[Peace-discuss] Americans love dogs (a pity that Bush/ US Gov't don't like people as much)

[Jenifer Cartwright]

"John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:  At 10:48 PM 10/11/2007, you wrote:

    >You didn't miss anything, John, this was the first post -- I didn't >think the irony was all that subtle... Yes, my point was that >Bush/the US Govt is arguing for the legality of doing to human >beings who are apprehended as "terrorists" what is illegal to do to >dogs in the US. (Also referring tangentially how much Americans >shell out for their dogs in comparison to how little the US Gov't >spends on human beings, not counting killing them).
   
  Yep.  Pets, it would seem, don't present their owners with excruciating moral dilemmas such as, "Did s/he do enough WORK to be entitled to that Dog Yummy?"  And of course pets don't hatch complex plots to blow up symbols of American hubris.  They might if they had the brain power, but we'll never know.


<I am maddened by the amount of time spent discussing what is an >obscene no-brainer -- whether torture is legal. The US Gov't's refusal >to fund e g SCHIP or AIDS relief in Africa at a level commensurate >w/ what Americans spend on their dogs just makes me crazier -- >everything is so insanely out of whack.
    Things really haven't changed very much from the days when you had the wealthy landed gentry with their pampered pooches, while the serfs toiled from dawn to dusk at the master's whim as sharecroppers or worse.  We're no more civilized or compassionate now than we were then; we just want to BELIEVE we are.

I share your anger and "craziness".  Of course I think that YOU and I are the sane ones.

John




  Jenifer
 
  

"John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:
    
   At 12:54 AM 10/10/2007, you wrote:

  
   >It has occurred to me that not only do Americans spend billions of dollars 
  
   >annually on their pets, mostly dogs, but that if their neighbors were in 
  
   >the habit of hitting their own dogs, pretending to drown them, or exposing 
  
   >them to freezing temperatures, they'd report them to the authorities... 
  
   >The neighbors would be reported to the ASPCA and face stiff penalties. The 
  
   >story would make the news several nights running, and everyone would say, 
  
   >"How can people be so cruel to those poor animals? Thank God we have laws 
  
   >against treating animals like that."
  
   >
  
   >Jenifer

  
   I guess I missed the prelude to this post. What's the comparison? You're 
  
   not suggesting, surely, that Americans are more concerned about their pets 
  
   than they are about their own children?

  
   The only other comparison I can think of is to the torture of suspected 
  
   "terrorists". But, of course, such individuals are not OUR pets.

  
   John Wason


       
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