Sunday, February 16, 2014

The UK Royal Family and Ivory

From The Times yesterday: Charles Hides His Ivory (paywall)

Basically the gist is: Wildlife and campaigning charities are asking the royal family to destroy their antique ivory pieces; that is, ivory pieces that they collected and were given before the trade in ivory was declared illegal.
To me, this sounds insane. Destroying these items won't change how they were made, or the pain and death  inflicted on the elephants killed to make these items. But they were made at a different time, when we had different values. Destroying these items will mean they no longer exist, and therefore the pain and suffering of the creatures killed to make these items will have been in vain.
Surely it would be better to display these items and change the message to a 'never forget' kind of message? Reinforce the hideous way in which these items were obtained and impress on the public / kids looking at these displays that we've moved on and are not so barbaric any more?

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