Or did we ever care?
We wondered that when watching JACK HANNA'S INTO THE WILD -- on TV, on NETFLIX, on AMAZON PRIME and on HULU -- Saturday.
Jack Hanna was in Cape Town with Sue and they were helping a woman herd baboons across a busy road.
Or trying to.
Some drivers were clearly irritated about having to stop.
Why did they have to stop.
The road ran through two areas where the baboons forage.
The baboons did not suddenly appear on the scene.
They were there.
Humanity chose to build housing developments there, to put the road there.
And now people in the area can't even seem to stop to allow the baboons to cross the road -- even with three adults -- and a camera crew -- attempting to direct traffic.
What does it really say about us as a people?
And what does it say about what value we place on life?
Which led us to "Dog Gone," episode eight of the eighth season of FAMILY GUY. The Steve Callaghan written episode revolves around the aftermath of Brian (the talking dog) running over a dog and killing that dog. When Brian's guilt gets to him and he confesses, everyone laughs, it's not a big thing, he just ran over a dog.
In the end, to prove to Brian that his life matters, Stewie kills another dog and stages it to appear that Brian died. The family mourns the death of Brian while Brian watches.
It says nothing about life -- and that's not a criticism of FAMILY GUY who sports its crudeness the way others might sport wit -- just about the life of a talking dog.
And while we're not going to slam FAMILY GUY for that, we are going to call out the Humane Society of the United States which gave the episode a Genesis Award.
Brian the talking dog was made to feel his life mattered by Stewi killing another dog.
That's something the so-called Humane Society wanted to reward?
And we thought about what we wrote last week. Specifically this:
It was Sunday, CBS, 60 MINUTES.
There was Anderson Cooper interviewing professional frat boy JT Holmes.
Holmes, for those who missed it, 'needs' to go to Eiger in the Swiss Alps -- via helicopter -- to risk his life in what is not amazing and is not a sport.
More to the point, why does he need to be on Eiger?
Why is it necessary so ski (and parachute) on Eiger just because no one has?
Are we not to be allowed any spot on the earth that is not plundered by human kind in its search for amusement?
And how long do we need to pretend that near death experiences qualify as sports?
Cooper should have asked those questions.
He also should have asked the cost of a 'sport' that requires a helicopter fly you up to a mountain, that several people use tools to create 'slopes' for you to ski down on the untouched mountain and how much it costs for the helicopter to pick you up after you jump off the cliff on your skis and hopefully land alive 2,000 or so feet below.
He should have asked what the carbon foot print for this 'sport' was.
He asked none of those questions.
All of which does not paint us, the human species, in a good light.
And in this election year where candidates for the duopoly spend every speech slashing the other and when their online gaggle can't stop playing 'the other,' it might be time for us to all dismount our high horses because clearly technology has progressed further than humanity.
