The Cruelty of Watching

One of an American’s favorite pastimes is taking the family out to one of the most spectacular shows on earth, the circus. One of the most popular acts of the circus is when the large elephants, completely obedient and organized, dance and even balance on one foot raising their two front feet in the air. This aesthetically pleasing act captures the eye of the spectator and causes them to cheer in amazement. This appreciation provokes the ringleader to keep the elephant’s act on the floor and maybe even add more elephant acts by doing whatever it takes. The circus is a people-pleasing business that strives off of the spectator’s attention sometimes at the cost of the wellbeing of the circus animals.

The repercussions of the spectators falling in love with the elephant’s unique acts are that the “tamed” animals are beaten and forced to live unnaturally terrifying lives. On a website dedicated to showing the truth of the elephants horrible lives, one can see the evidence firsthand. If an elephant is not cooperating with the act, the “caretaker” of the animal beats him with a bull rod, a strong pole with a hook at the end of it made to inflict pain to animals. These animals are dressed up in feathers and headdresses and forced to comply. Stated in the article, the overall cause of the massive animals being beat into submission is the fact that people want to see them do an unnatural sequence of movements. If we take our attention away from the elephant’s act, they will discontinue the act and stop the elephant cruelty. We as spectators are the underlying cause to this form of animal cruelty. We can reverse the effects of this by revealing to everyone the truth of the beaten animals.

[Examine classmate examples for proper Works Cited formatting, Ben. —DSH]

References

http://www.ringlingbeatsanimals.com

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08949468.1997.9966717#preview