Personal Responsibility
Jun. 24th, 2016 01:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ericadawn16There's a term that has become dirty from misuse:
Personal Responsibility
Some people use it to vilify those who need financial assistance or choose abortion or didn't have life work out the way they thought it would, but...
It doesn't mean that personal responsibility can't still mean things like picking up after yourself, knowing your surroundings and accepting that you have a child to protect.
Gee, it looks like it should be a state park or something, right? The grassy area, murky water and plentiful wildlife screams alligators to me but off to the side there, you can see the Grand Floridian.
I totally understand not kicking a person when they're already down. Obviously, the parents will be beating themselves up forever BUT...
Another part of personal responsibility is knowing that you can learn from OTHER's mistakes!
They had the older child in the playpen, that's great.
The dad was holding the toddler's hand, that's great, too.
However, they ignored the many signs about alligators AND snakes!, the No Swimming sign, the warning at check-in, the pamphlets and the many verbal warnings about the water at dusk as well as no one else being in the water because everyone else was following instructions.
Because it's great to have all those photos about how their kids were in the same water and how scary that was but all those other photos ARE DURING THE DAY! That's the whole point. Alligators are generally nocturnal and enjoy the day about as much as cats do...yes, that means a LOT of sleeping.
I've seen a lot of misinformation online which just infuriates me. It's like Steve Irwin's been dead for almost 10 years and now no one remembers anything he taught us about alligators and crocodiles.
I was worried at first about guests feeding the alligators...ILLEGAL IN FLORIDA!...but the description of the event and the boy's body all indicate normal alligator behaviour that hasn't been changed or impacted by humans.
When you're someplace away from home, you should learn what your possible dangers are. Ignoring the alligators for a moment, Florida has several species of venomous snakes, including ones that swim. There are also bacteria and disease that you could catch from strange water.
I'm saddened by all the alligators that Disney has destroyed and I hope after the fences are all put into place that it won't be as necessary.
I also hope for a day when child harnesses won't be seen as cruel. I used to think they were cruel until I had a Disney pass and saw so easy it was for TWO ADULTS to lose each other! Now, my mom and I agree that they're necessary for large populated areas and/or strange places. Of course, it wouldn't have worked here, but it would have saved the gorilla.
P.S.
I saw an alligator once on Disney property but it was in one of those wooded areas they have in the EPCOT parking lot. It ran away* before I could take its picture and I never saw one after that even though I always looked on Disney property for them. However, on my 28th birthday, I saw deer in the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
*Alligators behaving normally during daylight hours when you're not impeding it from needs, like babies, SHOULD run away from you. That's natural behavior.
Personal Responsibility
Some people use it to vilify those who need financial assistance or choose abortion or didn't have life work out the way they thought it would, but...
It doesn't mean that personal responsibility can't still mean things like picking up after yourself, knowing your surroundings and accepting that you have a child to protect.
Gee, it looks like it should be a state park or something, right? The grassy area, murky water and plentiful wildlife screams alligators to me but off to the side there, you can see the Grand Floridian.
I totally understand not kicking a person when they're already down. Obviously, the parents will be beating themselves up forever BUT...
Another part of personal responsibility is knowing that you can learn from OTHER's mistakes!
They had the older child in the playpen, that's great.
The dad was holding the toddler's hand, that's great, too.
However, they ignored the many signs about alligators AND snakes!, the No Swimming sign, the warning at check-in, the pamphlets and the many verbal warnings about the water at dusk as well as no one else being in the water because everyone else was following instructions.
Because it's great to have all those photos about how their kids were in the same water and how scary that was but all those other photos ARE DURING THE DAY! That's the whole point. Alligators are generally nocturnal and enjoy the day about as much as cats do...yes, that means a LOT of sleeping.
I've seen a lot of misinformation online which just infuriates me. It's like Steve Irwin's been dead for almost 10 years and now no one remembers anything he taught us about alligators and crocodiles.
I was worried at first about guests feeding the alligators...ILLEGAL IN FLORIDA!...but the description of the event and the boy's body all indicate normal alligator behaviour that hasn't been changed or impacted by humans.
When you're someplace away from home, you should learn what your possible dangers are. Ignoring the alligators for a moment, Florida has several species of venomous snakes, including ones that swim. There are also bacteria and disease that you could catch from strange water.
I'm saddened by all the alligators that Disney has destroyed and I hope after the fences are all put into place that it won't be as necessary.
I also hope for a day when child harnesses won't be seen as cruel. I used to think they were cruel until I had a Disney pass and saw so easy it was for TWO ADULTS to lose each other! Now, my mom and I agree that they're necessary for large populated areas and/or strange places. Of course, it wouldn't have worked here, but it would have saved the gorilla.
P.S.
I saw an alligator once on Disney property but it was in one of those wooded areas they have in the EPCOT parking lot. It ran away* before I could take its picture and I never saw one after that even though I always looked on Disney property for them. However, on my 28th birthday, I saw deer in the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
*Alligators behaving normally during daylight hours when you're not impeding it from needs, like babies, SHOULD run away from you. That's natural behavior.
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no subject
Date: 2016-06-24 07:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-24 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-25 03:20 am (UTC)If I tried to say anything elsewhere, I was usually accused of being harsh or blinded by Disney love...I love pointing out when a large corporation has done wrong but I really feel they thought they did everything necessary here and they did have over 44 years of no alligator incidents.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-24 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-24 02:01 pm (UTC)Hugs, Jon
no subject
Date: 2016-06-25 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-25 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-25 01:21 am (UTC)This stuff makes me glad I live in Texas (gee, never thought I'd actually say that), where we don't really have to worry about alligators.
And glad James has harnesses he wears when out in public.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-25 03:29 am (UTC)https://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/texas-man-ignores-alligator-warning
I saw you post James in his harness earlier today, SO CUTE!!!
I'm not very familiar with AAC devices...was that the sort of laptop/iPad thing he was holding?
no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 03:30 am (UTC)"Since 2006, 240 alligators have been trapped and killed at Disney across the 25,000 acre property."
In Florida, it's encouraged to kill gators that are "nuisance".
"Nuisance" is defined as any gator that's four feet or more. The state government wants to artificially weed out the larger ones so that only the smaller gators will spread on their genes.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-01 02:02 am (UTC)It's the same way with wolves all over the country. They serve a similar role but people actively have them killed for some stupid made up reason or another. There are active lobbies working against wolves in Washington so that tax payer dollars have been used to exterminate them,
Totally off-topic...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!