OT-HUMOR: In defense of Wart Hogs (was doges)
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: OT-HUMOR: In defense of Wart Hogs (was doges)
- From: s*@aristotle.net (J. Michael, Celia or Ben Storey)
- Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 13:16:34 -0700 (MST)
> Somehow I like the suggestion that
>we call the bad seedlings "warthogs". Lloyd Zurbrigg in Durham NC
I AM OFFENDED! How dare you, sir, attack this poor oppressed wild hog whose
elegance and intelligence have been misrepresented by generations of
self-centered and self-serving so-called aesthetes. Where is your empathy,
sir, where is your sympathy? Is the wild hog not mammal? When cut does he
not bleed? The very suggestion that the name of this great African native
might be exploited to ridicule failed and unwanted flowers - hybridizer's
trash - is appalling!
What beyond the rankest lookism and prejudice could have brought such a
large, active animal to mind in reference to the diminutive and immobile
iris? An adult wart hog may be four feet long and 30 inches high at the
shoulder and may weigh more than 200 pounds. What does an unwanted iris
weigh? Less than a pound!
You say that the wart hog is not beautiful. What is beauty? Yuppies and
aging dilettantes pay small fortunes to acquire hairless cats or shave
their poodles bald, but the African wild hog is looked down upon for being
naturally bald except for the stiff mane bristling down the back of his
neck. Is that not beauty?
As to character and personality, mother wart hogs tenderly suckle their
young while fathers defend the family with fierce determination. When has
an iris, unwanted or otherwise, ever defended its young? The mother rhizome
sits idly in the ground while hungry caterpillars and neighborhood children
gouge off her babies.
Wart hogs are living and dying every day on grassy plains where they are
hounded by lions and hungry tribesmen. They are the sport of hyenas. Must
they also be the sport of irisarians? Let's have no more aestheto-centric
ugliness in reference to the African wild pig! And no more insensitive
references to dogs. The dog is a noble animal. How would you like it if
*your* name were used to make fun of rejected irises? Call them what they
are, rejected vegetable matter. Leave the noble hog and the noble dog out
of it.
;-> ;-> ;->
celia
storey@aristotle.net
Little Rock
