Word to the Masses: Capital Entertainment: the cognitive dissonance of humanity

A man promulgates his firm position on pro-life, yet he chooses to murder a doctor for performing abortions.

A person who professes Christianity is deeply opposed to the practices of justice in Middle Eastern countries – where Muslims are the vast majority. However, they will quote scripture from the Bible – hissing, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot,” Exodus 21:24, in support of capital punishment on American soil.

Life seems to be a merry-go-round of hypocrisy for the human species. Theoretically, we stand at the top of the social animal food chain. Does this give us the authority to encage, domesticate and showcase other social animals that we deem as inferior?

A little while ago, the legendary Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that they

would retire elephants from the center ring of “entertainment.”

This entails a residential upgrade to a 200-acre “conservation” enclosure, which is owned by the same ringmasters of death defying feats, human paradox of conserving life as a form of entertainment.

For years, animal rights activists have made it their business to speak on behalf of the voiceless pachyderm. The brutality and mistreatment of these fellow mammals leads one to believe that social animal hierarchy is a direct contrast to moral principle. Just how far would we go for the sake of “entertainment?”

When these enormous, majestic mammals stand on their hind legs, or perfect a pirouette without the slightest hint of dizziness, we humans convince ourselves the elephants enjoy our manmade spotlight. When all the while, the elephant is simply replaying a nightmarish reality - over and over again – in its head.

Decades and billions worth of revenue dollars later, the ringmasters decide to exercise humanity by “retiring” the ever-so-grateful elephants. Well, what about the tigers, bears and show ponies? The price of “entertainment” is extremely costly for any animal under the human umbrella of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

Disturbingly enough, the capital punishment discussion bears a similar tone. Many death row sympathizers are under the impression that North Carolina’s 10-year de facto moratorium favors the prisoners whose lives are being held in abeyance.

Some might even argue that this is humanity coming to the forefront. Maybe this would hold true if that degree of humanity did not hold a sentence of life without the possibility of parole over the heads of the many mammals residing here that have fallen prey to injustice.

Capital punishment is a form of “entertainment” where humans kill other humans after a prolonged showcase of litigable grandstanding. It is a circus of justice that makes a mockery of the “ringmasters” who choose to believe their business of death dealing is an appropriate display of social supremacy.