A Stitch in Haste

A while back I and many other bloggers lampooned an utterly silly "human exhibit" at the London Zoo.

Now Croatia accelerates the race to the bottom:

The cages -- which visitors will be able to enter and leave at will -- are labeled "Homo Sapiens" and are even partially furnished.
...
One cage is for "good man," and is furnished with things made of natural materials -- bamboo chairs, and water and fruit displayed on a wooden table. The other, for "evil man," has materials that harm nature -- plastic chairs, and garbage in the corner, with a note above the mirror reading: "The most dangerous beast on the planet."

The "good" cage contains brochures on how to protect the environment; the "bad" one shows how it is being ruined.

Of course, the bamboo chairs might very well have been made with Chinese slave labor, wooden tables imply deforestation, and fruits and vegetables, if left in a corner, constitute "garbage" just as much as a bag of refuse from a fast food restaurant.

And a plastic chair is likely cheaper than a bamboo chair, which means more people, including more poor people, can actually have them. The easiest way to expand environmentalism is to make it affordable to everyone.

On the other hand, I accept the premise that Croatians know something about dangerous beasts.

There is little fundamental difference between self-loathing at the level of the individual and at the level of the human race itself. Zoos are of course a place for learning about habitats, ecosystems and the interaction of species, including humanity. But that is not the same as saying that zoos are a place for propaganda and political indoctrination.

You would think that a nation and a people just recently liberated from the yoke of Communist anti-intellectualism would understand that.