Those who interact with nature every day look on this naive and nihilistic view of the world with amazement. Just as the world would continue after the loss of whales or dolphins or pets, it would continue after the loss of homo sapiens . But the world would be less rich if it suffered the loss of dolphins, blue whales, elephants, piglets, puppies or people. The biological and spiritual loss is just as great if we lose gnatcatchers, butterflies, sharks, New Yorkers, Manchurians or Inuits. The world would not be improved if it lost the only animal with a conscience.
Man is the only animal that appreciates and values the rest of the world's animals.
He is the only animal able to manage and domesticate, the only animal capable of imposing a moral code on his behavior toward other animals. Lankford, so depressed by screen images designed for children, has lost touch with the value of his own humanity. Perhaps a stormy night at sea on a fishing boat would help Lankford put the Earth and his place on it back into perspective. I heartily recommend he join the Eskimos as they paddle their boats out to sustainably hunt whales. Celebrating the hunt with a slice of warm blubber in a frigid land, would do much to restore Lankford's sense of value for his own very dear, very human life.