Marius the giraffe killed, butchered and fed to lions as children watch

[Chu]

I just found another horrible, sick story about how a town in Bulgaria has a ritual to prevent rabies and chase away bad spirits... by torturing dogs:

http://es.sott.net/article/25825-El-barbaro-ritual-bulgaro-del-giro-del-perro-escandaliza-al-mundo-y-con-buena-razon

The ritual had been banned, but then a mayor decided to reinstate it because it would bring tourists to his town. I couldn't find any article in English, but the rest, you can see on the video. It's insane, inhuman, and ... no words. They soften it up by saying that hardly any dog dies from this ritual, except those who drown (from trauma and dizziness once in the water, leaving them unable to swim), and that they can get internal organ damage, lesions from the rope, water in their lungs... Geez...

The worst thing was watching the video and hearing the "audience" laugh and shout. If Rome was anything like that, one can understand why they got destroyed...

http://<iframe width="420" height="...ZI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

No idea what they are saying in Bulgarian, but I think the images speak for themselves...

 

[SMM]

The worst thing was watching the video and hearing the "audience" laugh and shout. If Rome was anything like that, one can understand why they got destroyed...

No idea what they are saying in Bulgarian, but I think the images speak for themselves...

I was so horrified at the giraffe being fed to lions, I couldn't respond. People seem to get pacified to acts of torture and abuse and shortly it becomes something that "just happens", a new norm as the conscience of those who could do something are dulled. It isn't happening to them, eh?

Or, as explicated in Stout's "The Paranoia Switch", they fear their own kind being subjected to similar treatment or are deluded into thinking that it protects - as evinced above with this ritual to prevent rabies and chase bad spirits away. It very much resounds of witch hunts and "gladiators in a Colosseum".

Laura

They took a perfectly good planet populated with amazing creatures and just trashed it.

Amen to that

Laura

The only answer I see to that, and all the related problems, is to keep hammering on about psychopathy until people wake-up and we can sort out the system from the foundations up. But I also realize how unlikely that is to happen - more likely will be major catastrophes and suffering on a monumental scale. Well, all I can say if and when it happens is that human beings have brought it on themselves.

Indeed. Try to imagine the amount of suffering psychopathic and ponerized, damaged people have inflicted on others in any given neighborhood--tying their dogs to inadequate shelters in the back yard and ignoring them, traumatizing their children through their own ignorance and narcissism, poisoning the environment with their trash--NOW--multiply that on a global scale. The magnitude of the suffering on this planet must be resounding to the edges of the multiverse and screaming for change.
If destruction of humanity is what it is going to take to end it, then so be it.

Ditto, ditto and yes!

 

[H-KQGE]

It very much resounds of witch hunts and "gladiators in a Colosseum".

This immediately came to mind.

The ritual had been banned, but then a mayor decided to reinstate it because it would bring tourists to his town. I couldn't find any article in English, but the rest, you can see on the video. It's insane, inhuman, and ... no words. They soften it up by saying that hardly any dog dies from this ritual, except those who drown (from trauma and dizziness once in the water, leaving them unable to swim), and that they can get internal organ damage, lesions from the rope, water in their lungs... Geez...

The worst thing was watching the video and hearing the "audience" laugh and shout. If Rome was anything like that, one can understand why they got destroyed...

What the sh*t? This may be a leftover of a "pagan ritual", but they ain't doing any "religious" practise there. The laughing, the smiles, the laid back feel (an everyday thing) seems more like pathological entertainment to me. Like SMM said, ( paraphrasing) dulling the conscience by introducing new norms - especially on kids.

"In dog spinning, which is which is practiced each year at the beginning of March, a man's "best friend" is suspended hight above water on a rope. The dog is wound up into a rope, then released so that the dog spins rapidly as rope unwinds, and the dog falls into the water".

The "dog spinning" ritual practiced in a southeastern Bulgarian village is misinterpreted by society and the international community, according to Tsarevo Municipality Mayor Petko Arnaudov".
This ancient ritual of pagan origin is performed in order to prevent rabies and is a part of the traditional Kukeri rituals.

Bollo*ks.

 

[Iron]

The return of practices like that makes me wonder if we aren't already seeing a sort of "eclipsing of realities". The transition in real time to a more primitive state of "STSness".
People who are on the path of returning to stone age in the event of the impending catastrophe who already are reverting to more primal and brutal customs.

 

[Chu]

The return of practices like that makes me wonder if we aren't already seeing a sort of "eclipsing of realities". The transition in real time to a more primitive state of "STSness".
People who are on the path of returning to stone age in the event of the impending catastrophe who already are reverting to more primal and brutal customs.

Very likely, me thinks... it relates to what the Cs said once, which was quoted recently here by Laura:

Those who are not integrated will disintegrate at an even faster rate than ever.

 

[SovereignDove]

The return of practices like that makes me wonder if we aren't already seeing a sort of "eclipsing of realities". The transition in real time to a more primitive state of "STSness".
People who are on the path of returning to stone age in the event of the impending catastrophe who already are reverting to more primal and brutal customs.

Very likely, me thinks... it relates to what the Cs said once, which was quoted recently here by Laura:

Those who are not integrated will disintegrate at an even faster rate than ever.

In reading 'Brain Changer' by David DiSalvo, I came across this quote from Paul Aster, which relates to personality disintegration. FWIW

“We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that's the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread."

 

[happyliza]

A good article on why elephants should not be held in captivity (or any other animal for that matter!)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-is-in-elephants-are-even-smarter-than-we-realized-video/?WT.mc_id=SA_Facebook

Brains behind bars

All the new evidence of elephant intelligence has intensified the debate about whether to continue keeping the creatures in captivity. Former elephant caretaker Dan Koehl maintains a thorough database of elephants around the world. He has records of 7,828 elephants currently in captivity: 1,654 in zoos or safari parks; 4,549 in "elephant camps" where tourists can ride the animals; 288 in circuses; and the remaining in temples, sanctuaries or private residences. The latest research on the well-being of U.S. zoo elephants is not particularly encouraging.

 

[SMM]

In reading 'Brain Changer' by David DiSalvo, I came across this quote from Paul Aster, which relates to personality disintegration. FWIW

“We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that's the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread."

That could explain why journaling and Pennebraker writing exercises are effective.

Does DiSalvo say anything in 'Brain Changer' about the effects on a thread from holding onto a narrative, a belief or perception? Is that what is implied by "... lose that thread?"

 

[cubbex]

So disintegrating may be related to the concept of cognitive dissonance? maybe a symptom of disintegration is cognitive dissonance?

Because those fellas killing the animals, they do it for pleasure but they rationalize and lie to themselves and others, so it blends the cruel meaning of their acts to moral standards.

The return of practices like that makes me wonder if we aren't already seeing a sort of "eclipsing of realities". The transition in real time to a more primitive state of "STSness".
People who are on the path of returning to stone age in the event of the impending catastrophe who already are reverting to more primal and brutal customs.

Very likely, me thinks... it relates to what the Cs said once, which was quoted recently here by Laura:

Those who are not integrated will disintegrate at an even faster rate than ever.

Kinda ironic, the cs' also mentioned to Laura in one session, after she asked if all that she had to do was to put herself down or something, but they answered that only if she wants to reincarnate as a caveman with red smoke in the sky, or something like that. Cs' playing with words again, as it may be an analogy of what is going on and what it's going to be like. If this is the case, I don't know what to say... we are going paleo as a civilization in a whole new level, not a healthy level of course.

Now with all these info about diet and change of human state. If, when we were paleo back in time and were able to access to super nutrition, it may be the reason why we evolved into more intelligent beings, but right now with the horrible nutrition we have the bodies and conscience is returning to a more primitive state, as the body can't maintain proper health and enough energy to hold some sort of conscience?

 

[SovereignDove]

In reading 'Brain Changer' by David DiSalvo, I came across this quote from Paul Aster, which relates to personality disintegration. FWIW

“We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that's the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread."

That could explain why journaling and Pennebraker writing exercises are effective.

Does DiSalvo say anything in 'Brain Changer' about the effects on a thread from holding onto a narrative, a belief or perception? Is that what is implied by "... lose that thread?"

I hope this helps to answer your question (and someone please correct me if i am incorrect), but the quotes are a bit long.

DiSalvo has this to say (in the following quotes) about losing the narrative thread, and holding onto the narrative thread:

For example, let’s say you have just moved to a new city and are just starting to find your way around town, learn the streets and major milestones, and become acquainted with the people living near you. In this brand-new environment, do you become a “brand-new you”? Another way to ask that question is, if everything in this new place is entirely new to you— distinct in every way from anywhere else you’ve lived— do you change to suit the newness of this place?

The answer, of course, is that you do not. Instead, you integrate the newness of the place into your existing self-narrative. What allows you to pull that off without becoming lost (lost psychologically, not geographically)? Evolution has taken care of that for you. Your brain is already identifying salient aspects of this place and integrating them into existing neural networks. In other words— your self-narrative is being modified without losing its “thread” by a potent evolutionary force that every well-functioning brain uses to adapt.

In this way, our self-narratives are always changing in subtle or substantial ways. Narrative is never static. And, as we have discussed in previous chapters, our brains are never static. Our personalities are never static. We are forever in a state of flux, however imperceptible this may be to us from hour to hour. And this, I want to take a moment to remind you, is a very good thing— not a force to fear, but one to embrace as the very spirit of our being human.

Internalizing Narrative Scripts
The term “script” often suggests a stack of papers that an actor refers to before delivering her lines on stage. That’s actually not a bad metaphor for something we’ll simply call “external scripting,” in contrast to the internal scripts each of us continuously refers to in our mind as we process the events of the day.

External scripting comes to us from sources of external influence— our employers, peers, parents, government, churches, etc. We’re exposed to this variety of scripting every day, and we internalize the scripts given to us by these sources for a multitude of reasons. For example, we internalize our employer’s scripting because our jobs depend on it. We internalize our peers’ scripting because we value their perception of us and don’t want to jeopardize our standing in the group. We internalize our churches’ scripting because we believe that it is passed through the church to us from a higher power that we want to please.

External scripting contributes to the running scripts we refer to on a daily basis, which are a combination of external influence (much of which we have already internalized) and genetic propensity. For example, the external scripting from our employer may direct us to be more extroverted in our interactions with coworkers and clients, but that scripting must meld with our genetic propensity to be an introvert. Which will win out? Well . . . both, and neither. Instead of either script “winning,” we pragmatically adapt to the needs of the situation and alter our genetically scripted style (what psychologists refer to as our “natural style”).

If, of course, we fail to pragmatically adapt, then we likely fail to accomplish the objective in front of us. What makes external scripting such an important “moving part” is not that it automatically alters how we handle whatever life throws our way— because the truth is, much of the time it doesn’t. The fact that our employer wants us to become more extroverted doesn’t mean that we’ll pragmatically adapt to meet that demand. Perhaps we will, but perhaps we won’t. Perhaps, instead, the true meaning of pragmatically adapting in this case is to realize that we are in the wrong job. That may sound extreme, but think of how often we try to cram ourselves into a “scripted” situation that just doesn’t work for us.

Consider, for example, the person who values authenticity and straightforward dealing, but works for an organization that only pays lip service to those values. If we force-adapt to those situations over and over again, we’ll eventually burn out. Aside from the psychological toll this takes, it could result in losing the job anyway.

The same goes for any number of life scenarios where an external script that radically counters our natural style is placed in front of us. We try to internalize it, but making it “fit” is tedious, if not torturous.

Most of us will wrestle with trying to make it work anyway, sometimes for years. Whom are we helping? We might say we’re helping our family by keeping a job that’s pure agony, but when you go home at night emotionally spent, with nothing left to give your family— are they truly benefiting? That’s just one example of many, but the main point remains the same: sometimes pragmatically adapting does not mean finding a way to meld an external script with our natural style; sometimes it means adapting by finding an entirely different role that more closely fits who we are and what we have to offer. That’s what makes identifying external scripts so important— seeing them clearly can provide the impetus for making better decisions. Seeing the script for what it is— good or bad— shows us ways in which adaptation is necessary to live a more fulfilled life.

He mentions "conscious narratives":

When we effectively use metacognition to influence feedback loops, we consciously influence our self-narrative, and we foster a greater ability to pragmatically adapt. We are not riding the waves of happenstance-we are using the adaptive powers of our brains to direct our paths to the absolute best of our abilities. We are, in a sense, actively writing our narrative instead of watching it being written for us while we cruise on autopilot.

Thinking about the opposite of conscious narratives, man being mechanical, asleep, reacting mechanically, cruising on autopilot, accepting torture, and believing in lies may lead right to the disintegration of the person at an accelerating pace. Especially with the times we are living in now, the C's mention of dramatic changes accelerating 'soon', and being in the time of the transition.

 

[Gaby]

A good video that exposes how animals suffer in marine parks. It is really disgusting beyond belief!!! It starts at minute 2:05

http://<iframe width="560" height="...vZ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Abby then features an interview with Phil Demers, a former animal trainer at Canada's Marineland waterpark, to discuss the allegations of rampant neglect and lacking living conditions for the animals at the park, looking specifically at a lawsuit filed over the wellbeing of a walrus named 'Smooshi'.

 

[Siberia]

Killing animals as children watch is insane.

Here is a story of a Moscow schoolboy who shot his teacher using his father's riffle and took hostages several dozens of students in January this year: http://nahnews.com.ua/the-schoolboy-who-shot-the-teacher-and-the-police-officer-in-moscow-was-issued-an-indictment/.

Why was he using his father's riffle? Because his father is a hunter. And because he apparently taught him how to use a riffle. For citizens, hunting is killing animals for entertainment. And when you teach your kids killing for entertainment, this is where they arrive.

They say that Marius was killed publicly not for entertainment, but for educational purposes. And what is the lesson here? That "we are all predators and this is hey-okay"?

If we want to teach our kids humanity, I think the message should be: "Biologically we are predators, but morally and spiritually we are humans, and we must always try our best to act less predatory and more human".

To illustrate this I suggest watching this 2 videos by Aleksandr Mish:

http://<iframe width="420" height="...WU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://<iframe width="420" height="...OY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Please watch them and show them to your kids. THIS is the SHOW that our kids should WATCH and LEARN.

 

[Cosmos]

I don't think it was mentioned here, but the same Zoo that killed the giraffe in february, killed four healthy lions in the last week of march:

Copenhagen Zoo Kills 4 Lions After Controversial Giraffe Death
Four lions were euthanized to improve the zoo's breeding program.

PUBLISHED MARCH 26, 2014

A Denmark zoo that earned international condemnation for killing a healthy giraffe last month has euthanized four African lions.

The Copenhagen Zoo put down a 16-year-old male lion, a 14-year-old lioness, and two young lions this week to make way for a new male lion from the Givskud Zoo, also in Denmark.

"The change in the lion pride had to happen now because Copenhagen Zoo currently has two young females from the 2012 litter and it is ideal to keep these as part of the new pride and then find a suitable male," the zoo wrote in a Wednesday statement on its website.

"If the Zoo had not made the change in the pride now then we would have risked that the old male would mate with these two females—his own offspring—and thereby give rise to inbreeding," the statement says.

What's more, the 14-year-old lioness was too old to give birth and raise another litter without complications, the zoo said. (Read more about zoos and saving rare species in National Geographic magazine.)

The news quickly reverberated across the globe, with 10,000 stories as of Wednesday and Twitter abuzz with people expressing shock and disgust.

The U.S. Association of Zoos and Aquariums did not respond to requests for comment about zoo euthanasias, but the organization said in a February statement that "incidents of that sort do not happen at AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums for several reasons."

That's because those facilities carefully manage breeding programs and exchange animals between institutions as needed, according to the AZA website.

But the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) noted in a statement that the Copenhagen Zoo "has not broken any of its codes of conduct."

Still, by Wednesday morning, 49,000 people had signed a petition on the environmental advocacy website Care2.org entitled "Tell Copenhagen Zoo to Stop Killing Healthy Animals!"

 

[Palinurus]

I don't think it was mentioned here, but the same Zoo that killed the giraffe in february, killed four healthy lions in the last week of march:

I'm not entirely sure about this thread, but I remember I read it on SotT recently:

http://www.sott.net/article/276515-First-Marius-the-giraffe-now-four-lions-Copenhagen-Zoo-kills-again

EDITED to add: That's probably the reason why they also carried this little piece: ;)

http://www.sott.net/article/276810-Copenhagen-Zoo-kills-four-healthy-staff-members-to-make-space-for-new-employees

 

[cubbex]

The story of the hanging of the elephant (and the phenomenon of lynching in general) brought this passage from Ponerology to mind:

Moralizing interpretation: The tendency to impart a moralizing interpretation upon essentially pathological phenomena is an aspect of human nature whose discernable substratum is encoded in our specific instinct; namely humans normally fail to differentiate between moral and biological evil. Moralizing always surfaces, albeit to varying degrees, within the natural psychological and moral world view, which is why we should consider this tendency a permanent error of public opinion. We may curb it with increased self-knowledge, but overcoming it requires specific knowledge in the psychopathological area. Young people and less cultured circles always tend toward such interpretations (although it characterizes traditional esthetes too), which intensifies whenever our natural reflexes take over control from reason, i.e. in hysterical states, and in direct proportion to the intensity of egotism.

We close the door to a causative comprehension of phenomena and open it to vengeful emotions and psychological error whenever we impose a moralistic interpretation upon faults and errors in human behavior, which are in fact largely derived from the various influences of pathological factors, whether mentioned above or not, which are often obscured from minds untrained in this area. We thereby also permit these factors to continue their ponerogenic activities, both within ourselves and others. Nothing poisons the human soul and deprives us of our capacity to understand reality more objectively than this very obedience to that common human tendency to take a moralistic view of human behavior.

Practically speaking, to say the least, each instance of behavior that seriously hurts some other person contains within its psychological genesis the influence of some pathological factors, among other things, of course. Therefore, any interpretation of the causes of evil which would limit itself to moral categories is an inappropriate perception of reality. This can lead, generally speaking, to erroneous behavior, limiting our capacity for counteraction of the causative factors of evil and opening the door for lust for revenge. This frequently starts a new fire in the ponerogenic processes. We shall therefore consider a unilaterally moral interpretation of the origins of evil to be wrong and immoral at all times. The idea of overcoming this common human inclination and its results can be considered a moral motive intertwined throughout ponerology.

If we analyze the reasons why some people frequently overuse such emotionally-loaded interpretations, often indignantly rejecting a more correct interpretation, we shall of course also discover pathological factors acting within them. Intensification of this tendency in such cases is caused by repressing from the field of consciousness any self-critical concepts concerning their own behavior and its internal reasons. The influence of such people causes this tendency to intensify in others.

Interesting quote. Again, the importance on objectivity through the physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects of our being. Moral is subjective to every subject, and when this moral is hurt or is attempted to be broken, then a lot of wrong things happen. If Stalin and maybe Hitler were characteropaths, this explains why their morals and points of view took them to produce such deal of damage.