A little annoyed ...
An email newsletter from “QuebecOiseaux” (a fine organisation) that I received on Friday contained this cartoon. Perhaps I am being sensitive, but …
Ostensibly, the message it sends is that we should get out side and into the fresh air and look at the birds. Indeed we should, and I do.
However, had the indoor, uncoloured part of the cartoon been a sterile office or a couch in front of a television then I would have had no problem but instead the artist misguidedly chose to illustrate an abandoned school laboratory with microscopes.
I think that is a dreadful message. If we are to know and understand our fellow creatures on earth then we need to spend as much time in the laboratory as we do outside. It’s a wonderful thing to watch a bird fly, but to fully know that bird we also have to know how flight is achieved. Field and laboratory biological science are complementary and both need to be taught in schools - this cartoon sends quite the wrong message.
At least the duck looks interested in the microscopes.
PS: What are those glassware retorts doing behind each microscope?
Yes, go outside and collect drops of pond water to observe under the microscope. Or if one of the birds drops a feather bring it inside and out that under the microscope to witness the remarkable intricacies of feather anatomy. And yes, the retorts are a dangerous thing to have near the optics and mechanics of a microscope - plus, one would need safety glasses and that is less than ideal for microscopy.
Why don't they bring microscopes outside and be thrilled at what they see?
If they'd changed the microscopes into forgotten tablets and phones... the advertisers wouldn't be pleased.