Comments on: Pigeons on the Grass, Alas, Alas

By: Patrick S. O'Donnell

Patrick S. O'Donnell — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:13:39 +0000

Frank,

I suspect it’s a matter functionalism or teleology: birds should never have been put in cages in the first place. They have wings, they should be allowed to fly…. ‘Born free, free as the wind blows….’

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:31:36 +0000

I totally agree with you, Rachel; pigeon-care is a case of “love misdirected,” as Dante (or Roberto Unger!) might put it.

As for the folly of cages: that would be a very interesting study, Patrick, though I have a sense some birds might not mind. But really, I have no idea what they’d feel, nor even how to measure bird distress/satisfaction!

By: Patrick S. O'Donnell

Patrick S. O'Donnell — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:18:24 +0000

Or…to love crows, for they can feed themselves, thank you very much. Birds in a cage

By: Rachel Godsil

Rachel Godsil — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:07:07 +0000

Frank,

Your post reminds me of the lovely song from Mary Poppins — tuppence, tuppence, tuppence for the birds! For those who haven’t seen it recently, it is really a celebration of outsiders and non-conformity — the bird-lady’s request for a tuppence for the birds leads a bankers’ children to revolt against investment.

More on point – I think your instinct against too aggresively shaming the bird-feeders has some merit. But maybe we can encourage them to get inside birds to love!

By: Patrick S. O'Donnell

Patrick S. O'Donnell — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:43:25 +0000

If pigeons are smart, like crows, they’ll get their own website, and then there’ll be no stopping them: http://www.crows.net/index.html

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:45:54 +0000

I agree, Bruce–those are some very sobering stories. Dan S. has a post up here about some sort of “mobbing” recently happening in China b/c of internet shaming.

And of course I should have linked to Dan Markel’s series on shaming in the original post!:

http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2006/10/the_future_of_s_2.html

By: Bruce Boyden

Bruce Boyden — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:40:40 +0000

Not only that, but such enforcement efforts can take on the flavor of the Cultural Revolution if they are out of proportion to the end to be achieved, or if they punish rather than motivate.