Circus: Willfully uncompassionate column in Mercury News

[Guest guest]

The following column is printed on page 1B of the San Jose Mercury

News, Friday 8/24/07. It is by the Mercury's columnist Mike Cassidy.

 

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http://www.mercurynews.com/columns/ci_6706294 and scroll to the

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-- Mike Sage

 

===================================================

 

[from http://www.mercurynews.com/columns/ci_6706294]

 

Cassidy: Not evolved enough to oppose circus

By Mike Cassidy

Mercury News Columnist

San Jose Mercury News

8/24/2007

 

 

The circus is in town and I love the circus.

 

Yes. I'm a bad person. We are not supposed to love the circus these

days. The circus - Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus in this

case - has animal acts and therefore it is to be relegated to the

list of cruel and unusual spectacles.

 

Britney Spears' public parenting comes to mind.

 

I have always loved the circus. The clowns, the Wheel of Steel, the

Flying Wallendas, the human cannon ball. The lights, the noise, the

kitsch, the bad-for-you food.

 

And even the elephant parade. Which makes me a very bad person.

 

No doubt People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will be at HP

Pavilion this weekend making the point that the Greatest Show on

Earth is not that great for the earth. They'll wave signs as I walk

past them on my way to my circus seat.

 

I won't ignore them. I'll think about what they have to say: Circus

animals are miserable and mistreated. The circus life - the travel,

the grueling schedule, the performance pressure - is no life for an

animal. And I'll think, well, it's no life for a human either. But

the guilt will pass.

 

Animals as people?

 

My problem: I haven't evolved to the point where I think of elephants

as people, just with bigger noses. I am a weak and horrible person.

 

There are so many things that we must be against these days that it's

hard to oppose them all. We must be against things for the good of

the planet or the good of our children or the good of our nation.

Maybe we can only pour our minds, hearts and souls into so many

issues and come up with the right answers.

 

No doubt when this column appears, some of you will write and

call. " How could you? How could you support the circus? "

 

To be honest, I'll have a hard time explaining myself in an

intellectually satisfying way. I could say that an elephant's life is

no great shakes no matter where he or she lives it. Or that it seems

counterintuitive that Ringling Bros. would risk damaging one of its

key assets through mistreatment.

 

But my circus connection is emotional. I've been going since I was a

little kid. I've got memories. For instance, at my very first circus

the enormity of the elephants scared the pants off me. (Note to PETA:

This is in no way meant to compare a circus elephants' trauma to my

own pre-school, human version.)

 

Some things hard to shake

 

In the end, my love for the circus is something I can live with

better than I can explain. It's like so many of the things that we

must be against - and that I haven't found the resolve to oppose. The

circus is only the beginning. I am also a bad person because:

 

• I like camp fires. Big ones. That can't be good for the ozone layer.

 

• I have no clue as to the size of my carbon footprint. Am I a 13EEE

boot? A dainty Manolo? No idea.

 

• My kids watch too much TV. Stupid stuff, too.

 

• I watch too much TV. See above.

 

• I like pizza and beer. And mayonnaise - but not on my pizza or beer.

 

• I cheer for Barry Bonds.

 

• I don't read enough books. The one in four adults who polls say

didn't read a book last year? I didn't do much better. I read at

bedtime, which consists of reading a page before dropping the book on

my slumbering head.

 

• I don't leave tips at restaurants where you pick up your own food.

 

• Paper or plastic? I go for plastic. Hey, I bring the bags back for

recycling. Then again, I suspect they get shipped off to a landfill

in China.

 

• I drive 70 in 65 mph zones.

 

• I have ripped music tracks from library CDs. Note to copyright

cops: Maybe once. OK, maybe a few times.

 

I'd like to say I'll do better, that I promise now to be against many

more things. But honestly? That's just not an idea I can get behind.

 

 

Read Mike Cassidy's Loose Ends blog at

http://blogs.mercextra.com/cassidy/ . Contact him at

mcassidy or (408) 920-5536.