Berger

In the section from John Berger’s About Looking we learn that while ‘all creatures, including man, originally lived together in fellowship in one camp” (797) the effects of corporate capitalism have broken “every tradition which has previously mediated between man and nature” (795). Everything that humans have done to better themselves and prove superior to the other creatures of Earth have negatively affected other creatures, just look all around at the constant construction that destroys the homes of so many animals, the pollution that ruins the food and water sources of animals, and our constant obsession with the items produced by the death of these animals including food and clothing.



But that wasn’t always the case. “Animals first entered the imagination as messengers and promises” (795), the bible shows several examples in which animals are used as symbolic messages to humans. For example the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. However, not all examples in the bible show kindness to animals. In book 9 of Genesis in the Kings James Version it states that after God has given Noah and his sons the right to rule over the animals he also says that “the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast” (809). While this statement is not intended to be negative it reflects the idea of superiority of humans to animals which has caused much suffering to Earth’s creatures. “



"'Tis by the same vanity of imagination that he equals himself to God, attributes to himself divine qualities, withdraws and separates himself from the crowd of other creatures, cuts out the shares of the animals, his fellows and companions, and distributes to them portions of faculties and force, as himself thinks fit” (835). Man took what God told him and overtime has used his power for evil more than good because there is no one there to stop him. However, there is much proof in that shows that there exists a vast number of similarities in comparison with the differences. “Animals are born, are sentient and are mortal. In these things they resemble man” (795), so much of how all earthlings are created shows that a closer relationship between humans and animals. Aristotle himself “declared that human beings and animals share a common ‘sensitive’ soul” (801) making them both able to experience emotions. The only barrier that exists is that of language but while humans continuously state that animals cannot understand we must ask ourselves if it isn’t man whose “lacked the capacity to speak with animals” (796). With that being said we must also “determine where the fault lies that we understand not one another- for we understand them no more than they do us; and by the same reason they may think us to be beasts as we think them” (835). The interesting concept that develops of the misunderstanding of one another has also allowed The representation of animals over time has varied. “They were subjected and worshipped, bred and sacrificed” (796).



However, the only thing that has in my opinion remained constant is the human infatuation with the power “ascribed to the animal, comparable with human power but never coinciding with it” (795).