Ah, the media. The beacon of truth, the light in this dark world. Or not? Well, let's be honest, these days it seems more like a comedy special with a tragic undertone. Take yesterday. I open a news website and what do I read? "Increase in dog bite incidents in the Netherlands." Okay, so far nothing new. Dogs live among people and, just like we do stupid things, they occasionally make a mistake. But the comments under the article? Oh, they are worth their weight in gold.
Immediately a legion of keyboard warriors appear calling for a total ban on keeping dogs. Yes, you read that right, those keyboard warriors want a total ban. Apparently, dogs are nothing more than ticking time bombs waiting for the right moment to wipe out humanity. Seriously, where do people come up with this? Well, they probably read the same media headlines as I did. Dogs are deadly creatures! And of course, they can be just that when you put them in the home of an idiot who has no idea what he is doing and is then surprised that his badly raised dog behaves like a dog.
But hey, let's blame the animal, not the human. Because training a dog? That takes time and effort, and who wants to do that these days? Let's just ban all dogs! Nice and easy. That the problem is of course not the dog itself, but the people who do not take responsibility, is something that most people do not realize. So here we have a classic case of humans being too stupid to dance for the devil.
Now that we are talking about stupidity, let's continue with another fantastic piece of news: the extinction of about 80% of the wild animals on this planet. Yes, the world is doing well. Animals are dying out due to climate change, deforestation, pollution, and of course human influence. And as if that's not enough yet, the expectation is that 70% of the wild animals we have left, will be extinct in 20 to 30 years from now. That is a depressing statistic in itself, but then it comes. What do we read in the Netherlands? The wolf is back! You'd think that's GREAT news. Until it isn't of course. In the Netherlands that needs to be addressed immediately, because imagine, 100 wolves in a country full of people is really a big problem.
We are talking about the Netherlands, a country with 18 million people, and counting, but apparently, we can't handle those 100 wolves. People get afraid that they can not take a walk in the park again, and people complain. Politicians listen for once, and suddenly there is a plan on the table to make the wolves sterile. Yes, because that is the biggest problem we are currently facing: a handful of wolves that keep an eye on the forests. That we have a shortage of 400K houses is not such an urgent problem.
Imagine just this, a wolf, a predator that kills to survive. Not to be cruel, not to just kill. No, just to stay alive. And what do we, the people, do? We kill each other for much less noble reasons. We have wars in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and other conflicts all over the world. All that is purely for power, money, and territory. Humanity is truly a master of self-destruction, but we worry especially about that wolf that took a sheep.
The difference between the way humans and animals kill is stark. A wolf does what it needs to do to survive. Us? We wage war and slaughter each other for what exactly? Ideologies, egos, and greed. And while we worry about these ‘dangerous’ animals, we shrug our shoulders at the real destruction caused by human hands. People would rather modify nature, make wolves sterile, and create even more space for themselves, while completely ignoring their own role in the disastrous state of the planet.
And then there is the media, which poisons us daily with all these half-truths and exaggerated stories. It is supposed to be independent, right? An honest report of what is happening in the world. Well, that would be nice, but in reality, it is as polarized as it can be. You are either pulled into one camp or the other because nuance and neutrality are out of fashion.
I should stop watching the news altogether. It is bad for my mental health. It drags me down, it makes me believe that the world around me is only getting worse. And that is partly true, but the constant stream of panic and negativity doesn’t exactly help to keep my spirits up. And what can I do about it? It makes me think "What am I doing it for?"
Maybe I’m too cynical, maybe I’m just having a bad day. But when I look at how people react to simple things like dogs or wolves, while we take bigger problems like the environment and war for granted, I wonder if there’s any hope left. It seems like we’d rather live in a world of superficial outrage and snap judgments than actually make the effort to think about what’s important.
So yes, maybe dogs can be dangerous, in the hands of people who can’t handle dogs and don’t bother to learn dog language. Maybe wolves can be dangerous, especially when you’re a human who has forgotten the connection with nature and no longer knows how to deal with it. But do you know what is really dangerous? A person with an opinion that is not based on anything, and an attitude as if they are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to the world. That is really dangerous.
