Some very timely words from our old friend Tom Robbins....

“When a man confines an animal in a cage, he assumes ownership of that animal, but an animal is an individual; it cannot be owned. When a man tries to own an individual, whether that individual be another man, an animal, or even a tree, he suffers the consequences of an unnatural act.”

“Have you ever watched visitors at a managerie or zoo – the fools they make of themselves - the way they leer and snigger and vex and demand entertainment and taunt? A caged beast, like an excess of alcohol, reduces man to his most banal dimensions. And he is only slightly better behaved when observing human inmates of prisons and institutions.”

“A creature, human or otherwise, that has had its freedom compromised, has been degraded. In a subconscious reaction that combines guilt, fear, and contempt, the keepers of the cage – even the observers of the caged – are degraded themselves. The cage is a double degrader. Any bar, whether concrete or intangible, that stands between a living thing and its liberty is a communicable perversity, dangerous to the sanity of everyone concerned.”


Tom Robbins
‘Another Roadside Attraction’
ã1971 Bantam Books

haven't read "Roadside.." in a while

I always thought the slaveholder might be suffering deep in his soul, knowing that he was degrading another human being.

Guess it depends how you define human being, but for him animals and even trees should have their freedom.

Hmmmmm.

I also love Tom Robbins.

I haven't followed him since "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas", which I found a little lame. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance.

I often think about Boomer of "Skinny Legs and All" (my personal favorite) these days. I might have to read it again this year.

It's loaded with quotables, but my personal favorite is--

Jesus: Hey Dad?
God: Yes, Son?
Jesus: Western Civilization followed me home. Can I keep it?
God: Certainly not! And put it down this minute--you don't know where it's been!

“Laws are abstractions. Laws symbolize ethical arts, proper behavior towards other human animals. Laws have no moral content; they merely symbolize conduct that does. These symbol junkies are always yelling about how we’ve got to respect the law, but you never hear one of them saying anything about respecting fellow beings. If we respected each other, if we respected animals and if we respected the land, then we could dispense with laws and cut the middleman out of morality”.