I went to the zoo yesterday with my family and found myself encumbered by a moral dilemma. It was clear many of the animals there felt caged. You could see it in their faces. On the other hand, most of them were born in captivity, so they really don't know any other way of life.
It's a paradox.
If the zookeepers were to release them into the wild, they would surely fail to thrive. Yet, in the zoo environment, they were just as clearly trapped.
This got me to thinking about other types of paradoxical scenarios in our culture. Let's look at social media, for example. People want to be able to share the details of their lives freely with others, yet, by doing so they put their families at risk.
They cry out in anger:
I should have the right to tell people I'm on vacation and not worry about my home being robbed.
That's also a paradox. Unfortunately, it's self-contradictory to expect privacy in a digital arena. This wonderful virtual world exists, but reality reduces its quality of life just as surely as keeping animals in cages leaves them safe but trapped.
The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life...
– Soren Kierkegaard\
Now, go out, try to be less confusing and enjoy some art.
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