“What distinguishes us as humans…”

“…will also destroy us”. Such were the prophetic words of the raccoon today over lunch, as he was having one of his tribulations about humankind and its impact on the world. The background? Two very specific but not connected discussions:

1. What eats Nathaniel Sprawles, the Chargers running back, who is 1.7 mts but weights 90 kilos? Speculative answer: MEAT, MEAT, MEAT. (PUAG!)

2. John Homan’s article “The Rise of Dog Identity Politics” (New York, February 1, 2010), in which the author discusses John Archers’s point that dogs have turned into “social parasites” after losing all their sense in life— to work— and turning into some kind of substitute children. If dogs are parasites because they live from us, with us, and as Homan writes, paraphrasing Archer, “suck up human caregiving that could be going to human children while providing no evolutionary advantage…”, the lingering question is: what are we? And here is where the opening statement comes in: “What distinguishes us as humans, will also destroy us”.

Oh. My. Dog.