While cruising trough the blogosphere
I've noticed that most of the blogs that deal with this subject, deal
almost exclusively with the pit bulls. Although it is justified and
right thing to do, focusing only at the pit bulls and other
“dangerous” breeds carries with it self some unforeseen
consequences.
First, it places the pitbullery under
the spotlight and on the media throne, which is exactly where it
wants to be. So these talks actually aid to the pitbullery's agenda.
Second it focuses on the horrors of pit bull attack and tries to use
that as the argument which again, adds to their agenda, cause it
shows the raw power and the might of the breed. Third it points out
at the impotence of the system to sanction and prosecute the
pitbullery which, again, adds to its popularity. Cause if the damage
is done by a pit bull, hey, have no fear, the cartel is right behind
you. Fourth it minimises the damage done by other breeds and also
presents them as less harmful or more safer. On the other hand it
treats the pit bull as an exception to dog's world. All other dogs
are good but pit bull is something else. All that is bad about dogs
is thrown at the pit bulls. All that is bad about irresponsible
ownership is thrown at the pit bull owners.
But pit bull is not the exception.
Pit bull is the pinnacle of dogcravers
engineering, it is the perfect dog. Pit bull is the dog done right,
it has all the treats that the dogcravers want. It is dangerous, it
is strong, it is unpredictable, it is safe cause no other dog can
endanger him and it has the reputation or fame around it. Exactly all
the treats that any dogcraver wants. Plus now, it has the cartel
behind it that offers legal protection in ANY CASE. The craver might
go to jail, but the dog will be given the second, the third, chance
and as cartel gains strength, the pit bull can maul 1000 humans
before the right one is found. Cause, you know, it works both ways,
there is the right dog for the right owner but also there is the
right owner for the right dog. Lets not be stingy with rights and
abandon the agenda and our ultimate goal, which is to make the world
a safe place for doggies. We own them, they did so much for us, lets
be honest.
So the quest must go on at what ever the cost might be, cause the promise of dogtopia is greater than us.
So the quest must go on at what ever the cost might be, cause the promise of dogtopia is greater than us.
This absurdity in thinking is driven by
the same futile mechanism or setting that is found in the core of any
dogcraver. It is the self defeating loop that has as the end result,
the cancellation of it self. It is self destructive, so applying the
self destructive formula on anything, placing that formula as the new
rule in the game, self destroys anything that is applied to. But it
does that with good intentions, you know-don't mind the damage, IT'S THE
THOUGHT THAT COUNTS, no hard feelings.
The road to Hell is indeed, paved with
good intentions.
Greetings Professor,
ReplyDeleteGood article, particularly the 4 points in the beginning. I think it was comic actor W.C. Fields who said "there is no such thing as bad publicity", and you are 200% correct in that the "Bad" publicity regarding Pit Bulls may indeed make them even more popular, particularly among the criminal element.
Its also evident in a lot of those reports the the owner almost always gets off with little or no penalty, thus making dogs in general and pit bulls in particular, the psychopath's pet of choice.
One thing that always frustrates me about the so-called "Pit Bull debate" is that the focus is entirely on the breed of dog as opposed to ameliorating the bad behavior. Are people killed by other breeds somehow less dead than people killed by pit bulls?
If a barking dog wakes me up in the middle of the night, I really don't care what breed it is! I don't necessarily want a ban on pit bulls, what I want is for the offensive behavior to be contemplated for what it is, and subsequently dealt with appropriately.
I am working on an article, that I will probably publish tomorrow, that deals with behavior issues. Why restrict dogs by breed when there is no restriction on behavior?
I couldn't agree more with you on this one. However I think that it is too late to remedy the situation with new acts and laws. The only way for you to get a good night sleep would be the creation of gated communities where no dogs what so ever would be allowed. Ever. Heck why not create new cities that will have the permanent ban on dogs forever.
DeleteThe problem with dogs is a systemic error and it cannot be cured, cause it is in the system DNA. Any attempt of solving it would be similar to the case when a patient has a brain tumour so the doctor tires to cure him by giving him a nice haircut, simply because the problem resides in the head area.
Professor Hilder,
ReplyDeleteI often write about pit bulls because they often make the news. I daresay poodles don't maul people as often as pit bulls do.
And I think pointing out the inherent danger of these dogs to their owners is like telling Norman Bates that "Mommy" is dead because you killed her - it makes them angry, but it's the truth they need to face. Pit bull ownership is a mental illness, in my opinion.
I agree with doghatersunite - but would go further and declare that the premeditated, deliberate ownership of ANY dangerous dog not only suggests an underlying mental illness, but in my opinion publicly confirms it.
DeleteThis is not the critique, doghatersunite, by all means you should write about it and cover this issue as much as you can. My article was referring to the global perception, the whole picture of this issue and its consequences. Some are intended and some are unintended.
DeleteThe problem is that if media reports about pit bull attack that event, becomes the news but in essence it is the information. When you blog about it, in negative context, it is another information. Those two informations than add up so instead of one information about pit bull's we have two. Than add the pitbullery advocates that report the same thing but in positive context and the information about pit bull's triples.
So instead of having one information about pitbullery now we have three and that makes pitbullery three times more present in the reality. The more present it is, the more common it becomes and as it becomes more common it becomes more “normal”. So as it becomes more normal, the harder it becomes to root it out.
can't say that i disagree with any of the points made by the professor or AU or doghatersunite.
ReplyDeleteyes, there are barking dog problems in my neighborhood and i am not quiet about it. there are people who walk their dogs for the purpose of not having to deal with their dogs' poop in my neighborhood. there's nothing i can do about it. but pit bulls and their ilk pose a unique danger. one of my readers recently told their story about nearly being attacked by 3 GSD when a child, his/her mother chased them off. when was the last time you ever heard of an unarmed "mom" thwarting a pit attack and chasing off 3 pit bulls? how about one pit bull? yet the news is full of stories of a single pit bull attacking multiple people and multiple people using an array of weapons on just one pit bull with no effect. these dogs are not normal yet they have an industry devoted to creating a mountain of lies about them in an effort to make it easier for people to own them and easier for pit bulls to engage in the kind of mayhem i described.
here's my problem. there are now ELEVEN pit bulls in my neighborhood. i encounter these fuckers all of the time. it is not pleasant. there are no guarantees in life. there will always be accidents, preventable and unforeseen. we can not walk around in bubble wrap but the pit bull and its ilk has proven themselves to be an unacceptable risk. and that risk needs to be mitigated. there are a variety of ways to do this short of bans (which i do not oppose) but the pit bull apologia fights hard against them at the same time they aggressively promote the lies which leads to EVEN MORE PIT BULLS! and that is why i focus on pit bulls. yeah, i don't appreciate stepping in dog shit or having the environment contaminated by dog shit. i don't like being woken up by barking or even disturbed during the day by barkers, but that is nothing compared to basically living your life in code orange.
The direction that is taken will lead, exactly, to your worst nightmares, since the final destination is that there will be no other dog than the pit bull. It is a normal pattern of escalation.
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