though, if political figures become martyrs (and then 'gods', as you aptly put it), that is a bad thing rather than a good one? That's the reason the USA tries not to execute terrorists - so they can't become saints for a cause. Seeing the flaws in your leader is, I think, necessary: otherwise you can be endanger of deifying a mortal.


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

Yes, I would rather have a stupid and unpopular leader in place than a stupid and popular one.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Good point. (If I had to pick a genius out of you and our dear Russian genius Aimee, I think I know who I'd go with...)


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

Nonsense, I fell into that trap before. People expect great things of you when you have nothing great to offer.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

But what if you actually _are _great...?


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

I would rather not know it. Nothing's better than being nothing.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Or rather, nothing's better than thinking you are nothing.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> Good point. (If I had to pick a genius out of you and our dear Russian genius Aimee, I think I know who I'd go with...)



*with whom I would go


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

Meh. He's only 15, right?


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

So you agree with me? Glad to see you're only correcting my grammar, rather than the sentiment behind it.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

Also, your essay is excessive and overly long-winded.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

If you say so, although I'm bound to say I don't value your opinion very much.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> So you agree with me? Glad to see you're only correcting my grammar, rather than the sentiment behind it.



By the way, I was hoping for some creative fiction. Everyone knows any idiot can write/publish non-fiction. Got any fiction on you, by the off-chance?


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

You haven't read anything academic, have you? But, then again, when you're a genius... you don't have to read!


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

*she... I'm female. Hadn't you guessed from the bitchiness? 

Erm, creative fiction.... I might have a beginning of a novel that I had to write for coursework somewhere... we had to start a crime story... let me have a look...


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

But, then again, when you're a genius... you don't have to read!
-------
Obviously... how could you forget that. She's got genius written all over her.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

Shawn said:
			
		

> You haven't read anything academic, have you? But, then again, when you're a genius... you don't have to read!



Excuse me? I am in university. Bard


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Excuse me? I am in university. Bard
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Studying...?


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

Which Uni do you go to? My ex goes to Kazan University... crappy professors, but the dorm rooms were just fine.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> Excuse me? I am in university. Bard
> ------
> Studying...?



Well, I was offered a scholarship at age 12. To question my 'academic merit,' would be rather foolish.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> *she... I'm female. Hadn't you guessed from the bitchiness?
> 
> Erm, creative fiction.... I might have a beginning of a novel that I had to write for coursework somewhere... we had to start a crime story... let me have a look...



That would be splendid.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

http://www.writingforums.com/showthread.php?p=919263#post919263

And wasn't it a MUSIC scholarship? Therefore I think I have the right to question your academic merit. If it was an English scholarship there must be a severe lack of decent literary scholars in your area.


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> *she... I'm female. Hadn't you guessed from the bitchiness?



I'm bitchy, but I'm just gay.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> Obviously... how could you forget that. She's got genius written all over her.



You can't begin to judge me from online presence, dearest. It's up to you if you think I'm "arrogant" but believe me, it is with merit, which is probably what offends you.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Fair enough. I am bitchy but I am actually female. Gay men are so much more fun than straight men, which is ironic really.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

I think that I have more potential as far as my writing goes than you do (there, I said out loud what you said in your first post: I think I'm decent at writing).


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

So where is the beginning of this novel?


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

Back to the topic of the thread then?


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

I posted the link in the other thread. And it's not a novel I'm writing: it was only ever going to be a couple of pages. Just an exercise, really.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> I think that I have more potential as far as my writing goes than you do (there, I said out loud what you said in your first post: I think I'm decent at writing).



Potential is 1/100th of the battle sweetheart.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Oh yes: back to the topic.
Well to sum it up, Aimee thinks my writing is 'excessive' (whatever she means by that... too long? too wordy? excessive in what way I'm not really sure).


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Potential is 1/100th of the battle sweetheart.
-----------
Oh, we're onto sweetheart, are we. Charming. Any Russian endearments you could wow me with?
That's where we think differently then. I think potential is the backbone of talent.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

http://www.writingforums.com/showthread.php?t=80990
There's the link.


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

I think I might write an essay about butterfly collection... but I think that might belong here. You might have some insight into it... after all, most of the Lords in Parliament have collected butterflies... some of which are illegal.

What is your opinion on this zoological hobby?


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

God knows. The essay isn't really about zoos per se, it's more a psychological insight.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

http://www.writingforums.com/showthread.php?t=80990
and again.


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

It's really all the same.  I don't particularly appreciate being pinned to a board and set on display.


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## aimeefriedland (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> Potential is 1/100th of the battle sweetheart.
> -----------
> Oh, we're onto sweetheart, are we. Charming. Any Russian endearments you could wow me with?
> That's where we think differently then. I think potential is the backbone of talent.



Lots of people have potential, big deal.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

I guess. The point of the essay was to create the metaphor of the world being a zoo - but not a literal zoo, a psychological one.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Lots of people have potential, big deal.
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It is a big deal. Shame you're not one of them.


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

thedreamweaver said:
			
		

> I guess. The point of the essay was to create the metaphor of the world being a zoo - but not a literal zoo, a psychological one.


You could've also done a filing cabinet, a museum exhibit, and a painting... ah, well.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

I don't understand...


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## Shawn (Jun 24, 2007)

I'm just being strange.

Metaphors are commonplace; very few people actually speak about the literal.


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 24, 2007)

True.


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## WordWeaver (Jun 24, 2007)

Aimee, are you that insecure that you feel you need to show up minors on the internet?

Somebody has a serious self-esteem issue to address.


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## mammamaia (Jun 25, 2007)

good gosh, you three are a contentious lot!... why don't you all grow up and remember the good manners i would hope your mamas taught you?

love and hugs, maia [mom of 7; grandmom of 18, so far]


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## thedreamweaver (Jun 29, 2007)

Many apologies, Maia. I love your name by the way, it sounds beautiful.

Congrats on all the kids/grandchildren. sounds like you have your hands full.


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