So I had the chance to watch the movie Grizzly Man the other night. It's a documentary about Timothy Treadwell. He decided he needed to go protect grizzly bears in Alaska, so he lived up there with them for a number of months out of every year for the last 13 years or so. The documentary is commentary by Werner Herzog with footage from Timothy's expiditions and interviews with friends and family members.
So here are my thoughts on the movie:
It was a good movie to watch. It had a lot of stunning footage of bears, fox and wildlife in general. It also was a good documentary on human behavior. It's certainly worth a watch.
Here are my thoughts on Timothy Treadwell:
That man was 100% bat-shit crazy. I laud his motives of wanting to protect nature and grizzlies in particular, but he went about things in entirely the wrong fashion. And while it is unfortunate that he died, I'm not surprised nor terribly upset over it. He did more harm than good by acclimating otherwise wild animals to humans. And when that happens, those animals no longer see people as threats, and are much more likely to harm themselves or humans. Basically, Treadwell was an idiot -- certainly not a scientist doing studies, much less an ecologist helping out the environment.
I'd recommend you watch the movie (though not with children around, it's got strong language), but keep in mind that this is what happens when you do drugs until you have a near-fatal overdose. You lose your mind and get eaten by bears.
I heard about this guy. He was nuts. I'm not suprised he was killed.
Whoa!!
"certainly not a scientist doing studies, and barely even an ecologist helping out the environment."
I'm so offended by this Aaron. If he isn't a scientist then he isn't an ecologist. And he certainly isn't "barely" an ecologist, he's just stupid. That's a very serious profession which takes a lot of hard work and discipline. It's not some tree hugging hippie type of work. I thought I taught you better than this!
LoL, you did, you just didn't teach me to double-check my writing for vocublary screw-ups. Thanks for pointing out my mistake so kindly. Punk.
What did you mean to write then? (And I love you!)
I already fixed it. I wrote the post in a hurry, but was interrupted in the middle of it. Didn't proof it before posting it.
Meant to say ...doing studies, much less an ecologist helping...
Isn't this guy the one that was killed by a grizzly bear? And that the bear also killed a woman that was with him?
If that's the guy then I also heard about him on a small documentary (with him *very* close to those bears) and I'm not surprised he was killed a bear.
Correction for the last sentence: and I'm not suprised he was killed BY a bear.
Stephen Colbert is right -- bears are the number one threat to man (at least stupid men).
He did one thing right n his life, he made dinner for a bear.
Evolution in action!
Darwin wins again ! Yeee haw !!!!!!!!!!!
Should we thank Timothy for removing himself from the gene pool ?
I think we need to give credit where it is due Norman, and that would fall at the feet of the bear.
Now if we can get the rest of PETA crowd on the menu, the pool would be a better place to swim.
@Bill
Would that PETA be the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or the People Eating Tasty Animals? ;)
Or People Eating Teriyaki Antelope!
Uh, I think the bears would prefer some nice, soft semi-rich, idle, bored PETA kids.
ahhhh....spoken like a true republican.
@Bill - yes ... we do
Timoothy was simpl ygacious enough to make himself part of the bears possibl choices for meals :)
As for PETA, I live in the middle of cattle country. Folks flogging "animal rights" around here are simply ridiculed and then taken out back and gracefully show the error of their beliefs :)
PETA's "total animal freedom" is simply goofy. Turn a few thousand head of cows loose ? First the ranchers would shoot them, and second cows are so damn stupid they'd all be dead in the first cold hard winter if we didn't take care of them and feed them and water them.
Same for lots of other animals they are trying to "free"
Penn and Tellers Bullshit did a bit on them and it's funny as hell to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ijLulwUTY
What's a republican ?
Is being one bad ?
Is it contagious ?
@Norman:
1. A crazy foo'.
2. Yes.
3. Unfortunately, it appears to be highly contagious at this point in history.
*dons Bill repellant*
Being a Canadian I hardly pay attention to US politics so I'm not familiair with "Republican" or "Democrat" beyond the names of the parties.
Here we have so many political paties that it sometimes gets very hard to differentiate between them because they often have similar policies on various subjects and very different ones on others.
Politicis is a national annoyance here. We grudgingly vote and then just pray they stay out of our lives.
Here we have "Conservatives" and "Liberals" but that hardly goes to fully explain their positions. The Liberals believe in big government and lots of federal interference and "aid" for nearly anything. The Conservatives believe in small government and keeping government out of our daily lives. After that it's a mish mash of platforms.
@Norman: Don't forget about the NDP (New Democrat Party). Basic pro-labour. There's the "Green" party, who are generally environmentalists (have they even won a seat in Parliament? :P). There's a sprinkling of others too. Can't remember them though.
The only thing I get a kick out of between the Liberals (aka Grits) and the Conservatives (aka Tories) is that they both suffer from "the pot calling the kettle black" syndrome :P
Every time I go to vote, it becomes a decision of who the lesser of all evils is :P
@Scott - I just mentioned the two largest parties.
The Greens have not won seats
There's all the others too - The BQ, The Marxist-Lennonists, Natural Law and a load of others as well.
I almost miss the Rhino's :)
We have a Green party too, but all they do is take votes away from the Democrats ;-) The democratic party is generally more liberal, pro environmental conservation and pro social aid, whereas the Republicans are generally anti social aid, pro-business and socially conservative.
The choice is always between the lesser of two evils. They campaign as hard as they can to differentiate themselves, but they're all the same in the end.
Politics is a mess.
Asher likes keeping things complex. You see, in the US, there are the good guys (democrats, like me) who are interested in education and the little guy. Then there are the bad guys (republicans, like Bill) who are interested in big business and blood for oil. :: grins :: time for me to run, I think I hear a certain business partner of mine at the door with a handgun.