Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney
-
Not SyncedMy story begins in Zimbabwe, with a brave park ranger named Orpheus and an injured buffalo.
-
Not SyncedAnd Orpheus looked at the buffalo on the ground, and he looked at me,
-
Not Syncedand as our eyes met there was an unspoken grief between the three of us.
-
Not SyncedShe was a beautifully wild and innocent creature and Orpheus lifted the muzzle of his rifle to her ear [gunshot].
-
Not SyncedAt that moment, she started to give birth.
-
Not SyncedAs life slipped from the premature calf, we examined the injuries.
-
Not SyncedHer back leg had been caught in an 8-strand wire snare.
-
Not SyncedShe had fought for freedom so hard and for so long that she had ripped he pelvis in half.
-
Not SyncedWell, she was finally free.
-
Not SyncedLadies and gentlemen, today I feel a great sense of responsibility in speaking to you
-
Not Syncedon behalf of those who never could.
-
Not SyncedTheir suffering is my grief. Is my motivation.
-
Not SyncedMartin Luther King best summarizes my call to arms here today. He said:
-
Not Synced'There comes a time when one must take a position that's neither safe, nor politic, nor popular.
-
Not SyncedBut he must take that position because his conscience tells him that it's right.'
-
Not SyncedBecause his conscience tells him it is right.
-
Not SyncedAt the end of this talk I'm going to ask you all a question.
-
Not SyncedThat question is the only reason I travelled here today all the way from the African savannah.
-
Not SyncedThat question for me has cleansed my soul.
-
Not SyncedHow you answer that question will always be yours.
-
Not SyncedI remember watching the movie The Wizard of Oz as a kid,
-
Not Syncedand I was never scared of the witch or the flying monkeys.
-
Not SyncedMy greatest fear was that I'd grow up like the lion, without courage.
-
Not SyncedAnd I grew up always asking myself if I thought I'd be brave?
-
Not SyncedWell, years after Dorothy had made her way back to Kansas, and the lion had found his courage,
-
Not SyncedI walked into a tattoo parlour and had the words
-
Not Synced'Seek and Destroy' tattooed across my chest.
-
Not SyncedAnd I thought that'd make me big and brave.
-
Not SyncedBut it would take me almost a decade to grow into those words.
-
Not SyncedBy the age of 20 I'd become a clearance diver in the navy.
-
Not SyncedBy 25, as a special operations sniper, I knew how many clicks of elevation I needed on the scope of my rifle
-
Not Syncedto take a headshot on a moving target from 700 metres away.
-
Not SyncedI knew exactly how many grams of high explosives it takes to blast through a steel plate door from only
-
Not Synceda few metres away without blowing myself, or my team up behind me.
-
Not Syncedand I knew Baghdad was a shitty place, and when things go bang,
-
Not Syncedwell, people die.
-
Not SyncedBack then, I had no idea what a conservationist did,
-
Not Syncedother than hug trees and piss off large corporations. [audience laughter]
-
Not SyncedI knew they had dreadlocks.
-
Not SyncedI knew they smoked dope.
-
Not SyncedI didn't really give a shit about the environment. And why should I?
-
Not SyncedI was the idiot who used to speed up in his car just trying to hit birds on the road.
-
Not SyncedMy life was a world away from conservation.
-
Not SyncedI'd just spent nine years doing things in real life that most people
-
Not Syncedwouldn't dream of trying on a playstation.
-
Not SyncedWell, after 12 tours to Iraq as a so-called 'mercenary', the skills I had were good for one thing:
-
Not SyncedI was programmed to destroy.
-
Not SyncedLooking back now, on everything I've done and the places I've been,
-
Not Syncedin my heart I've only ever performed one true act of bravery.
-
Not SyncedAnd that was a simple choice of deciding 'Yes' or deciding 'No'. But it was that one act
-
Not Syncedwhich defines me completely and ensures
-
Not Syncedthere'll never be separation between who I am, and what I do.
-
Not SyncedWhen I finally left Iraq behind me I was lost.
-
Not SyncedYeah, I felt...ahh...I just had no idea where i was going in life
-
Not Syncedor where I was meant to be and I arrived in Africa at the beginning of 2009. I was aged 29 at the time.
-
Not SyncedSomehow, I always knew I'd find a purpose amongst chaos, and that's exactly what happened.
-
Not SyncedI'd no idea though, I'd find it in a remote part of the Zimbabwe bush.
-
Not SyncedWe were patrolling along, and the vultures circled in the air
-
Not Syncedand as we got closer the stench of death hung there, like a thick, dark veil
-
Not Syncedand sucked the oxygen out of your lungs.
-
Not SyncedAs we got closer there was a great bull elephant, resting on its side, with its face cut away.
-
Not SyncedAnd the world around me stopped.
-
Not SyncedI was consumed by a deep and overwhelming sadness.
-
Not SyncedSeeing innocent creatures killed like this hit me in a way like nothing before.
-
Not SyncedI'd actually poached as a teenager and they're memories I'll take to the grave.
-
Not SyncedTime had changed me though;
-
Not Syncedsomething inside wasn't the same.
-
Not SyncedAnd it's never gonna be again.
-
Not SyncedI asked myself: 'Does that elephant need its face
-
Not Syncedmore than some guy in asia needs a tusk on his desk?'
-
Not SyncedWell of course it bloody does, that was irrelevant.
-
Not Syncedall that mattered there and then was:
-
Not Synced'Would I be brave enough to give up everything in my life to try and stop the suffering of animals?'
-
Not SyncedThis was the one true defining moment of my life.
-
Not SyncedYes? Or No?
-
Not SyncedI contacted my family the next day and began selling all my houses.
-
Not SyncedThese are assets a well-advised mercenary quickly acquires with the proceeds of war.
-
Not SyncedMy life savings have since been used to found and grow the International Anti-Poaching Foundation.
-
Not SyncedThe IAPF is a direct-action, law-enforcement organisation.
-
Not SyncedFrom drone technology to an international qualification for rangers,
-
Not Syncedwe're battling each and every day to bring military solutions
-
Not Syncedto conservation's thin green line.
-
Not SyncedNow my story may be slightly unique,
-
Not Syncedbut I'm not going to use it to talk to you today about the organisation I run.
-
Not SyncedIn what could have been a pretty good fund-raiser. [audience laughter]
-
Not SyncedRemember, today is about the question I'm going to ask you at the end.
-
Not SyncedBecause it's impossible for me to get up here and talk about just saving wildlife when I know
-
Not Syncedthe problem of animal welfare is much broader throughout society.
-
Not SyncedA few years after I saw that elephant I woke up very early one morning.
-
Not SyncedI already knew the answer to the question I was about to ask myself,
-
Not Syncedbut it was the first time I had put it into words:
-
Not SyncedDoes a cow value its life more than I enjoy a barbecue?
-
Not SyncedSee, I'd been guilty all this time of what is termed 'speciesism'.
-
Not SyncedSpeciesism is very much the same as racism or sexism.
-
Not SyncedIt involves the allocation of a different set of values, rights or special considerations to individuals,
-
Not Syncedbased solely on who or what they are.
-
Not SyncedThe realisation of the flexible morality I'd used
-
Not Syncedto suit my everyday conveniences made me sick in the stomach.
-
Not SyncedSee, I'd loved blaming parts of Asia for their insatiable demand for ivory and rhino horn,
-
Not Syncedand the way the region's booming economic growth
-
Not Syncedis dramatically increasing the illegal wildlife trade.
-
Not SyncedWhen I woke up that morning though I realised
-
Not Syncedeven though I'd dedicated my life to saving animals,
-
Not Syncedin my mind I was no better than a poacher,
-
Not Syncedor the guy in Asia with the tusk on his desk.
-
Not SyncedAs this 'over-consumptive meat-eater' I'd referred to some animals as 'beasts'.
-
Not Syncedwhen in reality I'd been the beast. Destructively obedient, a slave
-
Not Syncedto my habits, a cold shoulder to my conscience.
-
Not SyncedWe've all had contact with pets or other animals in our lives.
-
Not Syncedwe can't deny our understanding of the feelings that each animal has.
-
Not SyncedThe ability to suffer pain or loneliness.
-
Not SyncedAnd to fear.
-
Not SyncedLike us also, each animal has the ability to express contentment,
-
Not Syncedto build family structures, and a want of satisfying basic instincts and desires.
-
Not SyncedFor many of us though,
-
Not Syncedthat's as far as we allow our imaginations to explore
-
Not Syncedbefore the truth inconveniences our habits.
-
Not SyncedThe disconnect that exists between consuming a product
-
Not Syncedand the reality it takes to bring that product to market is a phenomenon to itself.
-
Not SyncedAnimals are treated like commodities and referred to as property.
-
Not SyncedWe call it murder to kill a human being yet create legal
-
Not Syncedand illegal industries out of what would be regarded as torture
-
Not Syncedif humans were involved.
-
Not Syncedand we pay people to do things to animals
-
Not Syncedthat none of us would engage in personally.
-
Not Syncedjust because we don't see it up close
-
Not Synceddoes not mean we are not responsible.
-
Not SyncedPeter Singer, the man who popularised the term 'speciesism' wrote:
-
Not Synced'Although there may be differences between animals and humans
-
Not Syncedthey each share the ability to suffer.
-
Not SyncedAnd we must give equal consideration to that suffering.
-
Not SyncedAny position that allows similar cases to be treated in a dissimilar fashion
-
Not Syncedfails to qualify as an acceptable moral theory.'
-
Not SyncedAround the world this year 65 billion animals will be killed in factory farms.
-
Not SyncedHow many animals' lives is one human's life worth?
-
Not Synceda meat-eater in this room will consume, on average, 8000 animals in their lifetime.
-
Not SyncedOcean pollution, global warming and deforestation are
-
Not Synceddriving us towards the next great mass-extinction
-
Not Syncedand the meat industry is the greatest negative factor in all of these phenomenon.
-
Not SyncedThe illegal trafficking of wildlife now ranks as
-
Not Syncedone of the largest criminal industries in the world.
-
Not SyncedIt's up there with drugs, guns and human trafficking.
-
Not SyncedThe ability to stop this devastation
-
Not Syncedlies in the willingness of an international community
-
Not Syncedto step in and preserve a dying global treasure.
-
Not SyncedExperimentation on animals:
-
Not SyncedIf animals are so like us that we can substitute using them instead of humans
-
Not Syncedthen surely they have the very same attributes that mean they deserve to be protected from harm?
-
Not SyncedWhether we're talking about factory farming, live export, poaching, the fur trade,
-
Not Syncedlogically it's all on the same playing field to me.
-
Not SyncedSuffering is suffering,
-
Not Syncedand murder is murder.
-
Not SyncedAnd the more helpless the victim,
-
Not Syncedthe more horrific the crime.
-
Not SyncedNow next time you think an animal lover is too emotional,
-
Not Syncedtoo passionate, or even a little crazy,
-
Not Syncedplease remember, we see things through a different lens.
-
Not SyncedSo in a few days, my son is going to be born.
-
Not SyncedI find myself wondering:
-
Not Synced'What kind of world is he entering?'
-
Not SyncedAre we going to be the generation that defines our failure as a species?
-
Not SyncedI believe our generation will be judged
-
Not Syncedby our moral courage to protect what's right.
-
Not SyncedAnd that every worthwhile action
-
Not Syncedrequires a level of sacrifice.
-
Not SyncedWell I now offer myself, without reservation, to animals.
-
Not SyncedAnd when I strip away all the material belongings around me,
-
Not SyncedI see that I too, am an animal.
-
Not SyncedWe're family. Together on one planet.
-
Not SyncedAnd of the five million species on that planet, only one
-
Not Syncedhas the power to determine what level of suffering is acceptable
-
Not Syncedfor all other sentient beings to endure.
-
Not SyncedWhether it's eating less meat,
-
Not Syncedcontributing to the fight against poaching,
-
Not Syncedor speaking up for the voiceless,
-
Not Syncedwe all have choices.
-
Not SyncedAnd small changes in our lives
-
Not Syncedmean big changes in others.
-
Not SyncedSo now back to the beginning.
-
Not SyncedMy reason for being here is my question for you:
-
Not SyncedNext time you have an opportunity to make a difference for animals,
-
Not Syncedwill you be brave enough?
-
Not SyncedYes or no? Thank you very much.
- Title:
- Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney
- Description:
-
Thirty-three year old Damien Mander served as a special operations sniper and clearance diver for Australia. Whilst deployed in Iraq he project managed the Iraq Special Police Training Academy, overseeing training of up to 700 cadets at one time. Following three years on the frontline of the Iraq war he departed in 2008 with no new direction in life. A trip to Africa left him face-to-face with the horrors that the world's wildlife is dealing with. Liquidating all personal assets acquired from 12 tours of duty, he founded the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. The organisation focuses on ranger training, operations and integrating modern technology into conservation.
Today, the Australian is a soldier-turned-environmental activist. He is outspoken about conservation and the nature of our priorities in an uncertain world. Damien's work has featured in National Geographic Magazine, 60 Minutes, Animal Planet, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, Forbes, Sunday Times, & Good Weekend Magazine.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 12:34
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney | ||
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney | ||
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney | ||
Jane Roffe approved English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney | ||
Jane Roffe edited English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney | ||
Jane Roffe edited English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney | ||
Daniel Barreto commented on English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney | ||
Sallyanne Craig commented on English subtitles for Modern Warrior: Damien Mander at TEDxSydney |
Sallyanne Craig
Dear Tatjana and Dear Approver,
I wasn't able to access this revision yesterday before it was sent for approval so my apologies about sending four small but VERY important corrections (and one not important one!).
1.02 Please reinstate 'Well' at the beginning of the sentence: Well she was finally free. This idiomatic use of the word forms an important link between the buffalo's terrible history, and what had to happen to set her free. It is a very resonant word for those for whom English is the first language.
1.26 There was a note attached to the transcript regarding this - I'm not sure what happened to it. Please reinstate 'politic' for political'. It is common, especially in Australia, to mistakenly use 'political' (pertaining to government) when actually 'politic' is meant (seemingly judicious or sensible under the circumstances). This is a direct quote from Martin Luther King and also very important to the meaning when it comes up for other translations. Ivana Korom, Jane Roffe and Damien Mander have all given prior approval to make this change.
3.03 Please reinstate 'well, people die.' Here, this idiomatic use of the word 'well' is the equivalent of a shoulder-shrug or throwing one's hands up in despair because nothing one does can change the outcome... Damien says 'well' although Tatjana you may have heard it as 'or'.
12.01Please reinstate "And' at the beginning of the sentence ie 'And small changes in our lives...' Again this is an important linking use of the word - what has gone before (your choices) will directly and profoundly change the future (the lives of others).
Only one other very minor change. I'd put playstation in lower case as it now in common use as the generic name for any kind of gaming console. I've no objection to using the brand name if you prefer, but it appears as PlayStation.
My thanks and best wishes to both of you. Please know I'd not trouble you if I did not believe these corrections vital to the talk.
Warmest, Sallyanne
Daniel Barreto
Hi everyone. I’m trying to find out how things work here. My intention is to prepare the Portuguese-Brazilian Subtitles. I just downloaded de English ones and I’m working on it. Do I need to register in any specific area here? Tks!