Interesting observations by several members of Commons Blog on what they perceive as an increasing politicization and activism at National Geographic and National Geographic Magazine. I don’t subscribe to National Geographic so can’t say one way or the other, but it did prompt me to recall that I used to be a member of the “Friends of the National Zoo” here in Washington, but canceled my membership after noticing a similar trend in the propaganda put out in their Zoogoer magazine.
I recall that this article in the December 2001, “Panama’s Kuna and the Perils of Modernity” was the piece that finally prompted me to cancel my membership. From the article, “I would discover that the Kuna indeed have boundless respect for all living creatures surrounding them, and that their knowledge of plants and animals is tremendous. But entering the market economy has been disastrous for the Kuna—and their surrounding ecosystems—on many levels.” It goes on in a mindless capitalist and globalization-bashing vein from there. At the time, I wrote a letter to the editor of Zoogoer objecting to the bias of the article who wrote back a snide response, so I just canceled my membership.
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