On Friday, in his “Ethicist” column for the New York Times, author Chuck Klosterman weighed in on whether it was ethical for trainers to have told Koko the Gorilla about the death of Robin Williams, whom she had met in 2001. In related news, did I just have an aneurysm? Reality really is the best hallucinogen.
Backing up a bit, I can’t believe I missed this press release when it came out in August.
On Monday, Aug. 11, the day news broke of Williams’ passing, Koko and Penny and Ron (Drs. Patterson and Cohn) were together when phone calls started coming in about the sad event. After the first call, Koko came to Dr. Patterson with an inquiring look on her face. Dr. Patterson explained that “we have lost a dear friend, Robin Williams.” Koko was quiet and looked very thoughtful.
More phone calls about the news came in, and Koko overheard one from a former colleague who had worked with Williams while he filmed a public service announcement for The Gorilla Foundation (based on his visit with Koko) in 2003. The colleague’s voice broke at the end of the conversation. About a half an hour later, Koko signed to Penny: “CRY LIP” (LIP is Koko’s sign for woman).
An Oakland woman naturally then wrote to the author of Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs to ask if it was right to tell a gorilla about the death of a famous comedian. I mean, don’t gorillas have enough on their minds these days as it is without unnecessarily burdening them so? It’s an interesting question, or at least, a question, and Klosterman, who takes longer getting to a point than Kevin Smith on a just-for-fans podcast, began his answer thusly:
Let’s start by looking at this from a slightly wider angle: What is the moral purpose of “talking” to a gorilla about anything? What’s the ethical justification for teaching Koko sign language and trying to communicate human ideas that have no bearing on her life? [NYTimes]
Klosterman then goes onto answer his own pre-question with a subsequent paragraph that includes no less than eight more rhetorical questions. And that’s before his “on the other hand” paragraph. Instead of excerpting that here, let’s re-examine the source:
The colleague’s voice broke at the end of the conversation. About a half an hour later, Koko signed to Penny: “CRY LIP” (LIP is Koko’s sign for woman).
So, while one way to look at it was “Koko the Gorilla was sad about Robin Williams’ death,” another, possibly more accurate way to interpret that is, Koko the Gorilla saw a woman crying and then signed ‘crying woman.'”
I’m not saying that the gorilla wasn’t as sad about Robin Williams’ passing as you or I, just that the evidence presented thus far seems inconclusive. Not that that should make you feel any less sad about it, of course.