Monday, February 10, 2014

“The lamb gets up and falls down and gets up and falls down and goes and lays in the corner after doing it this way”

Savanna picked out this quote and explained that Mike Rowe shouldn't second guess the procedure of the people who do it for a living (referring to the castration of the lambs).  She did a nice job of identifying that what he and major organizations thought was right and humane, was not the case at all. 


Mike Rowe said in his TED talk that this Dirty Job moment really changed how he had been looking at the show before.  I think his realization of some of societies “accepted ways” or “norms” should be looked at more carefully and decide upon as individuals if we agree.  As Savanna pointed out, Mike assumed he knew more about the procedure than the people who do it for a living.  I feel that this could be a lesson for us as a way to humble ourselves by not thinking that we know all the facts just because we heard or read about it.  We need to realize that sometimes what may seem absurd or extreme can be the less harmful alternative.  In Mike’s situation using the band caused not only harm and discomfort for the lamb, but discomfort for Mike having to see it lying in pain.  Whereas the way Mike thought was unethical ended up only bringing the lamb momentary pain and was less harmful to the lamb overall.  If I was in Mike’s situation, I would have suggested the same alternative method that he did by using the bands.  And like Mike I would reconsider what I had thought to be true.  I would not go through the procedure as he did, but I would have a better understanding and respect for this unusual method.  

2 comments:

  1. I like this quote and really like how you and Savanna analyzed it. I think there were many life lessons in Mike Rowe's TED Talk and this one was a big one about accepting that we aren't always going to be right. I think that we often want to be the teachers more in life rather than the students. When I say that I mean that we like to be the ones showing and teaching on different aspects in life rather than sit back and be the ones always being taught and told what or how to do something. There is a bit of self-pride that comes with teaching and I think Mike Rowe forgot that he was to be the student and not the teacher for a little bit. Once he realized that the “humane” way to castrate the lamb was really inhumane, Mike begins to question what else in life is socially acceptable but overseen by what is really unacceptable. I don’t know if that last part made sense but that’s in my head it did.

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  2. I laughed at the part where you said that you would not go through the procedure as he did! I found this very funny. I also agree with Hanna you and Savanna both pointed out some great things about this quote and how many people believe that they have the right perception on a lot of things that they are completely wrong. If you go to my blogger page I used a different quote from Mike's TED talk but related it back to this topic of the lamb being castrated. It seems funny that this was the experience that made him realize that he probably has a lot of things wrong as he said in his TED talk but at least he now knows that he still has a lot he can learn in life.

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