Outrage after pig thrown off 68m high bungee jump

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Footage of workers from a Chinese theme park throwing a screaming pig wearing a cape from a bungee jump tower has gone viral, triggering outrage on social media.
Furious netizens have slammed the shocking footage, in which the pig can be heard screaming as it plummets nearly 70 metres as people watch on laughing.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/scie ... 2056ae100d
Social media users have accused the Chinese theme park responsible for the sick publicity stunt as “using abuse for entertainment”. Another asked if “this counts as animal cruelty”, and another questioned if the amusement park had made any “apology for this”.
“This pig couldn’t even move afterwards, suggesting it was left extremely traumatised and potentially injured and in physical pain,” she said.
Ms Mills also dubbed the stunt a “sickening act of cruelty”.
It is understood the terrified pig was taken to a slaughterhouse after the bungee jump debacle.

The people responsible for this s**t should be tossed into a giant caldron of boiling oil.

Taken to a slaughter house after? Sounds like they needed a shovel to clean up the sidewalk.

The poor animal was on a bungee harness but likely suffered psychological trauma and physical pain because of it's weight

Did they think dropping it would give it a different flavor when they dropped it before taking it to the slaughter house?

The fact they put a cape on the pig indicates it was a publicity stunt to promote the theme park i.e. pigs can fly

There is a belief that frightening or beating an animal before death improves it's flavor.

The belief is false
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8q89 ... -taste-bad

Humans are disgusting.

Well, isn't it ironic that there is currently a new coronavirus pandemonium going on? Animals do have a way of getting back at humans, right?

I am more interested in looking at this incident, to understand where the concept of animal rights come about. This is in the context of the evolutionary aspect of "good" and "evil" that I have talked about earlier. See https://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=383945&start=10.

Let us see one particular response here:


Why do some people feel so strongly offended by this case? Is it really about the suffering of a pig? Mind you, the pig is already slaughtered. It's dead. It's gone. It suffers no more, according to certain people's logic.

Curiously, places where people incorporate animal rights, tend also to be highly developed, highly civilized places. Animal rights, in a sense, are a "luxury item," and reflect the maturity of a society. Why does some societies even establish certain rights, for animals that are bred for the purpose of meat?

How do we tie our desire of treating animals decently, to the very original purpose of "good" and "evil," as dictated by Darwinian evolution? What's the purpose in minimizing the suffering of animals?

In the case of the "bungee-jumped" pig, it surely is not about the pig. The pig is dead, is gone. Yet, many people are still outraged. Why are people outraged at animal abusers?

In ancient times, all over different cultures, human sacrifice was a common practice. Humans were killed in order to please hypothetical deities, to obtain favors or blessing from gods. It is easy for us, today, to view those practices as barbaric. But, for people from those ancient societies, they truly believed what they did was right. The fact is, we humans, have changed our way of thinking, along our history. Mistreating animals was not a big deal before, but gradually we are evolving towards a society where we establish laws to protect animals. We become more civilized. The question is: WHY? And how does all this fit into the picture of Darwinian evolution?

If we feel outraged by animal abusers, and the true reason is not about the animals, then what's the purpose of feeling outraged? Why do we criticize animal abusers? Why do some societies punish people that perform animal cruelties?

In certain countries, like South Korea, some parts of the population have a tradition of eating dog meat. Or Japan, which still hunts whales for meat. Those people would reject any outside criticism as hypocrisy. However, for more civilized societies, we see those practices as barbaric. Can we understand the difference in values, a little bit more, not from the emotional point of view, but from the scientific point of view?

Science is not emotional. There is no emotion in science. People that have followed me know that when I talk about science, there is no emotion. Science does not follow emotions. But, science does explain emotions. So, let's do that.

When we scream at animal abusers, like those in the case of the bungee-jumped pig, we are driven by our emotion. But unbeknownst to us, we are following Darwinian laws of evolution. The reality is, the outrage is not so much about the pig ... it's not about what the animal abusers have done in this case. It's about something else.

It's about: "If those people are capable of making animals suffer, what else are they capable of?" And that, is the real reason why we get outraged. Subconsciously, we have established an unspoken correlation, between what we have seen with our own eyes, and what else we are afraid to see.

See, Confucianism promotes "Asian Values," which demands obedience to an authority. I mean, it all sounds good to be respectful of authorities, right? What written Confucianism doesn't ever mention is the "else" factor. It is what is not written, it is the unspoken part of Confucianism and "Asian Values," that makes the doctrine scary. That's the evil part.

Rejecting animal cruelty, therefore, it's not just about the animals. It is about us, humans. It is about the survival of our own society. Because we know, people that practice animal cruelty, will do other evil things, against other humans. And that is what's really at stake. It's layers and layers of correlations that we don't see, that ultimately link our emotions to the original purpose of "good" and "evil," which is the survival of our species (or subspecies). Places or people that don't care about animals, invariably have some other issues.

We think we are free in our thoughts, we think we are the owner of our thoughts. But, just like the invisible hand of Adam Smith, we are following the wish of Mother Nature.

Sometimes we kind of learn along the way. See, in US Marine corp, there is this saying: "No One Left Behind." It is apparently a crazy idea. If a soldier gets injured in battle, you are going to risk even more soldiers' lives just trying to rescue one single soldier. It begs the question whether this approach helps in practice. And the answer invariably is: yes, it does. Psychologically it builds an irreplaceable bonding between the soldiers, a level of trust, that makes them fight better. The benefit is not in the rescue of one soldier, but in how every soldier will take their job with full confidence, at all time. So, it's not really about "no one left behind," it's about confidence and trust. The utility in that sentence is not in what you see with your eyes ... it is something deeper. The same is true, when we care about animals. It goes deeper than the surface.

Last edited by eikonabridge on 22 Jan 2020, 2:48 am, edited 2 times in total.

They were basically torturing it for kicks.

I have to politely disagree, it's possible to develop an empathetic link with an animal. The pig in this story is actually an relatively intelligent creature capable of feeling pain and fear. Even if it's destined for slaughter it's no excuse to cruelly torture the animal.

Peacocks probably also think they developed nice tails because they are creative. Each one thinks they are the masters of their wills.

Humans are just machines. They think they are special, but they are not.

You can't even explain or define empathy, pain, intelligence and fear. You take them as given. I am explaining them, what they mean and where they come from. We are talking at different level.

I am talking about science. Read again what I wrote. You want to use your emotions, that is your business. I am explaining where emotions come from.

My friend understood the origin of good and evil when he was in his 20s. It's not the most groundbreaking discovery, as the Equation of Intelligence of Alex Wissner-Gross is even more fundamental. But, these are things already too hard for people to understand.

"Someone who likes to pull the wings off of flies" is an idiom to describe pathological behavior. One who derives satisfaction from torment. Most people don't like or care about flies and do not give a second thought to swatting them. Yet someone getting enjoyment out of tormenting one is considered depraved behavior. It is the deliight in the causation of pian suffering distress et al that is the issue.

Pigs squeal as soon as their hooves no longer touch the ground. They hate being in the air. Poor pig!

Shows the cultural difference in China. Animal rights are not a thing in China, and if people were laughing it suggests the stunt was a success, while if it was done in the West you'd do a lot of damage to the business.

I imagine the Chinese would look at us reacting this way with about the same level of scorn as vegans generally get in the West.

Interesting article.

Perhaps a better known example can illustrate better. Guys like sex, most of them. As Kraichgauer would put it (from another thread): https://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=383945&start=43

Not only that, generally speaking, most of them like big boobs and nice hips. So much that many women would go and get breast augmentation, surgically. If you talk to a scientist, they would tell you that this is because the males are looking for external characteristics to ensure the success of reproduction and survival of their offspring. But most guys, when they are ogling at women, the thing that least crosses their mind is to think about procreation. They are following Mother Nature's call without even realizing it. It's a subconscious act. On the surface, it's just what Kraichgauer has described: "it feels so damn good." But the explanation of why Mother Nature has made human males to "feel so damn good" about certain things, is actually related to the very survival of the species.

The same is true with caring about animals. All those thoughts about empathy, pain, intelligence and fear, you think you are the owner of your thoughts. Nope, Mother Nature has put all those thoughts into your head, for a reason that is unbeknownst to you.