Cynicism
September 29th 2010 21:00
It was the day after baby elephant Mr Shuffles was believed to have been stillborn. I remember seeing him on the news the night before; the news reader had said what a tragedy that this elephant was born dead. The next day, though, the papers and news readers were telling a different story: Miraculously, the baby elephant was actually alive all the time, despite tests and behavioural signs showing otherwise.
On that very day one of my colleagues had lent me his paper. I was idly flicking through the pages, quickly glancing at the headlines before going back to work when he started laughing.
“You can tell there’s no real news when an elephant’s birth makes the front page of the paper,” he chuckled.
I then noticed the front page. “That’s true. If it was September 11 I’m sure the elephant would be towards the back of the paper.” I wasn’t saying that to be bitchy but to point out a fact about human nature; as animal liberationist Peter Singer would say, people tend to value human life over other living beings.
“Not just September 11. If there was a football scandal the elephant would still be at the back of the paper.” My colleague is sports-mad. What surprises me is he doesn’t listen to Fire Up, a weekly tongue in cheek send up of rugby league shenanigans that is broadcast on FBI radio – but that’s another story.
For those who missed it, the story is here:
Daily Telegraph story
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