Do some news items make you think that humanity is irredeemable? ***warning - upsetting subject, related to treatment of monkeys***

[Sausagenbacon]

I heard the story on the news today about people paying to watch baby monkeys being tortured online.

It was so terrible, and makes me think that, as a species, we're fucked.

And, if enough people will make it financially viable to do that, I know what I think would be next (but I can't bring myself to type it.)

Sorry to those who think I'm overdoing it, but I find it incredibly upsetting.

Saw this and honestly could barely read it

Fucking despicable

I honestly can’t fathom the depths of darkness and evil in these deplorables for them to film themselves inflicting such horrible violence to a fellow creature for entertainment. I have no idea if this has always been the case and that Social media is simply shining a light on the ugliness and cruelty of some members of the human species, or whether SM is enabling even more depths of depravity.

A huge pleasure.

It was Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday yesterday and I am sincerely hoping that the attention given to her can also flag these sorts of situations of primate abuse and trafficking which unfortunately are still going on - with frequency.

Our second book: “Trauma in Sentient Beings: Nature, Nurture, and Nim” comes out in June. My co-author, Robert Ingersoll, who was the carer and very good friend of Nim Chimpsky, and who is a champion of primate welfare and sanctuary, will be visiting me in the UK next month.

I am very much hoping that the two of us can give some interviews and discussion about this issue. We need to keep awareness up. The more we talk about it, the easier it will be to stamp out this sort of abuse.

I believe that people are turned sadistic rather than being born sadistic but also that once people go beyond a certain point the chances of rehabilitating them are so remote that the severity of harm they will inflict on the world while rehabilitation is being (vainly) attempted makes the attempt not worth the cost. I feel incredibly uneasy about the state being able to kill citizens but, at the same time, I wouldn't feel it unjust if these people were killed, e.g. by a vigilante or the relative of someone they had harmed. The world would be so much better if somehow these people were permanently removed.

There was also the case a few years ago of a man (he was either British or Australian) who was sexually abusing and torturing Filipino children to order for paying online clients. When he was arrested, IIRC, the police found two young girls in his basement whom he had made dig their own graves. The internet has allowed the vilest people on the planet to find sympathetic company and spaces where there is no fear of opprobrium to check their behaviour. The punishments for these people, and the platforms that facilitate and finance them, need to be harsh to counteract that feeling of invincibility.