I think they're just aping/parroting the standard issue bullshit of "get tough" and "stop crying" and "don't show weakness" that is part and parcel of our calloused, militarized society.
I think it goes deeper than that, people at their core have no tolerance for weakness. Find another animal species that shows compassion and I'll show you a group of animals that will not survive. You let the weak die so the strong can go on living. This is how it was for 99.99% of our special history. It can be hard to change, it's hard wired in for our survival. The only point to life is to survive, all the rest is just games we play with each other.
actually you are quite incorect. Weirdly the issue of wether animals have compassion or goodness has been politicalized. I supose thats becasue if we thought about the feelings of our lunch and jackets....Anyway their are many many exapmles of animlas having compassion much to their own personal peril. Off the top of my head,wether its a monkey junping into the water to save another monkey from drowning- although monkeys cant swim, a rat going into greif induced depression after having her babies "taken" from her, elephapnts blocking with theri own bodies the elephants who have "tusks" and are valuable to the hunters, cats running into buildings to "alert" other cats to fires, wallabys risking themselves to "help" a sick wallaby....the animal kingdom is alot like us , some kindness in an otherwise cruel world.
The Daily Telegraph.
14 August 2006.
Elephants show compassion in face of death
By Roger Highfield
These astonishing pictures reveal the depth of compassion the creatures feel for each other in their moments of need. Film footage shot by scientists at the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya caught Eleanor as she fell to the ground after being bitten.
Her helper, Grace, was seen calling out in distress and making desperate attempts to get the stricken elephant on to her feet. But the 40-year-old matriarch was too ill to respond and her efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. Her great weight compressed her internal organs and by the following morning she was dead. That day her body was visited by other elephants who rocked back and forth or stood silently nearby.
It was a dramatic demonstration that elephants, like humans, show compassion after a death of one of their own species, care about other elephants in distress and have a strong interest in the dead - and not only for their immediate kin. Grace is the matriarch of a separate family, christened the Virtues by scientists, to that of Eleanor, who headed the First Ladies. But Grace still came to the dying elephant's aid.
The research team from Oxford University's Department of Zoology, the charity Save the Elephants, and the University of California report the rare observations in a forthcoming study to be published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science. Movements of 50 animals are constantly tracked, allowing the team to measure and record visits to the dead matriarch.
From radio tracking and direct or recorded observations, the study showed that five families visited the dead Eleanor, showing a distinct interest in her body. One of these families was her own, but the researchers noted that Eleanor also received visits from unrelated elephants who were not normally associated with her.
The study concludes that elephants are interested in sick, dying or dead elephants, irrespective of a genetic relationship. The authors conclude: "It is an example of how elephants and humans may share emotions, such as compassion, and have an awareness and interest about death."
