Submitted by RKlass, Apr 11, 2007 05:39

Anne Applebaum's effort to read political/social significance into the fad for Knut the baby polr bear in Berlin is politically correct nonsense. Berliners are mad about Knut because baby bears (and baby pandas), not because they fit into pollution and survival narratives, but because they are small, cute, warm and fuzzy, and they look just like the teddy bears and stuffed pandas we all loved and hugged ourselves to sleep with when we too were small.

The demand of some "animal rights" radicals for Bjorn to be killed brought him to world attention; otherwise only Berliners would even have known of his existence. Moreover, when Bjorn and the panda cubs outgrow their baby cuteness and cease to be (or at least seem) huggable, most of the public will cease to be enchanted by them.

Not everything is political. Especially, not everything is politically correct or trendy.

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