One of the tweets in Bethany Mandel’s spot-on tweetstorm earlier in the week included a line about zoos that really triggered some folks, with the Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri writing a snarky column where animals expressed their displeasure with Bethany’s views. Here’s the opener:
THE ZOO — Zoo animals banded together to push back against the demands of people who wanted to be out visiting them and other temporarily shuttered attractions right away, even if it meant being called “Grandma killer” and bearing responsibility for an unnecessary rise in fatalities.
“The hell?” said one puffin. “Let actual living people die, so that you can see me? I’m just some bird. You can get better visuals of me on the Internet. Yeesh. I am not worth it.”
“Have you visited a zoo before?” a rhinoceros added. “I will stand in the corner of my enclosure in such a way that I am not visible at all, except for my hindquarters. I will do nothing of interest except possibly defecate indifferently in front of your 6-year-old.”
“I will not be visible either,” a tamarin that was supposed to be rare and interesting added. “I will be very clearly labeled, but you won’t be able to see me at all, because I will be behind some foliage, where I will remain for the entire duration of your visit.”
And as you might imagine, Bethany wasn’t very happy with this, especially since she’s written for the Post before and the least they could’ve done is give her a column to defend herself. But nope. Instead we got the zoo BS:
Instead of offering me the opportunity to write a column to explain the argument – which was coherent and part of a thread that has over 35k likes, the WaPo had a columnist pen a piece about how the zoo animals don’t want me to kill grandma. It was truly embarrassing. https://t.co/EzxxyasUgs
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
But even worse for the Washington Post is that Petri’s column — and every other critic — missed *why* she added zoo in her tweetstorm in the first place. In summary, “it’s the workers, stupid”:
Does no one who works at the Washington Post get the fundraising emails from the national zoo? pic.twitter.com/TXUkYIO9x0
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
Instead of fake interviewing animals, maybe interview the people out of a job?
I am not sorry for being concerned about the livelihoods of the people that work there. Do you know what would be a good use of the Washington Post’s time? Talk to some folks who work concessions or who teach education classes.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
This extended and undefined lockdown comes on the heels of the recent government shutdown. There are real economic concerns for folks that work there. And they were mocked in their hometown paper.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
This is a nice anecdote:
We’ve been members of the National Zoo for five years – long before we moved here. I have fond memories of the security guy who jumped into the leopard enclosure because my daughter was sobbing after dropping her sippy cup into it. (There were several layers of the enclosure..
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
He didn’t jump into the actual pen, just the security parameter around it for like two seconds to grab and jump back out. It wasn’t this. pic.twitter.com/V8VVG2LCiW
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
For Bethany, a homeschool mom, losing the zoo also means losing a valuable resource and people she knows personally. How would Petri feel if a teacher she knows lost her job? That’s what’s going on here:
I remember the teacher who taught my daughter in the homeschool science class who quit right after (or during?) the shutdown. Folks can’t not draw a paycheck indefinitely.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
These are awesome people who are out of a job:
I used to park in the same parking lot every week and got to know the woman at the gate. We had a skinned knee once and a woman in one of the shops ran out with a “magic bandaid.”
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
It was always about the people, not herself:
Do I have an emotional attachment to the zoo? Hell yes I do. And the people who work there. I am so sad for them. I wonder what their futures hold.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
And she pointed out that the National Zoo is in a different position than other zoos/museums/etc. around the country:
Our zoo is better off than almost any other because it receives federal funding. Lots of other cultural institutions don’t and their employees are facing indefinite furloughs and layoffs.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
I’ve had nice phone calls from several institutions’ development departments after donating to them amidst this crisis. The first layoffs they’ve been forced to make are concessions, cleaning, and parking. The folks most vulnerable to financial crisis.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
I am taking this “cancellation” in good humor except when it pertains to this. Instead of addressing my concerns (which were, again part of a coherent and long thread with tens of thousands of likes) with anything resembling good faith, I was called what I said I would be.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
Bethany laid out very real concerns, and got mocked over it:
And whatever, add grandma killer to my neo-Nazi bio, it’s all so profoundly dumb. But everyone amplifying the Grandma Killer meme decided to ignore my larger point because they’d rather dunk than consider their doctor closing or the lady at the zoo shop on a food bank line.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
And that conscious decision to mock the very real, very dire economic concerns Americans have says a lot more about them than it does me.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 8, 2020
Do better, Washington Post.
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