Like An Animal

I've been listening to some of the comments coming out of the Syrian refugee camps in Turkey and a comment that came out loud and clear (thanks to the Canadian media) was refugees referring to Syrian troops as "animals". They "behaved like animals" or "they were like animals".

Now how many assumptions and worldviews are represented in that statement. It's the same old civilized story: Animals are violent and savage. They are monsters preying on the weak. No civilized person would act this way. No civilized human being would destroy villages and force people out and torture children. These people weren't civilized humans, they were depraved animals.

There must be a lot of evidence to back up these claims since this view is so widespread. Are bears sacking cities as we speak? Have they ever sacked cities? No unfortunately most bears are smart enough to hang around the local dump, digging up a free meal. Perhaps foxes torture rabbits and their children everyday? No they are mostly looking for a meal and the fastest way to a meal is to kill your prey quickly. Torturing a prey animal just increases the chance that it might actually hurt you as it dies slowly and lashes out. Given this, it would be stupid to torture. All those nature videos of lions hunting gazelles show that, as quickly as possible, they rip out the gazelle's throat, ending its life quickly and what has been called 'humanely'. Lions have to eat too and they don't have anything against the gazelle.

No sadly the Syrian troops were not behaving like animals at all. They were all too human. Only that animal (and the specifically civilized at that) behaves in such a callous and cruel manner.