Here’s an advocacy idea for you: Be a cute kid with no front teeth, get on an extremely popular national (or international) television show, and passionately recite a poem you wrote about animal rights. Put a large snake around your neck, and you’ve got yourself a viral YouTube video sensation.
That’s exactly what 7-year-old Olivia Binfield did when she was a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent, reading aloud an original poem with a big message — to stop the senseless torture of animals. My favorite part? “Man, you’re such a fool. Snake skinned alive for handbags? That is just not cool!”
“Man, you’re such a fool.” Doesn’t that just say it all?
As mentioned, scrumptious little Olivia had a big snake wrapped around her neck and head during her performance, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I guess I’d need to know a bit more about the snake, whom Olivia calls “Lucky,” including where she came from and her quality of life. But Olivia proudly asserted that Lucy lives with her, and both Olivia and her “mum” certainly looked nice enough, so let’s go with the benefit of the doubt here…
I have now watched this video, in full, two times. Call my fascination with this procrastination from my work, but I prefer to think of it as appreciation of a rare moment in mainstream TV that is genuine, impassioned, and — one hopes — has the potential to pack a punch and get people to think twice about participating in needless violence to animals.
Ah, from the mouths of babes…
H/T Hayley Smith
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