The Zoo Story
Having had the privilege of working with a close friend of the Leopard Man of Peckham, I feel moved to suggest that any purported public purpose of zoos is, in fact, secondary to their private purpose: delighting zookeepers. That is to say: people who love wild animals and want to work with them find justifications for the public maintenance of zoos where they can work. (Or, alternatively, find resources to set up a private zoo, which Todd Dalton did after his menagerie outgrew his back yard.)
Indeed, I would go further. All or nearly all cultural institutions of value are producer- rather than consumer-driven. Someone does something because he or she is mad about it, and is sufficiently good at it and/or sufficiently persuasive about it and/or has sufficient natural charisma that he or she pulls the public along as consumers/spectators/participants. We have paintings because some people love painting, and we have museums because some people love collecting. I don’t think zoos are any different, really.
To paraphrase good old Friedrich, “Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond public purpose.”
This is one of those cases where the medium really is the message. Every blog is really for the blogger.
— Trevor · Jan 11, 04:50 PM · #
This has always been a nagging suspicion at the back of my mind, but I’ve refused to face it full-on because the implications are huge and probably disappointing.
— Matt Frost · Jan 11, 06:20 PM · #
The good part is that lots of people share the common obsessions. Music, painting, theater, wild animals — and sports, I might add — seem to be popular in a lot of different cultures and at a lot of different levels. It isn’t all that hard to pull spectators in, if the presentation is any good.
— M.C. · Jan 11, 07:04 PM · #
If the noblest motive for blogging is the public good—and the blogger is part of the public—perhaps you guys are doing yourselves and the masses of TAS fans some good. It seems good to me when I settle down with my afternoon tea and start reading!
I wondered if there could be more to the tiger story: three young men out on the town who hadn’t left the park at closing time. Why were they still there? Having seen the big cats from time to time over the past 30 years at the San Diego Zoo, I was amazed that one had actually gotten up and done something—and I’m sorry that sounds terribly callous. It was the first thing I thought when I heard the news, after how absolutely horrifying.
— Joules · Jan 11, 11:17 PM · #
“and we have museums because some people love collecting”
.
and we have banks because some people love collecting money
— manaen · Jan 14, 08:46 PM · #