Not That Sane. V Lakshman. Every Wednesday.

find the Ranger (Oct. 21, 1999)

In an article about giant lizards on an Indonesian island, the Smithsonian carried a picture of several barefoot locals gathered around a fire. "Rangers react to a dragon," read the caption. It took me several seconds of staring at the picture, searching for the rangers before I realized that the underdressed men in the picture were the rangers.

We define many occupations by the attire that practitioners wear -- a judge wears robes, a construction worker hard hats and astronauts special suits. Yet, surely, we should identify an astronaut not as the fellow in the bubble suit, but as a fellow who ventures into space? And a ranger as someone who ensures that forest land is used lawfully, not someone wearing a brown shirt and carrying binoculars?

Some thing tells me I'm not the only one who was thrown off by that caption, but for me at least, it is one more prejudice to overcome.


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