We are currently experiencing a devastating pandemic because of a spillover event that took place in a Wuhan Seafood Market. The animals being sold in this market were trafficked, stolen from nature by traffickers and sold in a market for profit to the highest bidder. I think it's important to watch this documentary to understand power dynamics that exist in trafficking, so we can examine contributing factors, and correct these abusive and exploitative power dynamics at all levels of society. We can't collectively solve a problem that we refuse to acknowledge exists.
It is not ethical to pull the wool over our eyes now that trafficking has unleashed COVID-19 and devastated our communities. It's important to examine trafficking so we can know what it is, how the unhealthy relationship dynamic plays out, and ultimately so we can opt out of that toxic relationship. Capitalism and the patriarchy has created two classes: exploiter and the exploited and we call this relationship trafficking.
I spent the last three months volunteering with an agency in King County that helps victims of human trafficking. I have attended multiple workshops and learned a great deal about how human trafficking goes down in my local community. Victims of human trafficking are seeking connection, and trying to get their basic needs met for shelter, and food. The trafficker sees the victim with a need and exploits them for profit. The trafficker does not care if the victim is human or animal.
I have heard this fact over and over: there is more human slavery in existence today than there was in chattel slavery. One could argue that there is more animal cruelty and exploitation now than any other time in human history. Before we can liberate animals and people from the chains of exploitation we have got to acknowledge that these chains exist in the first place, and that is uncomfortable but necessary in order for us to transcend these toxic dynamics.
In the documentary Joe Exotic is a gay man who went through the unfortunate experience of being rejected by his parents for being gay. He found solace in the company of illegally trafficked wild animals. The positive emotions gave Joe Exotic a buzz, much like the effects of a drug. And like any addiction in a vulnerable person with bad mental health, chaos and ultimately tragedy followed suit.
The documentary features big cat kingpins who exploit animals along with people they form romantic attachments with. When I was reflecting on the trafficker in South Carolina with the multiple wives, the exact same relationship dynamic exists in human trafficking. Joe Exotic's relationship with his late husband was one of control and domination. Joe Exotic controlled his husband with drugs and forbade him from having a life outside of the zoo, this is the kind of dynamic that exists in domestic violence and also human trafficking. Animals and people both suffer from exploitation by capitalist traffickers and that is tragic.
The Tiger King is a great example of what has gone so completely batshit crazy wrong in Western Civilization. The mythologist Joseph Campbell discussed how Western Civilization's origin myth in the bible started us on a path that was deeply wrong and against nature. "Man is superior to the beasts and nature is fallen. With the fall in the garden of Eden, nature is corrupt. So we do not give ourselves to nature. We will correct nature. There is good and evil in nature and we are supposed to be on the side of the good so there is a tension: You don't yield to nature" (Joseph Campbell, 2005, Sukhavati [film]). Joe Exotic decided to profit from these wild animals by trafficking them, and his modern-day actions of animal and human exploitation are manifestations of a deeply held societal belief that has permeated our culture for thousands of years.
This deeply held belief has thrived in our culture because it has long gone unexamined. In that same myth, the female, Eve gives Adam the apple and convinces him to take a bite. The female of our species is a temptress leading to devastation and ruin from here on out. Women are the source of original sin and unredeemable. The patriarchy as we know it today started with this origin myth. There are other examples of Western mythology where the female is the source of all the pain in the universe, notably the myth of Pandora opening the box of sorrows unleashing suffering upon the entire world.
These myths are deeply held in our collective unconscious even though we no longer notice them. I've noticed a trend in our society: What is okay for men, would never be acceptable in females. Our culture's devastating ability to shunt our collective negative feelings into the mock, shame and blame of females is remarkable. Joe Exotic, likely channeling his anger of being rejected by his mother after he came out as a gay male, finds his enemy, his foil an outlet for his boiling rage in a female by the name of Carole Baskin.
Joe Exotic is not an outlier, he is a product of our society. His darkness is our darkness. It's also a helpful window through we can examine how our society's collective unconscious has manifested into unhealthy negative relationships with ourselves, between the sexes, and with mother nature. Because in the end he is just a capitalist trafficker. But let's zoom out and take a look at the big picture. We are all individual human manifestations of capitalism, the patriarchy.
I think it's helpful to watch this documentary and really reflect on what we have been doing as a society. Are Joe Exotic's actions outrageous and exploitative? Yes! Is Joe Exotic a murderer of animals, and attempted murderer of a woman? Yes! I don't think watching this documentary equates to 'giving animal abusers money and attention.' This documentary showcases how our entire society is sick, on a micro level with Joe Exotic as an individual, but the same sickness permeates every level of society and it goes all the way to the top.
Are large multi-national corporations exploiting people, animals and the environment for profit? Yes! Do corporations use the image of females to sell product, while our politicians shame women while passing all the laws to exact control over women's bodies essentially exacting revenge upon females for a thousands-year old myth that is stuck like used chewing gum to our unexamined social programming? Yes!
One cannot condemn and judge Joe Exotic without condemning Western civilization for trafficking the resources of the environment, animals, and people without socially conferred privilege (Johnson, 2006, p. 39) . We think Joe is crazy? The fact that we let corporations take advantage of the environment, animals, and people -all without paying their fair share of taxes is crazy.
The vegans have it wrong - watching this documentary does not mean you are supporting animal abuse. We can bring a lot of good out of this documentary by watching it and taking collective action to stop trafficking and abuse on the macro level, by corporations and the United States government. It is unconscionable that we have allowed corporations to have so much power and control. It is unconscionable that we have elected officials that give trillions of dollars to banks and the stock market but refuse to help American citizens by providing Medicare for All.
We have allowed corporations to take over our government. Our government no longer works for us, but for the profits of corporations. We must take collective action and fight this with everything we got. Our labor does not have to be trafficked for the profits of corporations. Corporations are the ultimate traffickers: Demonic entities who do not age, who do not pay taxes and who do not breathe, the purpose of their existence is to secure a profit. The criminal, abusive and exploitative tendencies of Joe Exotic pale in comparison to the evils perpetrated by corporations.
A more helpful tactic than arguing against watching the Tiger King is by channeling our outrage about large-scale misogyny and exploitation into taking collective action against corporations. What about that child who had COVID-19 that was denied care because he had no health insurance and died en route to a public hospital? That child died because of the greed of the health care corporations. Why do we allow health insurance corporations to continue existing when they have shown, over and over that they value profits over people's lives? They bribed the Obama administration with lots and lots of money. They continue to bribe our congressional representatives. Why are we as a society continuing to elect officials that demonstrate to us that the profits of corporations are more important than our lives?
The government of the United States does not get it's tax money from corporations but from us, our wages. The banks in this country are exceptionally parasitic on the labor of the working class. Banks that require trillions of dollars from the government because of their greed should not be allowed to continue existing.
There is a concept in recovery and in mental health called 'natural consequences.' People who have addiction issues and bad mental health issues must experience 'natural consequences' for their behavior, in some cases causing them to hit rock bottom and inspiring positive change. We have allowed our government to develop this sick, and extremely codependent relationship with these giant corporations. We have elected officials who enable corporations to traffick our labor and our environment for profit
This is a sick relationship and the evil will continue unless there is a collective effort to overturn the massively destructive Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. You can join the movement and learn more on this website! This is a good place to start. The corporations will never stop being greedy unless they experience natural consequences. Currently our government is enabling corporation's addiction to more and more profits. This is unsustainable.
We can elect leaders that make choices to help people in our society by implementing Medicare for All. We can choose to vote for leaders who have the authentic desire to help all citizens, not just the rich. We can start questioning our social programming most of which is unconscious and be more mindful in our response. We don't have to shame and blame females and continue to subconsciously hold them accountable for all the problems in the world, the Me Too movement has been a helpful starting point. We can and should start holding males in power accountable for their actions.
We cannot allow our government to continue in it's current state. The president of the USA should be arrested for human trafficking of the entire working class of the USA. Joe Exotic's exploitative relationship with animals is a reflection of what the top leaders in our society are doing to us. But they don't have to. As people of moral conscience and with goodness in our hearts we can change this for the better.
The documentary was satisfying at the end when Joe Exotic goes to prison for multiple criminal convictions. The person who put tigers in cages is himself imprisoned. Karma is real. We can do this with the inept, incompetent leaders in our government too.
References
Johnson, A. G. (2006). Privilege, power and difference. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
