Damn you Disney!!!!!

I finally watched Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet last night. As a result, my sheltered world has come crashing down.

The show follows a meerkat (mafia) family in a reality show format. It is the product of 10 years of research by an English university. These kats are mean. Sure, they're cute. I mean, well... see for yourself:






Awwwwwww.....

But this show is no Walt Disney production. It's more like Dallas meets the Sopranos meets the Crips. I was expecting to be overwhelmed by cuteness, and instead, I got a taste of life in the African badlands as directed by Oliver Stone in a bad mood.

Like every other North American kid with a TV, I learned this about the animal kingdom:

1. They are all cute and fuzzy.
2. They can all be befriended by a human and become their best pal.
3. Apparently, they too follow the 10 commandments.
4. They have the exact same feelings as humans.
5. They will only be mean to things like snakes and Sleeslaks in order to protect a human.
6. When they die, violins play in the background, and they go to animal heaven.
7. They too get married and have one single partner with whom they share bowls of spaghetti.

I saw none of this last night. Instead, I saw mothers fighting with their teeny tiny starving young to steal their food (out of necessity, of course); a mother beating the crap out of her adult daughter and banishing her from the group... leaving her to fend for herself and to live a lonely, ostracized existence; a rival neighbouring meerkat family attacking just for the hell of it; and several examples of potential meerkat porn.

I went to bed feeling completely disillusioned. (sigh) I have been ruined by Disney.