Into the Bloodied Maw We Stare

(Blog inspired by Rhiannon, colored by Nat Geo, and not-so-much Nat Geo)

So you finally graduated high school and decided to pursue your scholarly ambitions. Or maybe not. Perhaps you decided to revive old dreams of being in the circus and putting up an exhibition of amazing feats for all of childlike society to adore. Whatever your motivation, you ended up taking the world by storm and brought to our table (as it seems most of us eat dinner watching TV anymore) a new feat of strength sure to prove the girth of your testosterone cannon.

Well, if you make it out alive that is.

I am not sure what it is about humans, but we never cease to amaze and be amazed. We look at nature with her violent, scorned-woman beauty and say to each other "I can control that." Then we set out to take nature by the horns, so to speak, and she never fails to remind us who is boss.

We even have TV shows dedicated to the ferocity of nature in animal form; time and again we look into the abyss lacking fear only to discover the abyss looks back. Not only does it look back, but it displays all its aggression and prowess with adornments so vivid that no imagination can recreate. But despite the warnings, we advance in what can only be reasonably dubbed our own courtship routine.





Often, we find ourselves staring at her in exquisite form and she flaunts. She adores the attention. Surely she appreciates being the subject of our educational programming, folklore, religion and canvas. She poses, inquisitive as to what we will have learned through time, but knowing that in reality we've learned nothing. Time and again we prove this human shortcoming; yet time and again she tries to give us the benefit of the doubt.

And so we take advantage of her seeming innocence and naivety. We sit in the distance watching for when the moment is right. Stealthily we creep in attempting to get closer. With our tranquilizer loaded we reach the range of attack. With a subtle movement of muscle we wage war on her body- watching her fall helplessly to the ground; once majestic and almost godly, now just a slumbering beast helpless to the devices of our rapacious innovation and cages. We then try to tame her. Dress her. Personify her- perhaps the most dangerous of our conquests.

And she plays along. For a while. But then she puts us right back in our place reminding us that we are the ones who should be alert to the lurking danger within the tall grass of the Serengeti.

WARNING: This video is graphic and quite disturbing. Watch at your own risk. Splattercore neither finds this entertaining nor do we advocate the harming of animals- especially ones doing animal things despite our best efforts to conquer them. Video supplied for the purposes of better illustrating (a) our stupidity as people and (b) the unfortunate consequence of anything dealing with mankind in regards to "the cost of doing business" with mankind.


Sadly, as we do with each other, when nature reveals the provoked chaos beneath the beauty, we are quick to claim "foul" and seek out the hired hand of vindication to make right that which we so often forget we made wrong. However, despite our best efforts nature always wins.

For she knows our beginning and she knows- nay, she is- the mistress of our demise.

-Joel