human planet

More sociology jibber jabber!

I’ve been watching this BBC documentary called “Human Planet” and it’s awesome! I really don’t know if I can explain all the mind blowing ideas I had, and really I don’t want anyone reading to think I’m an idiot for things I say. The show talks about how people/humans interact with the world; so far I’ve seen ‘Oceans’ and ‘Rivers’ and ‘Mountains’. The show is really interesting. This guy can walk under water!! You all should try and check it out. Let me tell you this: people put up with a lot to just survive.

I feel a bit bad for these people. Maybe I shouldn’t, maybe this is just culture and ways of life that’s different for everyone. But even if they simply wanted to live where/how they do, I feel like a bit of technology couldn’t hurt. Maybe you still need to cross a massive river/waterfall thing to get to some of the good fish, but instead of basically type rope walking, maybe a bit of iron and something sturdier? Perhaps some kind of trolley? If you fall in, you’re dead, and it’s all a risk for fish to feed his family. It’s sad that not everyone can have food and water. So right, is it just culture? Or are they poor countries with no money for anyone? Or both?? And even though I feel some levels of what I assume is pity, I wonder if they even want my pity. Maybe it is a way of life that’s just different from mine, and they have families and fun and a life. Is it ridiculous and rude for me to even consider pushing technology on the world? Even if I don’t know what I’m talking about… I know it’d be nice for everyone to have water and food accessible to them. Watching things about the world makes me sad about the state of things for others, and that I take my own life for granted sometimes. I feel very, very privileged.

Also on the ‘Rivers’ episode, cameras followed a bunch of dudes in Kenya and their camels looking for water. They would follow the elephants who can SMELL water, and then check out their holes in the ground because they can tell where the water table is. Then the dudes made a well. So that’s a good thing, and they left more water in troughs for the elephants. But my goodness! What if they were walking along and one of these people keeled over and died? They were walking through a dried up river bed where there were bones all over the place, because people and animals died – I assume from lack of water.  Or in the video of the guy walking across the rope/river – what would happen if he fell in?? He wasn’t tethered for filming, nor is he in every day life without cameras around. I can only imagine that someone would try and save him? Right?  Hmm.

That’s all for now!

AMB