The Seagull Dilemma
Seagulls from my perspective are very angry birds. They can be found generally everywhere. They can be obnoxious, and difficult, but also follow you everywhere if you’re holding food. They only know what they know, what they want, and have little interest in much else. It’s the same with pigeons, but I find they simply disregard you like a cat and continue on their way. There is something more obnoxious, more nasty, about a seagull.
When I was growing up we’d frequent the beach in upper Ontario, Canada. The beach was littered with the off-white scavengers circling and briskly walking along the sand looking for any kind of scraps (a stray french fry from the stand?) that the wind blew. They’d also announce their displeasure with those high-pitched unmistakable squawks. (If you close your eyes I’m sure you can hear it. They tend to permeate any shoreline.) Seagulls can be more high-pitched if you were feeding them – which we generally did in the evenings on the sand outside our small rented cottage with the endless sounds of waves rolling along the shore; drowned out by the insensate squawking. As a child these were quaint times. The sounds of summer.
Now as an adult I start reexamining the behaviors of those birds. Mainly, when it comes down to it, they can be pretty mean. They fight with each other over scraps. They squawk among themselves as they try to gain any advantage – sometimes to the point of chasing others away. They also lack any semblance of order. Each day is a fight for survival in a never-ending competition for whatever the day has to offer.
Sound familiar?
In recent times the behaviors of those beach seagulls has made me reflect on our society as a whole. Increasingly, it seems, we’re becoming more like seagulls and less like the intelligent bipeds we claim to be. Perhaps we’ve always been this way, but I would suggest that the last thirty years it has gotten worse. Technology has probably played a roll in the ever constant and instantly connected world. From differences in politics to opinions on whether one should wear white after Labor Day. The exchanges are virulent – intense. Obviously some topics of discussion have more impact than clothing choices after a certain date, but it’s the compromising nature of those debates that are at issue. In fact it could be said we don’t have debates anymore – just arguments that are never resolved. The art of negotiation is compromise. The United States Constitution was built out of compromise. The Senate and House in Congress was built out of compromise. That era of strong, intellectual, and forward thinking leadership has evaporated over time. It has been replaced, basically, by squawking seagulls trying to be the loudest. It is this erosion that is the most severe to the general populous.
I don’t attempt to offer any solutions. Only a warning. It may in fact be too late anyway. We already have the loudest seagulls squawking denying factual information. There has been a war on literacy and disinformation campaign for a while now to bring more seagulls into the flock. It’s succeeded. I said before you can debate about the effects of something to varying degrees, but you cannot debate the existence of said thing. That crosses over into the world of denial, and that is a very dangerous place to be. Lest one be another bird and bury their head at that point. Even more so other seagulls may agree with you now, but can easily turn on you later. The seagulls will ban some books today and your book tomorrow. It’s a dilemma as society itself shifts into this direction where there’s little chance of returning. I wouldn’t say we’re standing at the edge of the abyss, but rather have one leg over already, and what does separate us from the seagulls – we can’t fly.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”– Isaac Asimov