Treadwell viewed the wild as being a place of comfort and serenity, and felt as though he had the responsibility to protect it. He had such a strong urge that he actually ignored the park laws in order to be closer to the grizzly bears and even alter the course of the fish in order to feed to bears. The natural world should not be altered in order to protect any creature, which is one aspect of Treadwell's actions that I do not agree with. Despite this, I do believe that nature, and those within it, need to be left alone by humans who mean them harm. When the men showed up to the island and threw rocks at the bear, it hurt my heart because there the humans were, intruding upon the home of another creature, and harming it because of human fear. It is unacceptable because there is no reason to do so... no reason to harm an innocent creature in a place we do not belong.
Bears have instincts which often can put humans in harms way. Herzog is much more aware of these dangers and many times speaks of them and how they effect humans. It would be unwise of me to ignore the striking danger that these creatures possess, which is why I find that keeping our distance from them is much smarter than to involve ourselves like Treadwell did. He had managed to last many years before his tragic death, but he always knew that this type of ending was a high possibility. I respect him for knowing the boundaries, though I agree with the Alaskan natives that these boundaries mean you do not physically cross them.
I find that it is important to respect the natural world and those within it but one cannot disrupt nature's life cycle. If the bears do not have enough to eat, it is not the job of humans to exert their dominance on their lives in order to save them. They have lived thousands of years on their own and it is disrespectful to nature to assume that they cannot last thousands more without our help. It may seem as though I favor Herzog's view on the natural world, but that is hardly the case. Treadwell was brave and had learned a lot about the grizzly bears that he wouldn't have learned without living among them for many summers. I agree with how we need to leave them alone and respect the natural boundaries, because they are created for a reason. We were not meant to live with them, we just need to respect they have more power in the wild than we do. I believe Herzog was much too harsh, because the bears are much more than just murderers, they are creatures of the Earth, just as we are, and have a way of life that does not involve us. They have much to offer in their world, and their world does not involve us. So when we intrude upon their environment and they protect themselves, how does that make them murderers?
I love the way you wrote this! You captured all that you wanted to say in such an elegant, but simple way. I really love how you talked about the bears as creatures of the earth. You really had a strong feel for the importance of respecting nature. Do you spend a lot of time outdoors? Although in my blog post I said I agreed with Herzog in some points, I did not talk a lot about Treadwell. You made great points about both and helped me really solidify how I felt about it even though in my post I seemed to have made different points. Do you think Treadwell living with the bears helped spread his message?
ReplyDeleteI like how you acknowledged the fact that Herzog showed violent clips of the bears, it shows how through media, in this case film, can be constructed in a way that influences our opinions. I also found it interesting how you stated that Treadwell's passion for the environment actually caused harm in the natural occurring events in nature. I agree in the Herzog seemed to be more negative; however, Herzog was more realistic in that even though bears are beautiful creatures, they can create a lot of damage. I like how you tackled each of their views and used a little bit of both ideas to create your own, and create a balance between the too extreme approaches to nature.
ReplyDeleteThis is well written. I agree with many of your points. Humans should NOT enter another creature's domain and cause them harm, nor should they feel it's their duty to protect said creatures from tough times in nature. It's almost like humans have this god complex. They feel the need to help one species, often hurting another, when nature is cruel. If humans intervened when other humans were cruel, that's another story, but humans should not act superior to nature because they are not.
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