Bindi Irwin and New Rules
Let’s get one thing straight: Bindi Irwin is a lively, adorable, articulate child, whom I am not going to bash in any way. She’s 8-years old, for chrissakes. No, I didn’t approve of what her father, Steve Irwin, did for a living, or the blind adoration some showed for him upon his death. But none of that is little Bindi’s fault or responsibility.
However, I would like to use something she said on Ellen as a simple, yet not-so-simple example of the behemoth disconnect in the minds of most people. Clearly, Ellen and Bindi’s mom, Terri Irwin, had some iffy moments during Bindi’s interview where I was convinced the grown-ups were going to decompensate on the spot. And that’s natural, as Irwin died only four months ago.
Bindi was speaking of her love for animals, and said something like: I love all animals, great and small. I even make people stop and step over a line of marching ants. Under one minute later, she thanked Ellen for the yummy beef jerky that she ate in the green room.
Bill Maher has what he calls New Rules and even wrote a book by the same name. Well, I’ve got a New Rule of my own: You’re not allowed to say you love animals if you eat, wear, and exploit them. You can, however, say:
- I love to eat animals,
- I love to wear animals, or
- I love to cause animals pain.
I think all of those would be acceptable. But to say you love animals one minute, then basically say you also love to eat them in the next, is profoundly troubling. This disconnect is one that causes tension and hostility when you bring attention to it, but it’s a point worth raising. In my experience, most people are well meaning and have no clue that they are acting in a way that contradicts what they say, because that’s how they are raised, and because most people don’t spend nearly enough time questioning what they do or why they do it.
Each person reading this can, in 2007, commit to evaluating what they say in relation to what they do, and find a kind way to explore this notion with others. Cognitive dissonance, whether it’s yours or someone else’s, isn’t fun to deal with, but it is necessary if the consciousness of humanity is going to evolve in the direction of its (positive) potential.
Hey me and bindi have the same star sign how cool