I have a difficult time, occasionally, maintaining a seemly façade of unconditional respect for my fellow hominids. I try, I really do, but the older I get, the more I see of my conspecifics, and the more I come to understand of our origins, the more difficult it becomes. The recent sectarian barbarism in India gave further testimony as to what kind of creatures we really are, if anyone had any nagging doubts. But it certainly doesn’t require centuries of insane religious conflict and persecution to get us acting naturally. Why, right here at home, when we jingle Pavlov’s bell at the start of the holiday-shopping season, a few dollars off at Wal-Mart is more than enough to snap the leash.
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3 Comments
Sweet Jesus, I was thinking just exactly this same thing. The ongoing political chaos here in Thailand will make you question the sentience of your fellow beings – but it’s got nothing on that shit at WalMart. Tis the season.
“In a written statement, Toys “R” Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said the shooting appeared unrelated to the heavy shopping day.
“Our understanding is that this act seems to have been the result of a personal dispute between the individuals involved,” she said.”
Yeah right. I’m always hearing about people heading out to the nearest Toys “R” Us to uh, settle their differences.
almost 50 years ago F A O Schwartz let kids run a bit wild in their fine store – we had little shoot-outs with plastic pellets winging around from our mattel pistols – those days are long gone… no more fun with toy guns too bad that was big fun for a seven year old gun-slinger in NYC…