The Bambi people

[Traveller13]

Today I would like to discuss the Bambi syndrome.
A Bambi person is someone who likes what is usually termed to be as "nice" animals, ie cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, etc. Acute cases place that kind of animal above humanity, and feel in contact with nature, when they only like the comfy aspect of it.
If you have the Bambi syndrome, it would help me if you didn't take this analysis personally. For I too have a secret Bambi side, and would like to explore it deeper, possibly using other people's opinions.

So what makes certain animals "cuter" than others?

Is it fur, that makes the animal pleasant to touch? It probably does, until the furry animals in question start tearing up and eating the other cute furry animals. Sewer rats have fur too.

So maybe it's defenselesness that makes those animals attractive? I doubt that too. A fly or maggot is pretty defenseless but not very attractive to Bambi people. Also, horses aren't defenseless, and I think bears can enter the fluffy-bunny category (ie teddy bears). Although defenseless animals seem to be dominant in Bambiworld (animals with tiny claws or teeth, lion cubs, etc).

I'd be tempted to say that it's domestication that makes the Bambi syndrome work. But that isn't true either. Wild fawn are highly convoited by Bambi people (it's even where the name of the syndrome comes from). If a bambi person meets a fawn in a forest, the desire to touch it is sometimes irresistible. Even with the knowledge that it's litterally putting the fawn to death. There's also the lion cub thing.

So what is it that Bambi people find so attractive in certain kinds of animals only? Why be attracted to bears and scared of spiders?

[Lightning Rod]

it's for the same reason that babies are cute and cuddly

so that Bambi freaks like their parents will take care of them at least until they aren't cute anymore.

[Traveller13]

that make sense

But then, what about the bambi freaks themselves? I mean, they're cute, in a way, but who takes care of them?

[hester_prynne]

I'm not a bambi.
Nope.
I'm flower.
Shy,
red faced,
self effacing,
skunkwoman.
I make a
big stink,
when
bambi people
piss me off.....


H

[mousey1]

Nay, tangle not
with "skunkwoman"
she'll take your breath away.

For me I'm just a little thumper
thump
thump
thumping away
to the beat
of my
widdle
heart.

Maybe later I'll contribute something intelligent to this conversation! Here's hoping.

Ever in hope.

A query tho:

Why do you keep your "Bambi side" a secret?

Whip it out, show the world you're a man with a soft underside!
(Sheesh, where's that emoticon with the foot embedded firmly in mouth when I need it. Or is it the tongue in cheek one.)

But seriously why keep your Bambi side a secret?

[Traveller13]

Mousey1 I don't remember what I was thinking when I wrote that.
Let's see.
What I don't like with BP is the fact that they consider themselves to be close to nature, they have a vision of nature that's totally divergent. To them the ugly side of nature isn't nature, it's just... disgusting, and to be eliminated. Even if it clogs up the food chain. And in all that the human being is some kind of semi-god that has the power of life and death on all the "lower" species, that has the power to decide which species should be used or, usually, squased under a magazine.
It's that reinvented version of nature that I don't like.

On the other hand I enjoy the company of common housepets, and have an irrepressible urge to play with them or annoy them. But it's only cats and dogs that do this to me. My first reaction towards someone's boa or tarantula wouldn't me "what happens if I repeatingly poke it's back and go 'keek keek keek!' ".
Weeellll.....
heh

Maybe I'm asking myself too many questions.

Ultimately I love all sides of nature, in the sense that even artificial stuff is natural.
I just don't know how to behave myself when directly confronted to it. That's human conditionning for you.


A red-faced skunk with petals!
Let us spray
the whole day
down
and spread bedlam in the city of concrete
you can run
but you can't
hold your breath forever
there is no escape
from the revolution

[shamatha1]

This is sort of semi- tangential to the BP discussion, but it is interesting how cultural of valuing of animals is. Most of us are familiar with the fact that in much of Southeast Asia they eat dogs and Americans eat cows while Hindus find them holy, etc.

I was visiting a friend who was in the Peace Corps in Guatemala, and we were helping this woman he worked with. She had a cow, and the cow was kept in a tiny pen. This was a mountain village, so there was no pasture to let it roam, and the cow was owned mostly for status, even though economically it made now sense. In front of the cow pen, there was a little dog. The dog was 'leashed' to a post by a 3 foot or so piece of coat-hanger like wire, one end twisted around its neck and the other fastened to the post. It couldn't move, and I doubt it was ever let off to frolic. The dog purpose was essentially that of a living alarm, not a pet.

Being an American, it was hard for me to see a dog treated like that. The interesting thing about my reaction, on reflection, is that initially I didn't feel the same way about the penned cow. Unconsciously, culturally, it didn't even think about the fact that that cow would spend it's entire life there, never moving, not even able to turn around. Because cows are livestock to Americans. And dogs are pets, or 'companion animals'.

To briefly address the bambi syndrome issue; it is a very dangerous game enviro groups play. They exploit the cuteness of things like baby seals or the beauty of certain types of landscapes to rally people to their cause. But to place value on only cute animals or beautiful landscapes, when there are uncute animals and ugly vistas that are equally important to ecological biodiversity (which should really be the point of genuine environmentalism) turns the enviro movement into merely a special interest group for cute and fuzzies rather than the whole earth type movement it needs to actually save humans from their own misuse of the planet

[Trevor]

MMmmmm, the cutest animals are usually the tastiest...the world is one big grocery store Fuck Bambi, Fuck Dumbo, Fuck Thumper, Fuck Hukutamatumbo or whatever the circle of life is...lol...kidding of course. Though rabbit is tasty...but it looks like a skinned human and dances like one two if you stand it up and wiggle it around...And remember, if something doesn't taste good, its still edible if you cook it in curry...but I do digress and have fallen off topic.

"If a bambi person meets a fawn in a forest, the desire to touch it is sometimes irresistible."

I love when that happens, especially if its caught on film...I used to live in Banff AB, elk run wild through the streets and every year some Bambi Syndromized tourist thinks the elk are part of some grand petting zoo and tries to pet them. It's unfortunate that it takes them a trip to the ER to figure out they're not.

I've always found die hard animal activist's funny...whether they be bambi syndrome or just trendy....sure its easy to give up fur when you have a warm thick leather coat at home....no one hates the wolf for eating a deer...or a bear for eating salmon...the hawk for eating rabbit....the shark for eating seals ... yet I make one little house out of severed kitten heads and the whole world despises me!!! But in all seriousness, you shouldn't be allowed to eat meat unless you could kill the animal yourself..lol...but really, in all seriousness I liked what Traveller had to say on the subject...

"What I don't like with BP is the fact that they consider themselves to be close to nature, they have a vision of nature that's totally divergent. To them the ugly side of nature isn't nature, it's just... disgusting,"

Which to me is probably a fair assumption for a lot of Bambi Syndrome people...btw...love that term...Bambi Syndrome.

And I think Shamatha brings up a really good point with this statement as well....

"To briefly address the bambi syndrome issue; it is a very dangerous game enviro groups play. They exploit the cuteness of things like baby seals or the beauty of certain types of landscapes to rally people to their cause. But to place value on only cute animals or beautiful landscapes, when there are uncute animals and ugly vistas that are equally important to ecological biodiversity (which should really be the point of genuine environmentalism) turns the enviro movement into merely a special interest group for cute and fuzzies"

Not too many save the slug campaigns going on....I think its the "little" things in the eco system that are the most import aspect in it...hard to build a food chain or eco pyramid working from the top to bottom. No one builds a house from the roof down for a good reason.

[Trevor]

MMmmmm, the cutest animals are usually the tastiest...the world is one big grocery store Fuck Bambi, Fuck Dumbo, Fuck Thumper, Fuck Hukutamatumbo or whatever the circle of life is...lol...kidding of course. Though rabbit is tasty...but it looks like a skinned human and dances like one two if you stand it up and wiggle it around...And remember, if something doesn't taste good, its still edible if you cook it in curry...but I do digress and have fallen off topic.

"If a bambi person meets a fawn in a forest, the desire to touch it is sometimes irresistible."

I love when that happens, especially if its caught on film...I used to live in Banff AB, elk run wild through the streets and every year some Bambi Syndromized tourist thinks the elk are part of some grand petting zoo and tries to pet them. It's unfortunate that it takes them a trip to the ER to figure out they're not.

I've always found die hard animal activist's funny...whether they be bambi syndrome or just trendy....sure its easy to give up fur when you have a warm thick leather coat at home....no one hates the wolf for eating a deer...or a bear for eating salmon...the hawk for eating rabbit....the shark for eating seals ... yet I make one little house out of severed kitten heads and the whole world despises me!!! But in all seriousness, you shouldn't be allowed to eat meat unless you could kill the animal yourself..lol...but really, in all seriousness I liked what Traveller had to say on the subject...

"What I don't like with BP is the fact that they consider themselves to be close to nature, they have a vision of nature that's totally divergent. To them the ugly side of nature isn't nature, it's just... disgusting,"

Which to me is probably a fair assumption for a lot of Bambi Syndrome people...btw...love that term...Bambi Syndrome.

And I think Shamatha brings up a really good point with this statement as well....

"To briefly address the bambi syndrome issue; it is a very dangerous game enviro groups play. They exploit the cuteness of things like baby seals or the beauty of certain types of landscapes to rally people to their cause. But to place value on only cute animals or beautiful landscapes, when there are uncute animals and ugly vistas that are equally important to ecological biodiversity (which should really be the point of genuine environmentalism) turns the enviro movement into merely a special interest group for cute and fuzzies"

Not too many save the slug campaigns going on....I think its the "little" things in the eco system that are the most import aspect in it...hard to build a food chain or eco pyramid working from the top to bottom. No one builds a house from the roof down for a good reason.