Human Domestication

I misspelled it as "doomestication". How fitting.

I have been living and working with animals my entire life. I've seen them at their best and at their worst. I love them and most of the best relationships I've ever had have been with non-humans.

It breaks my heart with the information I have now: that they are all domesticated. On purpose, for personal gain, humans have blunted their natural instincts. 

I own a rescue bird who was taken from the wild by some asshole because she's very pretty. She's also very loud. And messy. And fussy. And bossy. But, what can I expect? The Earth was hers to roam--flying to wherever she wanted. Now, after three homes, she sits in a cage waiting for me to come home. I pet and play with her, but it can never be what she once had.

I have see this bird do things that starkly remind me of human behaviors:

1) Plucking her feathers when she's stressed. This reminds me of humans overeating or doing drugs to deal with anxiety. Wreck the body to quiet the mind. Focus the anguish elsewhere.
2) Repetitive behavior. She will grab a bar on her cage and run in place in her food bowl. This is because she's bored. Humans engage in similar behaviors--especially at work. We fidget, pace, etc.
3) Not eating or drinking because she is depressed. Humans mirror this with anorexia and self-neglect.

The conclusion is obvious: humans are domesticated too. We lived outside with the rest of the planet for millions of years. Now, most of us cower in offices moving around abstractions wishing away the only thing we have: time. We go from phone screen to work screen to TV screen back to phone screen in order to escape the control system into which we were born. We destroy our bodies, fight each other over fictional ideas (like politics), and lie to ourselves and everyone else just so we can face another uphill battle tomorrow. We are cattle to the ruling class, who are our tax farmers. We can choose different flavors of coffee but have no say in whether or not we are free. For most of us, every day is exactly the same. It's a non-stop struggle. The animals suffer silently alongside us.

Why do you think 70 percent of Americans are on prescription drugs? Why do you think over a quarter of Americans have been diagnosed with a mental illness? We are trapped in a civilization cage. Our brain tells us something is wrong, but instead of obeying, we stuff food, drugs and entertainment in the hole where nature belongs. 

God damn it. I hate that this culture has taken away our ability to be self-sufficient. It soaked every meal and small pleasure in blood as our existences in technological death machine destroy the land we need to live. Those who murder the Earth are rewarded, and non-humans bear the brunt.

"If animals have religion, surely mankind is the devil."

Please listen to this interview. It describes much more articulately what I' m trying to say.