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A Struggle for Life or Death in the Nation
Yesterday I watched a deeply disturbing video. It showed an amazing effort by an eagle to capture a mountain goat, a creature many times the predator’s own size.
I realized I was simply watching animals do what they do naturally. We see an eagle determined to hold on to its prey as both of them tumble down a mountain. The eagle tries to overpower the goat and carry it away. It’s unclear whether they are tumbling down the mountain because the goat is trying to break free, or whether the eagle is trying to kill it. At the end, the goat lands atop the eagle, which finally releases the goat and flies off. The goat lives to see another day.
As I contemplated this video, another one came to mind. Many years ago, Jane Goodall discovered that her beloved chimpanzees, which she thought lived together in a civilized way, were capable of cruelty and cannibalism. The following video illustrates this behavior:
Unlike the eagle who pursues the goat for sustenance, the chimpanzees stalk, attack, and even eat their own species. They choose to attack another group to exert power and dominance; any other motives they may have are unclear. But again, they are not limited by human mores of civilization. They act, from all appearances, to demonstrate they can eliminate those who get in their way. Although some of those in the group that is attacked may try to defend themselves, they mostly run for their lives. I then realized that this animalistic behavior was not that far removed from watching today’s political scene.
* * * * *
We are living in a time when these types of behavior serve as metaphors for the state of our country. There are no rules that limit the actions of an enemy when that enemy has created its own standards for acceptable laws, values, and behavior. Violence is just another tactic. Denigration of the other side is not only tolerable but expected. Destroying reputations is just part of the plan.
Eliminate without question anyone or any organization that may get in your way. We are watching a concentrated and determined effort to take down this country. Unlike the eagle in the video, it has nothing to do with survival; it has everything to do with gaining overwhelming supremacy.
But the signs are there that conservatives are fighting back. We are persisting. We are moving forward. Step-by-step we are finding the weaknesses and evils of the other side, and we are pointing them out for the world to hear and we are acting to stop them.
Our willingness to act may, in fact, be a matter of life or death.
Published in Culture
A Stanley Kubrick production.
I had seen a clip once where an eagle tried to swoop down and knock a young mountain goat off a cliff, but this guy just landed and went right at him.
Chimps can be nasty, and they are smart enough to be good at. Separated from any real sense of morality, people can be just as bad, so as you say “Our willingness to act may, in fact, be a matter of life or death.”
@vancerichards, pretty stunning video. There was a time that the phrase, “a matter of life or death” would have been considered hyperbole and people on this very site would have protested its usage. I haven’t seen that kind of protest in quite a while.
I was rooting for the goat. I thought stomp that bleep.
I was also pondering this morning.
What if the Progs succeed in steeling the election, and it is self evident. I do believe the progs will not like the spoils of their win. I am not talking war. I am talking aghast political push back. Two years is a very short time for a correction. Also multitudes of unintended consequences the Progs won’t like.
Your victim gets a vote too, as the Goat (bless it’s heart) demonstrated.
It seems like every week there’s a story of someone trying to get a selfie with a bear, a bison, or some other animal that should be kept at a great distance.
@kevinschulte, you may very well be right. Regardless of the last several years, we have been steeped in the norms of a Republic. Unless they are willing to settle for simple destruction. Then again, if we face destruction, the quiet Right might finally fight back vigorously
It’s one more example of the lack of setting appropriate boundaries. Some people are simply nuts, @stad.
FIFY @stad
Neither are humans.
Touche.
That was the norm for humans up until the British Empire. Human mores weren’t all that concerned with the weak in practical terms until the enlightenment.
What I saw was an eagle joy riding on a goat. Mythologically cool.
And as to the metaphor of your article, who was the eagle and who are the goats in this election?
I’ll answer my own question. In my experience, goats are hungry, proud, destructive, violent, and horny. The goats in this video are Democrats and the eagle is not the predator but the protector.
Do we want to be the goats or the eagle?
And yet, how many are sitting out this “Struggle for Life or Death…”, quietly mesmerized by their 52″ flatscreens watching such enriching fare as Love Island and Big Brother and otherwise “entertaining themselves to death”?
Progressives figured out that they didn’t need stealth to subdue a population; they just needed a majority that don’t give a flip. So far, it looks as if they were correct.
I haven’t heard the word “evil” so frequently used until recently. And in my opinion correctly.
I figured someone would want to work with the metaphor. I actually had to think it through myself. I see goats as peaceful and harmless, and the eagle as a hungry dude! But the key is to think about what attributes we want to practice, right?
Neither. Ideally we want to be high I.Q. empirical men and woman with many of the defects of the human genome weeded out through the power of our science. But if we can’t be that, be the eagle.
Not sure I believe the first video. The lines of sight are too true, the descent down the mountain too smoothly photographed. This would have to have been a spontaneous, serendipitous encounter for the camera, but it looks rehearsed and perfect.
Actually I found a number of other videos of eagles attacking large prey.
Boy, you’re quick tonight Susan! What an idea for the eagle, to knock the goat off the cliff to its death the feed at leisure.
And you’re even quicker. I think you’re missing the point, doc.
An eagle with an IQ of 265? And arms, and hands with opposable thumbs? And teeth. And the body of a lion? And the head and face of a woman? Why stop at human?
Well become beyond human later. For right now, we got to be the best humans we can be. Even that will take two or three generations.
Also, a high I.Q. eagle wouldn’t be able to do much with extra I.Q. Think of Ravens and parrots. What good does their extra I.Q. get them?Teeth aren’t particularly useful to birds and a lion’s body is too heavy to fly. The rest of your argument gets kinda silly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6YCtwnYM2U
Sorry. But the whole thing was supposed to be silly. Our First Lady tells us to be the best we can be today. So I can’t just wait until they modify my genes. And I was describing basically a sphinx with arms, so it wasn’t too silly I hope.
Fear the eagle, but do not let the conniving pelican out of your sight.
A wonderful bird.
The Eagle was a millenial.
Love it, Stina. Who knew?!