My wife and I were recently at the Grand Canyon, and we had the opportunity to watch a presentation by a park ranger on Ravens. She talked about the family of birds, the vast area in the world where their species live, their heightened intelligence, and also the human culture of fear or hatred against them.
What I found remarkable is how we as humans can very quickly label something as positive or negative. How through media (films and books specifically, in the case of animals/insects) can create such a dark and evil view of something (e.g. Jaws, Arachnophobia, The Birds etc.). But also how simply the colour of something can give us a view of something bad (e.g. black cat, black bird). She remarked that if we simply painted the Raven (or crow) our favourite colour, we probably would not regard it with as much disdain as if it were it's normal black colour.
Having grown up in South Africa, I know how quickly judgement can be passed onto someone based purely on the colour... So where/when do I judge something too quickly?
The essence for me of the judgement wash caught up nicely in the collective nouns given to Crows and Ravens: A murder of Crows, An unkindness of Ravens
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