Steve Erwin's Death

Well, the Crocidile Hunter, Steve Erwin, died the other day, and now people are jumping all over him about the Exploitation" of the animals he highlighted in his career. What a crock. The astounding ignorance of these people would be mindboggling if not for the fact that they are not known for rational thought. The feminist Germaine Greer is in the forefront in this criticism of a dead man. I guess she got tired of beating on the live ones, or maybe a dead man is more her speed.
The man in question, Steve Erwin, has educated more people than Greer, and if he did it with a flair for showmanship, well, that is the nature of the video beast- it wants entertainment with its education, and he delivered.
I mean, if you wanted to be a stickler about it, you could postulate that ANY interaction with animals changes the animals, but get real. We, as a people who believe in progress, NEED to understand the animals so we can attempt to live with them in a partnership of space.
That which we do not understand, we kill, either overtly, or by omission of understanding. It is not that we necessarily mean to (most of the time), but ignorance is deadly. Think of all the inner-city kids, who may never see the "Great Outdoors"--- Their only interaction with most wildlife would be programs like Erwin's.
I grew up on the bayou, catching snakes from about the age of seven. My folks, realizing that there were worse things a kid could get into, wisely bought me books about reptiles. I read them avidly, and since the country around my house was thickly forested at the time, I was able to find many of the species listed in the book. I had a blast, being the outdoors person I was, and formed a friendship with the Herpetologist at the Zoo, who was a kindly, respected man. From him I learned much, and I was sad to find that the woods I had known as a child had been all replaced by apartments and houses.
Such is progress. I know that progress will happen, as certainly as the sunrise, but some progress would have been more intelligently planned if we had known more about the species in our midst.
The knowledge of the animals Steve Erwin showed on his programs cna only have helped begin to shape the thoughts of people around the world.
This is why Germaine Greer should just shut the hell up--- Her ignorance is showing.