UNITED STATES—I had the pleasure of seeing an eye-popping movie this weekend, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” Wow, this movie was indeed an eye-opener for me. It reminded me a bit of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” It coincided with that idea of nature turning against mankind because of all of our experiments or inability to realize that we are not always in control.

The movie stuck with me because it examined concepts regarding war, but how mankind became a casualty of its own need to pick and poke at things that are not meant to be examined.  We’re always attempting to examine, study and experiment with things that perhaps shouldn’t be in our control.  There is a reason that certain creatures live in habitats that we don’t live in: the two do not mesh. Trying to man-handle a poisonous snake or a crocodile with a grip that is impossible to escape should not be done. Will we ever learn our lesson? I’m not certain.

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” got me thinking: what if animals truly could speak the English language, understand what we verbally say and do, where would the planet be? Would we be in a better place, a safer place or a more dangerous place?  I honestly don’t know, I’d like to believe so, but knowing mankind, we’d see anything with abilities like us as threat to the survival of our country and would likely enact war to eliminate the threat at hand. Hence, the major plot of “Apes” to begin with. The opposing threats from both parties resulted in a full-blown war, where many lives were lost.

The concept could be compared to “The Birds,” but not quite fully. That film examined nature attacking for no apparent reason beyond the fact that a woman swooped into a town where she wasn’t welcome, and the birds were determined to make her leave at any cost. My fear is when nature unites it can be an impossible force for humans to defeat.  A united front is much stronger than a fractured army, nature unites in a way that humans don’t always seem to.

I have come to ask myself the question of rather, we respect nature in all its essence.  Are we giving animals that live in a habitat that is not frequented by men, the respect that it deserves? Yeah, this brings me to the crazy aspect of the reality show, “Naked and Afraid.” It’s quite difficult to fathom the reality of the series because to a degree the audience is well aware that a camera crew is following the participants every move.  Are they truly in danger? Not really. I’d find the concept more frightening if I knew for a fact they were placed in treacherous regions without a camera crew, just themselves with minimal survival tools in the harshest regions.

I mean come on, the constant threat of poisonous snakes, insects and mammals and amphibians that are just waiting for a tasty treat not taking aim at the humans invading their territory is worrisome in my opinion. There are some places humans just don’t go and the series doesn’t seem to respect that notion in my opinion. To be honest, a lot of Americans are not respecting that notion. Nature is not something to be messed with; we must respect the environment of our counterparts that do not congregate with us on a daily basis. One wrong mishap and bad things can happen for one party versus the other.

By Trevor Roberts