December 17, 2022

"People are awful; these beautiful creatures have a right to thrive in their habitats. Seriously, the planet didn’t need 8 billion people."

"It’s not like a high percentage of them especially in the US are smart, compassionate and empathetic."

That's one of the most recommended comments at "What Should You Do When the Bear Is Cinnamon? Scientists have uncovered a genetic mutation that makes it dangerously difficult to distinguish a black bear from a grizzly" (NYT).

Let me — without compassion or empathy — point out that the commenter is herself lacking in compassion and empathy. I presume she regards herself as compassionate and empathetic because she only withholds compassion and empathy from those who are not compassionate and empathetic.

80 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

People are awful; these beautiful creatures have a right to thrive in their habitats. Seriously, the planet didn’t need 8 billion people."

I'm not even Canadian, but have you considered suicide?

RMc said...

"It’s not like a high percentage of them especially in the US are smart, compassionate and empathetic."

Looking in a mirror, I see.

Enigma said...

The commentator is likely formulating a "final solution" for human overpopulation. Look to Gates, Soros, Schwab, Fauci, Trudeau, and others as they throttle food, fuel, and viruses in an apparent New New New World Order plan.

The many genocides of the 20th century may pale in comparison to what happens to humans by the year 2100 or 2050 or 2030.

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

"The planet didn't need 8 billion people."

Any chance she will put the planet's "needs" before her own and jump off a bridge? Nah, she just wants to tell other people what to do.

Howard said...

Exactly. Deplorables can't help it. They are helpless meat puppet slaves to their inferior genetics and the oppressed environmental life conditions inflicted on them. How could one feel anything but compassion and sympathy for those poor suffering hateful angry bigots lacking compassion and sympathy.

IOW, it Sux 2 B U

Remember, it's not your fault... It's not your fault... It's not your fault... It's not your fault...

rwnutjob said...

"Stupid American" is lazy & tedious, but it's Ok to denigrate the US because the people running it hate it too

GrapeApe said...

Who is the arbiter of these things- compassion and empathy? My version may differ from others. I may feel sorry for a drug abuser but my compassion does not involve giving them money for the next high. If begging money for food then I will take them to a restaurant and buy them food, but no cash in the pocket.

Temujin said...

I guess I'm part of the crowd that is not smart, compassionate and empathetic because I don't even see what the question or concern is here. Granted, it's the NYT and I don't have access to reading the article. But based on what I can read, I take it some people want to cuddle up with a brown bear, but not a black bear? Or with a black bear but not a brown bear?

I see no issue here at all. No one should ever cuddle up with any bear of any color. And those that want to are proving Darwin's theories on the survival of the fittest. It's one way to cull the dim from the herd. Another way is with network TV programming.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Where would the compassionate and empathetic be without the uncompassionate…

First we need to unpack some definitions for discompassionate, miscompassionate and malcompassionate.

Kate said...

Calling it cinnamon makes it sound like a child's teddy bear. It's spicy and warm and cuddly. That you would choose to highlight a juvenile comment rather than the details of the article seems appropriate.

Carol said...

Compassion and empathy are just a style, the way you come off, the kindly little noises you make.

They have no real empathy for dissenters.

Jersey Fled said...

I presume she regards herself as compassionate and empathetic because she only withholds compassion and empathy from those who are not compassionate and empathetic.

That describes every liberal that I know.

Achilles said...

""People are awful; these beautiful creatures have a right to thrive in their habitats. Seriously, the planet didn’t need 8 billion people.""

Exactly what I would expect from a NYTs reader.

This is the type of person you want when you are trying to build a low trust society that requires a fascist regime to lord over it.

The reason they want to disarm us is to make her dreams come true.

Humperdink said...

Waiting for Zeke Emanuel to reach the age of 75 so he can "check out" as he advocates for others. But he doesn't hold a candle to Bill Gates - the most dangerous man in America. His views on the world's population are downright Maoesque.

Lurker21 said...

"These beautiful creatures" scratch their asses on trees, rummage through garbage, and eat whatever's in sight.

There may be a limit to how low they can sink, but they can't rise very high either.

Political Junkie said...

If the fusion testing doesn't work out, then we just need all the world to become wealthy. Birth rates worldwide will dramatically decline and then global population will fall.

But there will be awesome economic challenges when global depopulation occurs.

Achilles said...

Howard said...
Exactly. Deplorables can't help it. They are helpless meat puppet slaves to their inferior genetics and the oppressed environmental life conditions inflicted on them. How could one feel anything but compassion and sympathy for those poor suffering hateful angry bigots lacking compassion and sympathy.

These are the times when I believe that Howard is Meade’s sock puppet troll.

Howard supports feeding the women, children and Americans in Afghanistan to the taliban and simultaneously supports sending billions to a corrupt dictator to wage war in the same sphere.

For Howard there is no cognitive dissonance here.

Because his world view is built on hatred.

Dave Begley said...

We need fewer American liberals. That I can tell you.

Carol said...

Anyway, I'm afraid of bears of any color. Whenever I think of going to my favorite hiking spots I have to stop myself. There are a lot more bears, lions and wolves about. Grizzlies are coming closer to town.

It's not the same idyllic place it was in the 70s when I first came to Montana. The woods were ours, but we were living in a dream world. The endangered species lists had only just begun their insidious work.

We spend centuries getting rid of the peril only to welcome it back in.

How dumb is that?

Laurel said...

It's the latest iteration of "We don't tolerate the intolerant!"

Today, it's "We don't empathize with the unempathetic!"

I suggest buying the lefties in your circle a huge mirror.

Let's start with Howard.

Peglegged Picador said...

I mean, it's pretty clear that our species is a cancer on this planet (even the compassionate and empathetic members)...

Will Cate said...

Empathy is 90% performance art.

Wilbur said...

AA: "Let me — without compassion or empathy — point out that the commenter is herself lacking in compassion and empathy."


You left out "smart". Why? Compassion and empathy? Anyone who asserts that animals have "a right to thrive", is ipso facto lacking in deep or considered thought.

Ambrose said...

That is a highly common them among NYT commenters - almost any comment thread on something bad devolves into "There are too many other people - and they are icky."

Aggie said...

..."the commenter is herself lacking in compassion and empathy"

Not only that, she's without adequate powers of observation and a little common sense, too. Grizzlies are twice the size of black bears and there are many other differences as well. Maybe she should invest in a little personal research.

ConradBibby said...

Does this lady really believe that bears, or any wild creatures, are superior to humans in terms of intelligence, compassion, or empathy? Does she think the Care Bears are real?

Lady, there's a reason we refer to violent criminals as "animals."

Iman said...

Howard gets his nut at 7:38AM.

Go back to sleep, sadsack.

Iman said...

Bears get hungry. You don’t want to encounter a hungry bear, whatever its race, creed or color.

Bears will fuck you up. Enjoy your day!

Humperdink said...

Every time I read someone wailing about the animals, I think of the Bible verse: "Arise Peter, kill and eat".

Owen said...

This fool thinks bears are cuddly? Having met one at entirely too close range, I can tell you that they are about as cuddly as a freight train.

We could leave it there —mock the writer for fatuous sentimentality— but it bespeaks a wider and deeper pathology. Totalitarianism rests on, depends on, sentimentality: a childish and self-pleasing inattention to how the cold world really works. Distract the masses with cuddly bears, while the completely unsentimental governors keep the trains running and the ovens filled.

Bob Boyd said...

Her comment smells like anti-depressants, vibrators and cat pee.

Omaha1 said...

Maybe we should call them "pumpkin spice" bears.

cassandra lite said...

"It’s not like a high percentage of them especially in the US are smart, compassionate and empathetic."

I'm continually amazed at how Americans are the most self-loathing people on the planet.

Millions of people subject themselves to the worst abuses to escape the shitholes they were born in in order to come here (as we see every day on the southern border), but they still have more pride in those shitholes than the most privileged Americans do in the US.

William said...

I read through the comments. That one comment was recommended but atypical. Most people in the comments reported on their encounters with bears. The encounters were frightening but enjoyable, rather like a good horror movie....One plus about the bears in our national parks is that they help to thin out the herds of fat, stupid tourists. You rarely encounter obese hikers in our national parks. We have the bears to thank for that.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I’m a beautiful creature and I deserve to thrive in my habitat, as do my little bear cubs. Maybe awful humans should stop deliberately setting conditions that thwart the thriving of beautiful creatures and their little cubs like me and mine. Even if you find us scary and distasteful. It would be the compassionate and empathetic thing to do. For more information on compassion and empathy, consult your local library, if the cat ladies who run it didn’t burn all the old books yet to make more room for gay teen porn.

BG said...

Timothy Treadwell unavailable for comment.

Rusty said...

"For Howard there is no cognitive dissonance here.

Because his world view is built on hatred."
And not an insignificant amount of gin and weed. Loser.

How many times do I have to say this? Leave the fucking wildlife alone! Especially the ones that out weigh you and can run faster than you. Look. Nobody enjoys a tree hugger getting gored by a bison and launched into the air more than me. But it causes long lines in the park and if I wanted to be in a traffic jam I'd drive from Chicago to Michigan city every day.
Unless you're going to kill it and eat it don't annoy it. Because YOU are the alternate food source to literally everything outside your door.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

“This could be a perfect Utopia with just a few changes.“
“Great! Where do we start?”
“Let’s decide which half gets to stay in order to have the perfect balance of population to resources…”
“Wait. What?”
“…and then in order to make the world the ideal temperature we need to…”
“Whoa whoa. Wait.”
“You sound very antiutopian you perfection denier!”

tim maguire said...

When did “kind and compassionate” become a euphemism for hating humanity? (About the same time it became a mark of the sophisticated American to hate Americans, but when, exactly, was that? I bet we could narrow it down to an event.)

Dude1394 said...

What a tool. Roaches, ants, wasps, rats, mice have a right to live in their environment ( your home ) but I expect you squash and poison them daily.

We really do need a culling of the gene pool, starting with this author and those commenters.

RNB said...

"I love the planet. It's people I can't stand."

BarrySanders20 said...

William said: "Most people in the comments reported on their encounters with bears. The encounters were frightening but enjoyable ..."

Those who had frightening and non-enjoyable encounters are not around to comment. Bring bear spray if you venture into nature out west. It'll work 90% of the time, and is probably more effective than a handgun in repelling an aggressive bear.

Ironically, the only time I think there are far too many people is when I have the mispleasure of visiting cities like New York where the commenter likely resides.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Empathy should occur in parents dealing with infants. Otherwise it's a mental illness. Try sympathy instead.

Leland said...

Once we get passed the obligatory Malthusians beliefs, it is another NYT's article that assumes character based on the color of skin, or fur in this case. Here is how the National Park Service identifies between the bears. Note the silhouettes at the bottom remove fur color to point out the truly distinctive features.

Big Mike said...

Timothy Treadwell unavailable for comment.

Darsh Patel is also unavailable, for much the same reason, except Treadwell was killed and eaten by an Alaskan brown bear (same species as the grizzly) in Alaska while Patel was killed but only partially devoured by a black bear in New Jersey. Both should have known better than to be where they were.

tommyesq said...

I take it some people want to cuddle up with a brown bear, but not a black bear? Or with a black bear but not a brown bear?


The important distinction is that black bears will generally leave you alone unless you somehow sneak up on one, or unless you appear to be a threat to its cubs. A grizzly (brown) bear will often be highly territorial and aggressive. The recommended response should you see one therefore can differ significantly - be loud, tall and threatening to a black bear and it will almost always run away. Do the same to a brown and you are in big trouble.

Larry J said...

It’s mindsets like that commenter’s that have led to mass murders and genocide. To them, some people are just inferior and therefore aren’t worthy to live.

Michael K said...

Ironically, the only time I think there are far too many people is when I have the mispleasure of visiting cities like New York where the commenter likely resides.

Especially because it is full of New Yorkers.

Michael K said...


Blogger Howard said...

Exactly. Deplorables can't help it. They are helpless meat puppet slaves to their inferior genetics and the oppressed environmental life conditions inflicted on them.


A perfect example of a New Yorker comment.

Mike said...

My late brother once said (after spending some time in Paris on his Wanderjahre) that the only thing wrong with Paris is that it's full of Parisians.

The same thing could be said about New York City--with the caveat that it's not just the people that are wrong. It certainly does harbor some odious folks. A lot them work or write for the New York Times or the New Yorker.

Ann Althouse said...

“ You left out "smart". Why? ”

It’s a different topic and it bores me. So much bullshit these days under that rubric.

But yeah, a lot of hatefulness is expressed through the smart/dumb dichotomy. Often by people who assume they are the smart ones. So dumb!

TheDopeFromHope said...

As PJ O'Rourke once said, one of the mantras of the left is: "Just the right amount of me, and too much of you." Articles like this in the NYT, WaPo, etc. always draw the same comments. Off yourselves already!

n.n said...

Planned parenthood, Planned parent/hood, Planned peoplehood. A wicked solution. A final solution. First, they came for the Jews.

MadTownGuy said...

Shorter article: 'we need only 2 billion of the "right" people. Go bears!'

RigelDog said...

Wondering what other countries are more smart/compassionate/empathetic than the USA. Seriously. We made a huge mistake when we didn't push back when it became common to assert "Americans are X (pick a shitty trait)." As opposed to???

stlcdr said...

Time to roll out “cocaine bear”, again!

rhhardin said...

You must root out your bad habitats one by one.

Bad habitats have a lot of weeds.

Anonymous said...

After the New York hipsters manage to dismantle our technological civilization, let's see how many of themsurvive. We already know they have no idea how to make anything or grow food.

rhhardin said...

Often by people who assume they are the smart ones.

I watch for sneers.

Rusty said...

More people are killed every year by black bears than by brown bears.
Althouse said, " Often by people who assume they are the smart ones. So dumb!
I think there is plenty of room on the," Fuck Around/Find Out" graph for everyone. The "smart" ones are the ones that survived the "Find Out" side. And, let's face it, at one time or another that's been all of us.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Anyway, I'm afraid of bears of any color. Whenever I think of going to my favorite hiking spots I have to stop myself. There are a lot more bears, lions and wolves about. Grizzlies are coming closer to town.

“It's not the same idyllic place it was in the 70s when I first came to Montana. The woods were ours, but we were living in a dream world. The endangered species lists had only just begun their insidious work.”

Back then, you probably didn’t have brown bear or relocated Canadian Gray Wolves (closest they could find to our native wolves, but larger, and run in bigger packs) outside of the two big National {arks, and maybe the Wilderness Areajust south of Glacier. We got both into our county, for the first time is most of a century, thanks, at least partially, to our benevolent federal government. The first time we know that we had Brown Bears was when a couple wandered into a town west of us. One died from wounds inflicted by a BNSF train. The other from gunshot wounds. The shooter was acquitted of the killing because he claimed he thought that it was a black bear - because the USFS had been lying to us about there being no brown bears. They knew that there were because they had relocated these two trouble bears to the Wilderness area north of there. Since then, the ridge to the north of us has become a brown bear highway between that wilderness area, and the ones south of Glacier. The (very numerous) black bears are not very happy - since browns very happily predate on (kill and eat) blacks.

Wolves came in on the south ridge. They have flourished since their introduction. They were flourishing so well that MT reintroduced very controlled hunting of them. Whoops. Can’t do that. The FJB Administration (supported by the bulk of NYT readers) just squashed that. They breed very quickly. No mind. The NYT readers don’t care. They are a noble breed, and if a rancher’s herds of cattle or flocks of sheep have to suffer their depredations, that is the cost of restoring nature. Maybe even a kid or two, here or there. All for the cause.

I carry a 10 mm G20 with bear loads when walking the dog. Switch to SD ammo when I go to the south ridge (bear loads penetrate, while self defense loads expand - much better for wolves and mountain lions). Have a lever action 45 mag, with bear loads, by the front door, as well as several hunting rifles. Never needed them - but vigilance is the cost of living in rural NW MT. Closest I came last summer was when the dog alerted, and I heard a distinctive whoop on the other side of a big bush, several hundred feet from the house. I pulled the dog in the opposite direction, and cleared the gun. End of problem. Despite being raised in PHX, she has remarkable instincts. She has in the last year recognized that bear and a couple rattle snakes before I did. Still need to get her vaccinated for rattle snakes though… that is here in PHX. We have a large open space south of us, and I carry either a 9 mm G17 or G9 for the fairly aggressive pack of coyotes that live there, and occasionally come into the subdivision, presumably scouting for small and medium sized dogs, and maybe even kids. A lot of those around, but mostly accompanied by adults. So, not just rural MT.

Mike said...

A black bear and a grizzly? There are only two types of bear, one that is offering me immediate bodily harm, and one that is leaving me alone, and there is absolutely no difficulty whatsoever in distinguishing between them. The only question is whether I am adequately well armed should I encounter the former.

effinayright said...

Big Mike said...
Timothy Treadwell unavailable for comment.

Darsh Patel is also unavailable....was killed but only partially devoured by a black bear in New Jersey. Both should have known better than to be where they were.
*************

IIRC Patel had the distinction of being the first human killed by a bear in New Jersey in 150 years.

Talk about "bad karma"!!

Jay Quenel said...

After I read Rainbow Six in 98 I decided Clancy had jumped the shark. The villain's and plot were just too cartoonish. Killing off the human race so the 0.001 % could ride around in jets watching the earth recover? Just ridiculus.

Man, I owe Clancy an apology.

Unless, that's where these genocidaire's got their plan.

autothreads said...

Mammals aren't necessarily kind. The combination of the lizard brain and a mammalian cerebral cortex doesn't always lead to lovely outcomes. Chimps wage war and mutilate their dead enemies, and dolphins will gang rape, Some human behaviors, though, like compassion and empathy, simply don't exist in nature. There are no food pantries for the poor, sick, and weak of the forest. Like Tennyson wrote, nature is indeed red in tooth and claw. Big bears, grizzlies, kodiaks, and polars, are the only animals in North America that will deliberately predate humans for food. Showing compassion and empathy to something that wants to eat you is not very adaptive behavior.

autothreads said...

Mammals aren't necessarily kind. The combination of the lizard brain and a mammalian cerebral cortex doesn't always lead to lovely outcomes. Chimps wage war and mutilate their dead enemies, and dolphins will gang rape, Some human behaviors, though, like compassion and empathy, simply don't exist in nature. There are no food pantries for the poor, sick, and weak of the forest. Like Tennyson wrote, nature is indeed red in tooth and claw. Big bears, grizzlies, kodiaks, and polars, are the only animals in North America that will deliberately predate humans for food. Showing compassion and empathy to something that wants to eat you is not very adaptive behavior.

Alu Toloa said...

Wonder if she has the same compassion for ticks and other insect vectors, who are not soft and cuddly, and kill far more of us folks than charismatic megafauna, which, like the atavistic fear of snakes in primates, seem to incite an inordinate amount of fear in humans. Natural selection at work once again?

Iman said...

“A perfect example of a New Yorker comment”

He self-indentified as a Masshole… that’s close enough.

Michael said...

The commenter is in Brooklyn so it makes sense she is a ninny. Bears are bloody everywhere. 4000 in Florida so take it from there.

Michael said...

Oh, and the Brooklyn commenter is 40 minutes from JFK where there are planes that will take her anywhere in the world. Today even.

Howard said...

Thanks, Doc. That's exactly what I was going for: what a repressed republican wretch hears inside his head when misreading a New Yorker article while feeling victimized and subconsciously inferior.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

I lived in Alaska for many years. You learn to accept that when you step out your front door you're in the bears' world. If they are in a bad mood and you aren't prepared to deal with it they may kill you. When it's a choice between the bear's life and mine, I have no problem choosing. The idiots at NYT obviously never had to confront this decision.

Oh, and BTW, it's very easy to tell a black bear, even a cinnamon one, from a grizzly, unless you're a fucking idiot.

Lurker21 said...

Misanthropy and love of the human race are close neighbors.

Those who have a vision of what humanity could be often despise actual people.

Robespierre, Lenin, Hitler, Mao.

But then, say you only have fully actualized human beings who rise to the level of Aristotle and Goethe.

Who's going to do the work that's needed to keep society going?

Paul said...

People wanting to kill off segments of society is nothing new. Been done many times.

And yet those wanting to exterminate much of mankind don't want to be exterminated themselves.

They don't hate themselves... they just hate everyone else.

Jupiter said...

"Let me — without compassion or empathy — point out that the commenter is herself lacking in compassion and empathy."

"herself"? How did you detect her sex? Just by reading her comment?

Marcus Bressler said...

Jordan Peterson has this reply to people who want YOU to behave a certain way (go vegan, feed the poor and house the homeless instead of living your hated - by them- American life of capitalism): "You first." And when they demur, he calls them out on their bullshit and suggests they make their bed and clean their room first before they decide that they are saving the world.

Marcus B. THEOLDMAN

Saint Croix said...

If Bears Could Talk

People are delicious!

What the fuck, dumb lady.

Are you a vegetarian?

Quit yelling at my food.

GRW3 said...

A known phenomenon in West Texas is that the rattlesnake round ups are genetically selecting for rattlers that do not rattle before they strike. They strike first, then rattle as if to ask, "How did you like that?"

Rusty said...

Bears will eat their own cubs.

Paul Mac said...

I highly recommend Marian Tupy & Gale Pooley's Superabundance.

We can reasonably pull the entire world population into a state of superabundance where curation is more important than subsistence, while fixing much of what is wrong in the environment.

We have the resources & technical knowledge to achieve this.


https://twitter.com/AlexEpstein/status/1598316571914641408
"Country Faces an Overpopulation by 1975, with Farms Unable to Feed All, Experts Say"
— NYT in 1952, fearing that US population would reach 190 million.

Today we have 330 million people, and our major food-related problem is eating too much of it.

While this has happened farmland is returning to nature, forests are being restored & many animal populations recovering DUE TO prosperity.

People are reintroducing bears to places like the Pyrenees. I'd bet populations most places in the US are doing even better given other species I'm aware of recovering.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/04/brown-bear-population-pyrenees-highest-century-says-study