I am a HUGE dog person, but I find it interesting that people are only NOW getting upset over the actions that some in the US Armed Forces have been participating in. There have been clips on YouTube of soldiers shooting innocent Iraqi’s like snipers for years now, and nothing. But then, the dog clip surfaces and everyone says we should shoot the soldier in the face and all that stuff. There seems to be a strange disconnect. In many of my philosophy classes, we have discussed the prevalence of passivity in modern politics. As in, people only feel compelled to help others if it directly affects them, but in general, people don’t feel the need to do anything, especially on a global scale, because an “It’s not my problem!” mindset has come in. Does the murder of puppies suddenly make it “our problem” because we are the largest dog-loving society?
ANYWAY.
Don’t get me wrong. I love puppies. I love to hold and cuddle them and give them cute names like “Raspberry” and “Professor Quincy McCuddleson”. But still, the whole reaction is quite interesting…and disturbing.
I completely agree, BUT I think the crucial difference is that people can attribute some ability to defend one’s self to humans, but a puppy (or dog, for that matter) is pretty much utterly defenseless / at our mercy. That’s what irks me most about it. It’s what I like to call the “Go Pick On Someone Your Own Size!” argument.
