Squirrely

What I’d really like to do is download a bunch of videos about squirrels, remix them, then upload them onto the Internet just to show people how unfounded their fears are. However, digital rights management says that the practice is a “no-no,” because it infringes on copyright and other people’s “intellectual property.” Since when does ignorance get to be called “intellectual,” as in the case of the previously mentioned gardening article in the Chronicle?

Like the great poet Pablo Neruda wrote, “I have a mind to confuse things, unite them, bring them to birth, mix them up, undress them.” That’s what the free culture movement is all about—using creativity and technology to show what is possible. For me, what’s possible is that people might someday dismiss the notion that man, earth’s supreme destroyer, has “dominion” over everything on this tiny planet. Maybe early scribes mistranslated meanings publicized in THE BOOK? According to Dr. Michael W. Fox, the original meaning of the word “dominion” comes from the Hebrew word yorade, which means to “have communion with and compassion for,” not supremacy. We have to set it right.

I’d start with this video, that in actuality shows a squirrel with a concussion, then cut to a shot of running with the squirrels, and end with squirrels dancing to a Michael Jackson song (free culture in action!). Yeah.

I posted a comment on YouTube regarding the mislabeled “drunk squirrel” video, informing people that the poor squirrel was actually suffering from a concussion. I got this rabid response from some a_hole whose username is "icanrideabigbike," “hey a concussion is even funnier! when the show gets old get out the pellet gun and put the little guy out of his erratic misery.”

I think you get the message. People, not squirrels, are nuts!

What if each one of us was to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves? What if we were to stand in front of the trees, as did William Faulkner’s character Boon in The Bear, and shout, “They’re my squirrels!”

This week’s New York Times and other news outlets featured an article “One in 4 Mammals Threatened With Extinction” that every single human on the planet should read, if they can.

As the food chain declines, so will humans, and as THE BOOK promises, “the meek shall inherit the earth.” Think about it.

Squirrel photo downloaded from Google images.