George Rebane

The 22jun13 Union joined the animal rights activists’ kerfuffle in their attempt to stop elephant rides being offered at this year’s Nevada County Fair, the theme of which is ‘Under the Big Top’.  I about fell off my chair when I saw the paper’s editorial position getting exercised about the Fair Board’s politely silent response to the phalanx of loud and looney leftwing activists who habitually assemble under various fine sounding banners – this time from the ‘Center for Animal Protection and Education’ (sic!).

In my 20jun13 post I celebrated the Board’s response as “a rare sparkle of sanity (witnessed) here and there in the public forum.”  However, the mavens at The Union stand fast with the hyperventilated from CAPE, and remain puzzled as to what might have been the Board’s “rationale for their decision.”  Perhaps I can help penetrate this patch of local dumbth and fill the Union-claimed void – ‘Community deserves response from fair board’ (behind paywall?).

Dear people – You see, animal rides at public exhibitions, amusement parks, circuses, and, yes, county fairs have been an American tradition going on two centuries now.  It is a part of our culture where mom and/or dad can take the little darlings and let them ride a pony, camel, donkey, elephant, ostrich, ox, or even a pig.  For most kids it will be their first time for such an exciting experience, and it will create another memory of fun time with family and friends.  And as such, a cultural tradition that serves to join the generations – the adults remember when they first had their ride on an exotic animal at a fair or circus when they were young years ago.  I could go on, but I hope you get the picture, a picture that apparently is absent from your background or was omitted in your post-Great Society educational experience. 

So please, leave it alone.  This August let’s take another chance of an elephant, maddened by years of cruel handling, escaping its constraints and charging through crowded throngs, trampling and maiming tens, maybe even hundreds of unsuspecting fairgoers before being put down by the hastily summoned local SWAT team.  Think of the thrill of relating such a possibility to your own children as you explain to them why you won’t be visiting the fair this year.

I hope this helps, and please consider these factors the next time you feel a great upwelling of social injustice in your collective craw, and hopefully before you rush out again to mend an otherwise pretty healthy world.

Let me conclude by raising my hat once more to our cartoonist and observer extraordinaire of the social scene, RL ‘Bob’ Crabb.  His nearby cartoon – filched from today’s tarnished Union – is less tangential than it appears, for it succinctly summarizes and highlights within a current local issue the greater void which so immutably divides us.  Much food for thought.

[24jun13 update]  The Nevada County Fair Board has responded to the hyperventilation in a most reasonable manner through an open letter to the community on the elephant rides dust-up.  Here it is as posted on YubaNet.