Laughing rather less

[andrewducker]

When I posted the image this morning of the lion on a horse/zebra on a giraffe I had just seen something, giggled at it, and decided to share it.

I then got a message from someone who had seen it, and wondered if I knew about the source of the top image. Which is an awful zoo in China, which is training animals to perform unpleasant tricks for tourists.

I'm not a fan of animals being forced to do things like that - particularly as the lion will almost certainly have been declawed and defanged beforehand, and much though I found the conflation of the two images hilarious when I was waking up, it's leaving a bit of a sour taste in my mouth now.

The person who messaged me* worried they were being a spoilsport, and whether I would actually want to know the provenance of the photo. To which my general response is _absolutely_ I want to know, and nobody is being a spoilsport by presenting me with the facts.

If I want to then turn around and say "Actually, I don't care about the feelings of giant carnivores, and am perfectly happy with them performing for my amusement." then that's up to me - I get to find things funny (or not), and nobody else can tell me my sense of humour. But I do like it to be an informed one.

*They didn't tell me publicly, so I don't feel right posting their name publicly.

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I had assumed it was photoshopped.

But yes, I quite agree, knowing the provenance of it does totally change how one views it.

[andrewducker]

Julie assumed it was photoshopped, I assumed that it was a lion about to eat a surprised horse (and I didn't even notice the background).

[zz]

i assumed the first one was trained circus animals, and no idea about the 2nd. didn't assume any cruelty beyond captivity, didn't think about the emotional states of the subjects, found captions and juxtaposition amusing.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I think that, if you post an image and then get annoyed that people share information about that image with you, then you probably need to reëvaluate – in short, I'm totally with you on this one.

See also my bookmarking of this and this, which proved the lie in two images that popped up just after the last solar eclipse.