In honor of the kindly, generous birdwatcher, I decided to research what is the most kindly, generous bird. The answer, it seems (from The Cut), is the parrot:
A very endearing German study recently found that parrots are capable of selfless acts of kindness. When placed in neighboring cages, researchers found, the birds will pass each other tokens that can be exchanged for food, expecting nothing in return. “This was really surprising that they did this so spontaneously and so readily,” one biologist told NPR, sounding rightfully impressed. So, yes, the study strongly indicated that parrots are among the very few species capable of generosity....
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92 comments:
I'll be generous and say that the birdwatcher is a birdbrain.
Good for him.
What a punishment-addled culture our elites want.
I like that they used "cooperate" rather than "co-operate" to increase the number of 'copper's in the sentence.
Mercy seems to be a rare virtue these days. It's as if utterly destroying someone's life is still not enough for most people in these days of hopeless rage.
Parrots can also be real assholes to each other. Just like people.
Far be it from me to cast aspersions upon the inner life of parrots, but I can think of at least one evolutionarily-beneficial outcome that would reward this behavior off the top of my head, and I suspect that the biologist could think of many more. But impressing an NPR reporter can't be all that difficult, could it?
New York’s DA office has a lot of time on their hands right now? No serious crimes to deal with?
Parrots live a long time, and know what goes around comes around. And like humans they are a gregarious breed. However, the cynic in me, believes Mr. Birdwatcher doesn't just "watch birds" in Central park and doesn't want to get on the witness stand and answer questions about his whereabouts and actions.
The nice guy in me, believes he should be publicly praised for his actions. Too bad, more people aren't like that. She's been punished enough certainly applies in this case.
Parrots are so nice they repeat everything you say to show they are listening. That could be the new Redskins name. The best idea has been no change except replacing the savage Indian Warrior on the helmets with a picture of 3 redskin potatoes. Karen wold approve of that.
Karen makes the argument that Karen has suffered and they should go easy on Karen otherwise she'll ask for the manage...er...I mean NY Post.
He recognized the Douche-Line-Of-No-Return. So many of his compadres have failed this simple test.
C. Cooper may also be motivated by the facts that (a) he has publicly admitted to breaking the NYC law against attracting other people's companion animals without that person's permission, and (2) his description of the conversation before he started recording has him saying something that most reasonable people might find threatening.
No heroes, here.
Soooooo generous. That's what you think is generous?
“...parrots are among the very few species capable of generosity.... “.
Then why do they come with a pirate attached?
Cooper may want to evaluate how he approaches people, especially women, to mitigate the risk of future misunderstandings. The DA should should take time off and investigate his ulterior motives in order to mitigate progress.
Birdwatching is evidence of "Internalized Racial Superiority", an "intellectualization" of our relation with the ecology, and an old-fashioned demonstration of privilege enjoyed by people with uncommitted time and disposable capital.
Admirable. They'll get him for this.
She is just lucky she wasn't a white conservative- if she were, she would be facing 20 years instead of just the ridiculous 1.
My wife owns parrots. Let's just say there are outliers everywhere.
The DA's not going to be able to make the case stick. He'll get his name in the news for a while and he'll cost taxpayers a lot of money and he'll make Amy Cooper's life unpleasant for another year or so, and that's about it. If he presses charges, then I hope she counter sues for malicious prosecution.
BTW, what's on the other hand?
She has no obligation to participate in her show trial.
"That could be the new Redskins name."
There's already a baseball team called the Parrots.
Ken B: "Good for him."
Are you fully aware of what Chris Cooper admitted, on his own social media, he had done prior to starting his recording?
Btw, did you know that enticing a pet away from its owner is actually a crime in NYC?
Robert Barnes will be representing the woman and he is very accomplished in attacking these sorts of political prosecutions.
Christian Cooper is a good man.
Racism is utterly stupid!
"I'll be generous and say that the birdwatcher is a birdbrain."
I'm not sure if you meat this as an insult--for which there is no basis--but it is actually a compliment, as birds are very intelligent, social creatures.
I think it is just as likely that he is acting out of self-interest. His own statements about the interaction demonstrate that a reasonable person who have believed he was threatening to harm the dog. "Then I'm going to do what I want, and you won't like it" and then he pulls out the treat and attempts to entice the dog to come to him. And, he stated that he carries the treats for exactly this purpose, which indicates that this is not the first time he done this.
The women was also a bad actor. So, maybe we all just ought to move on to more important things ...
Finally a human with some humanity.
"Far be it from me to cast aspersions upon the inner life of parrots, but I can think of at least one evolutionarily-beneficial outcome that would reward this behavior off the top of my head, and I suspect that the biologist could think of many more."
Well, of course. That's why humans have the capacity to be generous to each other...for the evolutionarily beneficial outcomes it brings. Does saying this imply any aspersions on the behavior of generous humans?
From Karen’s house to the Althouse to the Jail house. Let the bells of dog leashed birdwatching freedom peal. We have suffered enough, let Karen go.
He threatened to hurt her dog, and doesn't want that part of the story told.
Fuck him.
Until this incident, I didn't know birdwatching was a thing among young black men in Central Park.
How was she wrong? He threatened her and her dog, and he is African-American.
But, but, but I only meant for PART of the righteous mob loosed upon her.
Who knew that once loosed I would not be in control.
At least the putz isn't trying for fame and fortune out of his douchery.
Btw, Robert Barnes will be representing the woman and he is very accomplished in attacking these sorts of political prosecutions.
christian cooper (I now refuse to capitalize "black", or any of their names) is cloaking himself in virtue, taking the high road in refusing to cooperate with the prosecution, but he's the one who got this ball of dogshit rolling.
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...
He recognized the Douche-Line-Of-No-Return. So many of his compadres have failed this simple test.
/thread
please note this tweet written by her attorney
https://twitter.com/Barnes_Law/status/1280248246540079105
I suppose he probably doesn't want to be cross examined about threatening a lone woman in a secluded clearing in the park.
I'll be generous and say that the birdwatcher is a birdbrain.
The available evidence suggests that she is being punished for his social dysfunction, perhaps awkwardness, and a progressive climate that rewards allegations of diversity and other classes of bigotry (e.g. some, select Lives Matter).
A very endearing German study recently found that parrots are capable of selfless acts of kindness.
And who conducted this "study", pray tell? A kindergarten full of underachieving vegans is what it sounds like. How could an honest researcher even pretend to understand a parrot's intentions? Lament all ye People the passing of the Age of Reason. Greet with trepidation the Age of Nonsense when unrepeatable "studies" are published as readily as the most rigorous basic research; when axiomatic arithmetic is called subjectively racist.
Big Brother has five fingers, goddamnit! Apply the high voltage, you curs!
"C. Cooper may also be motivated by the facts that (a) he has publicly admitted to breaking the NYC law against attracting other people's companion animals without that person's permission."
Seriously? There is a law about that? I thought the doggy treats in the pocket was a marvelous idea. Will go back to carrying a machete when I jog.
Good for him. I think I need to read some of the comic books he's written just out of principle.
"However, the cynic in me, believes Mr. Birdwatcher doesn't just "watch birds" in Central park"
He was president of the Harvard Ornithological Club in the 1980s and is on the board of the NYC Audubon society, so I think he's probably a legitimate bird watcher. A part of the dynamic of the incident that many people miss is that the woman was letting her dog run wild in a part of Central Park that is specifically a bird sanctuary and a designated "wild area". Since it's a protected oasis in a vast urban environment, from a bird's point of view, many migratory species rely on it. He was acting as something of a volunteer game warden, if you will.
He is a mensch, although the term does not capture his generosity.
the kindly, generous birdwatcher,
Has Althouse ever used sarcasm before? It seems quite out of character.
Democrats are just as generous as parrots. The difference is that they use Other People's Money.
So, a likely explanation, the least threatening, is that he lacks the social graces necessary to meet women. Another, very common, explanation is Sexual Harassment and You - Saturday Night Live.
Seemed generous to me, but, more to the point, rational. She's her own worst enemy and terrible company. Helping the DA prosecute her is not a good use of his time and will do nothing to change who she is.
Plus, in a city where violent criminals no longer can be held in jail, why bother?
In my opinion she paid too steep a price for reacting (very) badly to someone that appeared to intend to harm her dog. But such is our culture today. I suppose the DA could send her to that class in Seattle; that would set her straight.
“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
Abraham Lincoln
"New York’s DA office has a lot of time on their hands right now? No serious crimes to deal with?"
the laws only apply to white people now so that frees up alot of time
A small mercy, I suppose, though given his education, background (and that of his sister, who originally shared the video), I can't help but believe he knew exactly how this was going to turn out from the moment he started recording. None of it excuses the dog owner's behavior, but he's crying crocodile tears, imho.
I don't disagree with what he is doing. However, my previous description of this incident was two assholes being assholes to each other, and that has not changed. It is possible that he has had a change of heart, but I am cynical enough - can one be anything else these days? - to believe he is doing this for less than altruistic motives. Maybe he thinks she has suffered enough, maybe he does not want the bother of a court case, maybe he does not want other details to get out. Do not trust assholes.
The birdwatcher is asshole
Aren't people actually named Karen annoyed by this label?
@tim maguire
"BTW, what's on the other hand?"
That's a good question.
But why is it 'on' the one/other hand? Why isn't it 'in'? In one hand...in the other hand.
Unless it refers to gloves or lotion it doesn't make sense.
One for the professor...
Inga: '“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
Abraham Lincoln"
The Democratics have already cancelled Lincoln and some have literally called him an evil traitor.
Generous? Hardly. I'm pretty sure Amy Cooper would have much preferred her day in court to trial by internet mob, thanks to Mr. Cooper's generous sister posting the video on Twitter.
"Hand" for side-- right hand of God etc.
Just an idiomatic survival.
Narr
Oh, you meant THE professor
What are the odds that he wasn't "birdwatching", but rather "chick spotting", then, lacking social graces, he fumbled introduction of himself to her dog, which progressed to "Sexual Harassment and You - Saturday Night Live". Unfortunately, in this climate of rabid diversity, first, they came for the babies; then, they came for the white males; finally, they came for the white females... You've made great progress, one step forward, two steps backward, feminists.
The Other Hand is holding the bird that beats two in the bush.
I am Laslo.
Aren't people actually named Karen annoyed by this label?
Karen (1)
Mongoloid people of Burma, 1759 (as Carian), from Burmese ka-reng "wild, dirty, low-caste man" [OED].
Karen (2)
fem. proper name, Danish shortened form of Katherine. Rare before 1928; a top-10 name for girls born in the U.S. 1951-1968.
- etymonline.com
Yeah, as Katherine... Karen became the popular girl on campus, the anti-Karens appropriated her name and colored it in order to mock her and force her to kneel.
preferred her day in court to trial by internet mob
Mob, press... witch trials and warlock judgments are quintessential elements of progress. #HateLovesAbortion
@Narr...
Your explanation makes perfect sense to me, but I didn't see it as an option when I did (an admittedly quick) search on the internet machine.
My recollection is she reasonably believed he threatened her dog and she did not say anything to the police that did not reasonably believe was true. What a ridiculous charge. Just another DA looking for higher office like the DA in Atlanta who was so bent out of shape that he officer who shot Brooks said “I got him”
JohnAnnArbor,
Nobody gives a shit.
People named Sharon's probably hate than song.
People named Annie probably hate Michael Jackson asking if they are ok.
If you care about that, Ted Kaczynski yourself.
"What are the odds that he wasn't "birdwatching", but rather "chick spotting"
Zero to infinity. c. cooper is as gay as any goose he ever spotted.
"Democrats are just as generous as parrots. The difference is that they use Other People's Money."
So do the Republicans. That's how all government works, down to the lowliest little local municipality.
"My recollection is she reasonably believed he threatened her dog and she did not say anything to the police that did not reasonably believe was true."
No. She refused his request that she leash her dog, in a part of the park that does not permit unleashed dogs. She also anticipated that by specifying an "African American man" as opposed to just "a man," the police response would be more swift and, uh, "decisive."
Blogger Drago said... Are you fully aware of what Chris Cooper admitted, on his own social media, he had done prior to starting his recording?
Btw, did you know that enticing a pet away from its owner is actually a crime in NYC?
Stunningly good knowledge of the trivial and absurd. Too bad the Bronco's still suck.
"What are the odds that he wasn't 'birdwatching,' but rather 'chick spotting'"
Why would this even occur to you? NYC has a large population of avid bird-watchers, and Central Park is host to hundreds of species of birds throughout each year. The bird-watchers are a fixture in the park.
I still think she likely had a similar attitude at work and this was a convenient excuse to finally get rid of her for some type of cause.
As an NYT headline describes a "Spike in Gun Violence Alarms an On-Edge N.Y.C," D.A. Cyrus Vance, Jr (D) remains grittily determined to keep his eye on the ball.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/nyregion/murders-nyc-guns-crime.html
Biff said...
… given his education, background (and that of his sister, who originally shared the video), I can't help but believe he knew exactly how this was going to turn out from the moment he started recording. None of it excuses the dog owner's behavior, but he's crying crocodile tears, imho.
Bingo. Mr. Cooper knew exactly what he was doing and how he hoped it would play out. He gave Ms. Cooper enough leash to hang herself. She didn’t hear the dogwhistle – and obliged him nicely…
Ficta said...
…A part of the dynamic of the incident that many people miss is that the woman was letting her dog run wild in a part of Central Park that is specifically a bird sanctuary and a designated "wild area"…
Everybody who lives in Manhattan knows the Ramble is indeed a “wild area”, especially after dark…
CJ said...
New York’s DA office has a lot of time on their hands right now? No serious crimes to deal with?
The Manhattan DA, Cy Vance, Jr., is well attuned to the political winds. No doubt that headlines and influential connections (e.g., Weinstein, Epstein) play a role in which cases to ignore and which to prosecute.
Howard: "Stunningly good knowledge of the trivial and absurd."
You heroic lefties in NY thought it was important enough to craft a law.
Why is that my fault?
Oh, right. Steve Bannon made them do it.
Chris Cooper seems like a decent sort. Cy Vance, however, is a loathsome scumbag. Vance took $10,000 from Harvey Weinstein for his re-election campaign. Vance examined the evidence against Weinstein and decided that there wasn't enough to charge Harvey....I tried to vote against Vance in the primary. He ran unopposed. Why does a guy who's running unopposed need campaign funds?....I think the Rambles used to be a gay assignation area. Some years back, there was that one Olympic figure skater who got attacked there by gay bashers. Maybe Chris was looking to kill two birds with one stone, as the saying goes.
steve uhr: "My recollection is she reasonably believed he threatened her dog and she did not say anything to the police that did not reasonably believe was true."
Chris Cooper bragged on social media about what he had done.
I suspect his admitting to a crime on social media is one reason he now wants to simply "drop" the whole matter.
She probably wasn't racist in the usual sense of the term. She used the "African-American man" gambit as a pressure tactic. She's probably used to going for the jugular in her arguments. She was a portofolio manager. She's probably won a lot of arguments. As it turned out here, however, the jugular that got severed was her own.
A graceful winner. He's got my vote.
Robert Cook said --- ""She also anticipated that by specifying an "African American man" as opposed to just "a man," the police response would be more swift and, uh, "decisive." "
And you know what was in her mind and heart because you know her? Believe it or not, the police generally are interested in a description of a suspect. You know, height, weight, age, sex, race, clothes, tatoos, etc.
The Univ Minn police have a policy not to include the suspect's race from crime alert descriptions. Nice they're putting the safety of the students first.
Zero to infinity. c. cooper is as gay as any goose he ever spotted.
Trans/homo? So, the dog was the end, not the means, and the social disgrace or implicit threat was intended drive away his owner. Good boy.
Robert Cook said...
["My recollection is she reasonably believed he threatened her dog and she did not say anything to the police that did not reasonably believe was true."]
No. She refused his request that she leash her dog, in a part of the park that does not permit unleashed dogs.
The key to understanding Cook is noting the evidence he supplies has nothing to do with the assertion he thinks it refutes. Her not keeping her dog leashed does not mean he did not threaten the dog, in fact her dog being loose makes it makes it far more likely he threatened the dog. Cook's inability to match the contradiction to the event explains why he consistently recommends solutions which will make the problems he thinks he's addressing worse.
Actually, I would like to see the prosecutor have to make a case for false accusation, let them prove that she did not feel threatened. As we know, all false police reports are carefully and equally prosecuted with no selective bias.
If she is not convicted in a court of law, her firing and public disgrace are more likely to be used by a smart lawyer to sue for illegal firing, and defamation. Charge, try, convict - and sentence her to time served if you must be lenient - but definitely let the judicial system chew her up and spit her out before she comes back at you, still snarling.
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...
"What are the odds that he wasn't "birdwatching", but rather "chick spotting"
Zero to infinity. c. cooper is as gay as any goose he ever spotted.
Not only that, but she's ugly. Her face is wrong. So much so that I wasn't even interested in the hint of cleavage she was showing, and I am alllways interested in cleavage.
Btw, did you know that enticing a pet away from its owner is actually a crime in NYC?
Stunningly good knowledge of the trivial and absurd. Too bad the Bronco's still suck
Interesting info, did not know that. The pisstake was gratuitous, Howard.
The friendly bird-watcher gave her a remark that would be taken as threatening in context - alone with a black man in a park - and she called it in as such.
That is, he was trading on the threatening black man reputation to get at her.
He's not mad at her but because it was his fault and he knows it. Not generosity.
Deterrent to what. The lady did nothing wrong.
Well, of course. That's why humans have the capacity to be generous to each other...for the evolutionarily beneficial outcomes it brings. Does saying this imply any aspersions on the behavior of generous humans?
Humans have a capacity for generosity, that is true, but I suspect that long before humans (or "humans") had any sort of self-awareness we would identify as such, they had adopted a behavior that was evolutionarily beneficial and that they would ultimately conceive as "good".
Parrots have a behavior that humans may mistake for generosity, but I doubt have enough self awareness to recognize that behavior as "good."
New Yorkers are asshoe.
Narr
I want to know the dog's side of the story
“No. She refused his request that she leash her dog, in a part of the park that does not permit unleashed dogs. She also anticipated that by specifying an "African American man" as opposed to just "a man," the police response would be more swift and, uh, "decisive."”
Cooper’s a drama queen but I don’t think Cookie is wrong about this one. I’ve seen this kind of scenario play out in real life and, while I don’t think she’s any more racist than the average White Prog, I do think she’s an entitled piece of shit who thought she knew the moves to stick it to someone who was thwarting her. Glad it blew up in her face.
Headline: "Sane Man Speaks".
We had a parrot in the old house in Berkeley. When the parrot saw a cat out the window, he would yell "cat", and the family dog would bound to the window and bark.
We noticed a dark side to the parrot. When he was bored, he would yell "cat", watch the dog faithfully run to the window and bark. Then we would see the parrot silently laugh to himself..., "got him again, he never learns".
So my view of parrots includes their dark side. Dogs are too trusting. Never trust a parrot.
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