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Nietzsche and Desert Tortoise Fences

The other day I noticed fences, intended to protect desert tortoises. (Or some other species. It hardly matters to the rest of this post.) The fences seemed so elaborate and expensive. Common sense asserted itself to make me think, "You've got to be kidding..."

By luck I happened to be reading Mencken's book on the "Philosophy of Nietzsche." Imagine Nietzsche pulled though a time machine to modern America. I don't think he would be an angry white man about what he saw.  More likely he would just sneer at modern culture and say something like, "I knew it would be bad, but I didn't think it would be this bad!"

The limiting case for his sneering may be these fences. What could more perfectly embody the "slave morality" of the masses than treating endangered animal species as though they were so precious. Nietzsche would have thought it was just fine that a superior species, such as homo sapiens, could wipe out an inferior species like the desert tortoise.

You may disagree with Nietzsche about this. That is not the point. This was a splendid little example of how travel can make reading a book more interesting, and vice versa

Comments

Anonymous said…
And what gives us the right to destroy another species just because we can?
Perhaps we have an obligation to help lesser species?

Ed

I think Nietzsche would think we have a right to destroy if it is to our advantage.
Ed said…
You poked the tiger with this posting. All the comments are going to focus on Nietzsche versus the 'point' as you stated it in the last sentence.

Not that it will make much difference I want to add a footnote to 'slave morality':
Nietzsche wrote about two types of morality mixed not only in higher civilization but also in the psychology of the individual. Master-morality values power, nobility, and
independence: it stands “beyond good and evil.” Slave-morality values
sympathy, kindness, and humility and is regarded by Nietzsche as “herdmorality.”
The history of society, Nietzsche believes, is the conflict between
these two outlooks: the herd attempts to impose its values universally
but the noble master transcends their “mediocrity.”

As an aside, H. L. Mencken held those same beliefs.
Anonymous said…
What do you think?
XXXXX said…
Interesting how we all have different perspectives.
I get your point about Nietzche. The times change. Ideas change, etc. I'm not interested in judging.
My point in writing though is to respond to something you comment on repeatedly about traveling giving you some sort of an edge on life. Really?
I travel very little if by travel you mean where my body is going but my mind is everywhere. You don't have to get on a bike to visualize, know, or appreciate the things you write about. And perhaps even more than that.
George
"traveling giving you some sort of an edge on life..." Indeed, it does give one an edge. Without travel, one is trapped indoors 80% of the year because the weather is so miserable.

Secondly, travel liberates a person from the soul-crushing routines of domestic slavery; the phony "needs"; the effeminate obsessions with comfort and cleanliness and security; the endless trifles and busy-work. And endless home improvement.
Anonymous, your question is really outside the theme of today's post, but all right:

1. Endangered species are not Deities because they are biological losers. Homo sapiens is not Satan because he is superior. This is really just Marxism in disguise, with endangered species as the saintly "proletariat", and our species as the evil capitalist.

2. More species of life make the world a more interesting place. But at some point, we have to say that weeping in public for the, say, "brown-speckled western woodchuck" is a bit ridiculous.

3. A certain number of species are destined for extinction unless human populations recede, and I hope they do. How much better the world would be if the human population was 10% of what it is today!

That's a good summary of Nietzsche.
XXXXX said…
OK, KB. You're entitled to your opinion. I certainly don't share it.

George
Anonymous said…
Many of us poor slobs have to (or choose to) go through the "domestic slavery" before we can achieve the liberation of travel.

Chris