This is not going to be a popular article. So, if you don’t know this: A four-year-old child fell into the gorilla Harambe’s enclosure, and, in order to rescue the child, they shot Harambe. The Internet went into a storm, as not only is Harambe an endangered species of gorilla, but many think that he was killed unjustly.

When the story first came out, I happened to agree with those views. My first reaction was disappointment over the killing of Harambe. My second reaction was why on earth would parents let their kids close enough to fall? But then two other things happened. First, I watched the video of the kid and the gorilla, and the kid was clearly being dragged around to the point where it could have been an extremely deadly situation. Second, I watched people on the Internet react. Maybe it’s just the people I follow on Facebook, but upon looking on comments in the video and articles, I was shocked at a couple of things. People were taking sides with either team Gorilla or team Human. Second, people were basically saying that the parents were stupid and started blaming the kid, a four-year-old.

Watching that, I started to feel…let’s call them outbursts of passionate anger. I was angry at people for continuously blaming the parents and blaming the flipping toddler for falling in. Look, kids are curious and stupid, that’s their nature. Parents could be watching them 23 hours and 50 seconds in a day, and in those 10 seconds where they turn their head, that’s when their dumb kid is going to get in trouble. Ask me, I should know; I was the dumb kid (and before the jokes start coming, remember: so were you). I never fell into a gorilla exhibit, but when I was three, my mom was holding my hand one time while crossing the street as we waited at a green stoplight. Her hand slipped for a millisecond and I zoomed across the road. It might have been luck, but as I crossed the road the light turned red and I wasn’t hit. Was I a devil child? Highly debatable. Was my mother to blame? Heck no, how was she supposed to know her idiot three-year-old was going to slip out of her hand the millisecond she loosened her grip? My point is stuff happens; they could be the greatest parents in the world and this could still happen to them.

My second response to the Internet? Wow, what an idiot of a first world country. We are so modern and ahead of our time we've stopped valuing human life. All of those Syrians dying in their civil war or dying in an attempt to cross Europe to get to a better place because they literally have nothing? Eh, not important. The Zika virus spreading in Brazil and coming to a USA near you? Old news. Immigrant families being split apart? Well, they should have been born somewhere better, they’re not our problem. In America, a supposed first world country, one in four kids starving? Well, that is their parents' fault. In Chicago, eight people get shot in one night? It’s Chicago; if you don’t like it, move. Plus, I’m sure they were in a gang, right? People getting killed because of racism in our first world USA? It’s OK, they’re Black/Mexican/Arab/Muslim/Asian/Gay/Trans (insert your favorite minority), they’re a dime a dozen apparently. But a gorilla? Sound the alarm! Ring the Bells! How dare they think they can get away with this? We are going to put all of our mass energy into talking about this. Yep, some first world thoughts we have. Glad human nature evolved to caring so much.

I get it, though, I really do. I understand why people are mad at Harambe’s death. Not only was he an endangered species, but he’s a wild animal far away from his natural habitat, stuck in a cage. Of course, he is going to do something like that!!! I could have told you that from a mile away. Harambe was simply following his natural instincts, and was probably also an angry animal stuck in a cage. I would be too, with idiots putting me in a fake knockoff of my natural habitat- which they destroyed- who wouldn’t be mad? But the thing is, the Internet has decided to pit a four-year-old against a captive gorilla, instead of facing the real fact that both were victims of the institution of zoos. I know I sound like a hippie, but let me explain: the kid is a victim of poor zoo management, as an extremely well-cared-for zoo would have impenetrable cages for kids to fall in. Harambe is a victim of the fact that zoos exist in the first place. The reason we call them wild animals is because they shouldn’t be locked up in cages, they should be in the wild. But guess what? Humans and human greed have ruined the earth so badly that we have endangered another species to the point of extinction. And, in order to keep them alive, we have to keep them in cages. But what’s the point of keeping them alive if they can’t even live? And from there I understood the true reason why Harambe’s death really bothered me: we, as a society, are so quick to blame the victim that we don’t even give it half a second to explore the institutions in place that suppress and oppress people. Why, after Harambe’s death, are we having truly debatable discussions about zoos and- I don’t know- destroying animal habitats and forests?

This could even be applied to the backlash social movements on the Internet. BlackLivesMatter? People on the Internet quickly blamed the black community for being exclusive, and that’s how AllLivesMatter was born. But instead, why didn’t we just look at the problem as the people who came up with the hashtag wanting to talk about it in the first place: it’s to point out that there is a ridiculous institutional racist system set in place that is made to suppress and oppress Black people. Woman gets raped? Well, what was she wearing and why was she there? But the minute someone points out that this is actually a large problem of institutional violence and patriarchy gone wrong? Somehow everyone seems to get quiet.

But, who cares right? Sooner or later we are going to convince ourselves it’s just a gorilla and move on to the next bandwagon.