Much loved TV Wildlife presenter and smiths fan Chris Packham has caused a bit of a fuss by arguing that we shoudl give up the conservation fight to save the panda. See: http://www.wildlifeextra.com//go/news/packham-panda342.html#cr
Now. I think that pandas may indeed by outdated, unsuited to the modern world and a bit pointless. But then again, so are, for example, churches, antique works of art and most things preserved as 'sacred' by the heritage industries. Look at the Cutty Sark for example. When that burnt to a crisp, was there a debate (outside this forum that is) about whether to 'rebuild', even though pretty much all of the original ship timber was unsalvagable, rendering whatever eventually becomes known as 'Cutty Sark' in future about as authentic as The Sugababes. No there wasn't. So the decision was immediately made that the ship should be 'rebuilt' (for which, read ' a new one should be built that we can hang the preserved decorations from the old one on) for the nation. So I say this: If the cutty sark and Mona Lisa are worth preserving because of what they represent or because of their timeless beauty, then so is the panda.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Whether pandas are 'worth' saving or not, they are going to be saved, if only because it's very hard to imagine a Chinese government that wouldn't gladly spend 99.9 per cent of GDP, plus every last ounce of technological innovation, on preserving their improbably cuddly-looking national symbol. Which is, by the standards of Chinese policy, probably quite sensible.
Sorry, still worrying about those pesky pandas. One thing that strikes me is that keeping pandas is, in a sense, no more artificial or 'pointless' than keeping dogs, cats, cattle, horses, chickens, goats etc in their many and various domesticated versions. All of them, to varying extents, really only exist due to some human preference for whatever it is that they have to offer. Humanity could doubtless manage without any of these creatures - but we don't want to. Why not admit that we're more or less domesticating pandas - as a national symbol, or a totem of conservation policy, or because they look cute or whatever - and just leave it at that? In other words, Chris Packham, where's the big problem?
And now I really am going to stop thinking about pandas and do some washing up instead.
Post a Comment