SHACKLED, LONELY, BEATEN

Very visual in addition to the provocative message. The song "Only the Lonely" started playing in my head so perhaps you were stuck behind Roy Orbison's tour bus (though without Roy, himself, now departed.)

David, your explanation to Pnina enable me to know about PETA and what " Shackled,Lonely, Beaten" means. Here's something for you.

I do not go to the circuses or to marinelands or anywhere else that profits by torturing animals for peoples amusement. Circuses seem sinister and depraved to me and have always made me uneasy regarding their treatment of animals as well as people. They seem to arise from and pander to, a dark and twisted part of humanities collective psyche. I think this has something to do with why they end up figuring into so much literature and other art.

 

Bruce Davidson's 1950s circus photographs are amongst the most powerful and creepy photographs I've seen. In particular the famous one of a clown smoking a cigarette out in the mud and rain behind a circus tent is achingly sad as well as frightening.

Returning... Once, many moons ago when I was fresh from school, degree in hand and a head full of theories and nonsense, I worked at a psychiatric hospital in a southern state that lays claim to all sorts of political and presidential horrors. And being the precocious lad that I was, I was involved in treatment planning for a gentleman who had a strange delusion that he was an elephant tamer. How absurd. Of course, we tried our best to find just the right diagnostic and pharmacological nets to throw over and tame this man's rampant and raging mental illness. Until....

 

 

his family came for a visit. They were circus people, one and all. And come to find out, he was right all along. And so the net was cast over me and my arrogance. This was a major paradigm shift for me, and I quit thinking I truly knew everything about everything. And any time I start thinking I'm the star performer at the "Know-It-All" circus, I remember the elephant in the room.

Now I shall have to whip out the old Roy Orbison records. "Only the Lonely" has always been a fave. Thanks pal.

Great story and I do hear you.

 

As a young boy I befriended a new kid in school and it turned out that his whole family were carney's and he worked with them in the summers. He ended up a wildly popular kid, in part because of all the tall tales he could tell of his life in the carnival. When I went to his house to meet his folks I had crazy images of strange bearded ladies and such in my head. I was quite disappointed to discover his folks were not any stranger than my own.

I know what you mean. One of my favorite photographers (after you, of course) is Mary Ellen Mark. Her circus images are just astounding. They have such a sense of profound sadness that for me it is almost palpable. This one is the most gut wrenching for me. The bear takes on the most human persona, and it brings me near tears every time I view it.

Agreed, it is a great story. I suppose most of us have such an epiphany at some point in our lives. I think we've strayed a bit far from the job at hand (critiquing) but I'm most pleased to fine myself emerged in such a intellectual milieu. This is so much fun.

I have posted my own image, which quite coincidentally is from your country (I think). Thanks for your post. This has turned into an interesting bit of conversation.

Although I know her work I had not seen that image. A truly gut wrenching experience the cruelty tinged with madness is indeed palpable.

 

This was the only web image I could find of the clown without scanning it from a book.

 

 

;-)) we probably are.. and I enjoyed reading the conversation and stories, who said we can not deploy our wings to some wider subjects? ! your photography is always a good start...

 

Wow, all the circus photographers, I will look for them in Google. Thanks Gord and Dave for the names.

Jeff, really a good teaching lesson....

Yes, I have seen it before, and it is an outstanding image. Thanks

While I agree with some of PETA's goals, I think they are over the top, not just for going too far in much of their methodology but for utilizing an anachronistic foundation for their ethics. When someone is relieved of the symptoms of cancer or AIDS due to drugs created utilizing animal experimentation, I have no moral dilemma about it, unless I feel the experimentation was gratuitous, which it most often is not. I think PETA tends to see the world as way too black and white, and it's just not the way the world is.

Google "PETA and euthanasia." What's so hypocritical about their own stand in favor of euthanasia of animals (which, in itself, may be defensible due to overpopulation of uncared for animals) is that they assail environmentalists who they often strongly differ with in moral questions regarding choices between preservation of individual animals and preservation of natural habitats and ecosystems. So, it's OK for PETA to kill animals when it suits them, but other groups' rationales for doing the same thing won't be considered.

Often, environmentalists find it justifiable to sacrifice individuals in their more holistic approach to ethics and their ultimate desire to honor and preserve something they see as even greater than the individual animal. "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." This replaces a more traditional notion of ethics which is anthropocentric, making humans and what's good for humans the ultimate ethical approach. It also replaces the premium placed on sentient beings heralded by animal rights advocates such as Peter Singer. Environmental ethics has more a foundation in feminist ethics, replacing a patriarchal/hierarchical view of ethics based on individual qualities with a more community-based ethical view. Briefly, the common factor is exploitation. The exploitation of women by men is extrapolated to the larger concern of exploitation of the environment. The logical commonality is to argue against practices of domination, whether it be of women, other races, or the environment.

HERE'S a good article which explains environmental ethics. Section 3.2 addresses feminist ethics and Section 4 addresses in some detail the animal rights/environmental ethics debate.

So, I like the way the truck and the sign stand out. The colorfulness ironically belies the message, a David Meyer signature. The processing, especially in the lower part of the image, feels overdone and a bit garbled. I understand your stated intention about "overdoing it." It's interesting to consider how literal can be the translation from content that is over the top to processing that is so, and how and whether overdone processing works to express exaggerated thematic statements. What does it take for extreme processing to highlight the offensive content and is it desirable for that processing also to transcend that offensiveness in some way? It's not something I can readily answer or put my finger on, but something worth considering.

By the way, when I was a kid, I ran kicking and screaming from the only circus I was ever taken to. Just awful.

Getting way off topic now, but have you ever seen the Penn & teller show " Bullshit" ? They did a great episode on the hypocrisies of PETA. If you haven't seen it, try a google the episode is bound to be on the web.

Decidedly lowbrow in comparison to Fred's link which I have bookmarked for this evenings reading . Thanks Fred.

 

Thanks for the sterling commentary. Let me say first off, that I took the image merely because I thought it was an interesting graphic design. I am neither an opponent nor a supporter of PETA. I know little about them except what one hears when they pull some outrageous stunt. And, like most organizations that are militant, one needs to take a close look at the cause to determine alignment. My sympathies go out to any suffering whether it be animal or human. And that is where I join the PETA cause. Too many times humans have demonstrated a abundance of insensitivity toward their fellow environmental inhabitants. So from that standpoint I am open to listening to the PETA message. On the other hand, my position is considerably compromised in that I eat meat, and meat that most likely comes from meat factories. Today I got on the freeway and was smack dab stuck behind a truck hauling an open trailer full of cages of chickens. Feathers flying everywhere, these animals never had a break. They have spent all their lives in cramped and crowded conditions, pumped full of hormones and god only knows what else, then transported to a meat factory. Every time I see this, I swear off of meat, but never seem to be able to make it stick. That's one of those inconsistencies that I wish did not exist.

 

So, all this is pretty far astray of the original. It was never meant to spark a debate on the merits or lack thereof of PETA. I was neither attempting to support or detract from their cause. But I love the way these images seem to rise above themselves and evolve into a whole other discussion. Keeps things mighty interesting.

 

And now, I shall have to take a look at your reading assignment. Thanks Fred. Really

I shall try to find your piece and watch it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Wow! Social commentary from behind the steering wheel! This is a great shot of a truly interesting and controversial subject...another great example of how having the camera with you at all times can be a plus. Congratulations to you again for stimulating another interesting discussion!

 

Regards,

 

Dick

it must be because you have a real knack of producing such layered images that they seduce so many in these discussions. I could imagine straight away what PETA was and why you took this one. Wise choice. Also, having some experience in the matter I have to say Fred was right on the mark in his comment.

 

 

Thanks amigo. Absolutely have a camera with you at all times! If the earth is about to be hit by a huge asteroid, I'm planning on whipping out my p & s and catching the last minute in living color.

"Seduce?" Oh I love the thought of seducing you guys and gals into my photographic lair. :) As I stated before I had no intention when I took it of commencing a discussion of the merits of PETA. I'm not opposed to such a discussion, but it was not my intention. But I do love to hear what my learned colleagues on Pnet are thinking, and I'm truly grateful when you folks share those thoughts with me.

speaking for myself it's always a pleasure ;-)

Very nice capture,cograt.Best regards.

Sometimes ya see something that just makes you happy you have a camera surgically implanted in your arm. "I know the feeling."--that's probably all that was going through your head. Only you could inadvertently get everyone all riled up about the social injustice like this, it's like your superpower :)

 

 

You need a cape. And a name. The Commentstigator? :)

 

 

btw, your windshield is a helluva lot cleaner than mine ever is! Nice shot.

Thanks a lot.

"The commentstigator!" I love that. I'll be forever indebted. But hey, it doesn't work that often on you. :)

 

And, I hate to tell you this but the windshield was filthy. I did shoot around it, but just below the rear view mirror there was a big blob of diarrheal bird poop. Windshield still needs cleaning. LOL