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It's not a thread about pit bulls....per se. It's about the sociological indications and signs which result.
The pit bull thing shows us (as some other stand out issues do) that our society is done...toast.
The rot is just so deep.
A little boy who lives a couple hours away was killed by a pit bull yesterday.....nothing new there. Kids die regularly, as crushing as that fact is. The salient fact isn't even that it was a pit bull, as amazing as that is. (I will spare you the gruesome details). It's the response. Everywhere you look, people rush to offer their opinions, and the opinionsand values are the indicators that we are toast.
Why do I say that?
First, these people are absolutely adamant and zealous about their beliefs in pit bulls; almost religious in nature. Their "savior", if you will, is widespread pit bull ownership. They may care about few things, but about pit bulls, they are fanatics. There is something about this pit bull experience which absolutely animates large numbers of people, and gives their lives a degree of meaning. (I think it also lends a degree of toughness and threat of violence to their lives; we all know how the pit bull trend started, as drug dealers who didn't want to risk carrying a gun for fear of being arrested for it began to use legal means....i.e. pit bulls....instead. Just as deadly. This has carried over to society at large as a cool thing, when it comes to pit bulls...."don't mess with me".....the whole gangsterification of society, if you will. Having a pit bull is bad &ss.....and that's a highly, highly valued characteristic today.....being feared, being mean, being badder than the next guy).
Second (and related), they are absolutely beyond any reason. You can give the most well-reasoned, substantive, evidence-backed opinion on pit bulls, but if it contradicts their feelings, it's as if you said nothing at all. They are totally "locked in".
Third, it is so widespread. I remember twenty or thirty years ago; owning a pit bull was a rare thing. Today, it is a craze, a textbook craze. I'm not sure why. Can any one say why, out of a million possible crazes, THIS is one of the few that is actually practiced? If we were talking about a very few people, this whole thing could easily be overlooked as a social indicator. But it's everywhere now, and across all social cohorts.
Fourth, there is a complete inability on the part of many pro-pit bullers to feel sympathy towards children or the elderly. I say children and elderly because, of course, they are the cohorts most at risk of being killed by a pit bull....most are quite slow/defenseless. Now, you would expect that a large portion of the pro-pit bull crowd would at the very least express some deep concern about possible elderly or child victims, should further attacks take place. But none. What is revealed instead is a callousness, a hardening of the spirit, and unwillingness to care that is brought out in this debate....it has something to do with blood........but when the rubber meets the road, and one has to choose whether their sympathies lie with a dog breed or all the young children and elderly people who are most at risk from wide spread pit bull ownership, pit bull defenders generally choose the former. I find this absolutely shocking and beyond hope.
Fifth, there is almost zero effort to do anything about this. A few jurisdictions have enacted bans, but overall the collective response is a yawn. So it's very obvious that this will just continue and likely get worse. It's not just the pro-pit bull crowd who are giving off important social indicators; the society at large is showing its colors as well. (If you bring up the idea of banning pit bulls, most people just shy away from the whole subject). So, the society corrodes, attack after attack. And for what??
(In my own neighborhood, there are two different pit bulls, in two different homes in our comfortable, solid, middle class neighborhood. Both are absolutely ferocious and aggressive; they are fairly large for pit bulls. I work with dogs every day.....probably hundreds, over the years...and am very comfortable/skilled with dogs. It's easy to tell if a particular dog may be aggressive.....and these two are barely contained. What has been the result? Well, obviously, families can't take their kids for walks around the block any longer. Totally unsafe, without being armed with something. And just letting the kids play outside is dangerous (no fences around either property). Think about that: totally dangerous to let kids play outside! Even if you have a gun ready and close at hand, at all times. This is how neighborhoods, towns and societies die, slowly.
So what does this whole pit bull thing say about us as a society? It is just one issue. But it's such a telling issue (and I believe that the social ills revealed by it are so egregious), that is speaks volumes and volumes.
Again, please try not to argue too much about the breed itself, whether its jaws really do lock, etc. etc. My thesis is that the collective society's "take" on pit bulls is a significant and important indicator about our society (as some specific social issues can be, from time to time). And what it means is that our society is finished.
Last edited by maineguy8888; 06-06-2016 at 09:20 PM..
Another thing I realize:
If pit bulls were somehow magically made ten times more dangerous and deadly than they are, it wouldn't matter.
If there were ten times more deaths from pit bulls than there currently are, it wouldn't matter.
NOTHING would change, regarding the current pit bull discussion and social dynamics. It's as if the plane is in full downward spiral and there is no way to pull it out of the dive.
The rot has been allowed to spread too deep. Reason and caring are no longer welcome in this discussion; they are of no import.
I like the look of pitbulls but not the look or actions of many of their owners. I think the jerk thug wanna bees get a tough dog to make themselves look tough.
I remember driving through a rough area of a city and I saw some "dude" walking his pitbull and it was wearing a ridiculously heavy chain a round its neck that weighed down its head. The chain look liked something from the deck of the Titanic.
Another idiot had his pitbulls out for a walk and they were tied to and dragging a tire.
I guess they were trying to make their dogs stronger for fighting.
Any dog can be a killer but and pitbulls are more naturally inclined for violence but it is the attitude of their deusche bag owners that make them more dangerous.
For many people, the status they think owning a dog that could suddenly kill or maim a person adds justification to their otherwise woeful life. It makes them feel better as now people, they think, fear and respect them. It is about the owners. I have spoken on my job to dozens of people that will take their pit bulls over their own children.
For many people, the status they think owning a dog that could suddenly kill or maim a person adds justification to their otherwise woeful life. It makes them feel better as now people, they think, fear and respect them. It is about the owners. I have spoken on my job to dozens of people that will take their pit bulls over their own children.
Excellent point.
Owning a pit bull also makes them somehow feel "part of something". They feel like they need to be part of a group, and like the fact that the group is somehow antisocial, bonded together, etc. It's like joining a biker gang, except you don't have to really DO anything......keep your "regular life" and just get a pitbull, and voila, you're COOL, just AS IF you had given up your life to join a biker gang.
So what does this whole pit bull thing say about us as a society? It is just one issue. But it's such a telling issue (and I believe that the social ills revealed by it are so egregious), that is speaks volumes and volumes.
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Owning a pit bull also makes them somehow feel "part of something".
People used to gain status by being upstanding citizens, but now they gain status from being outlaws. Feel free to include transgender, gay, Protected Class of the Month, etc. If you're not part of a protected class you feel left out. So you get a pit bull and even though you're not part of a protected class, per se, you are part of an underground culture.
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Third, it is so widespread. I remember twenty or thirty years ago; owning a pit bull was a rare thing. Today, it is a craze, a textbook craze. I'm not sure why. Can any one say why, out of a million possible crazes, THIS is one of the few that is actually practiced?
Tattoos and multiple piercings were rare 30 years ago too. All part of the outlaw culture going mainstream.
Affluent areas with HOA bylaws don't have any pitbull problems, owners are not allowed to have them on the premises. Everyone around here has Goldens, Labs, and Dobermans.
As with most things in life, it's the lowest common denominator of people who make things worse for everyone else. It's just a fact of life, if you want to avoid all the issues that come along with dumb, thuggish people, you have to make/spend a lot of money to live somewhere that in insulated from them.
However, the phenomenon of them is not any different than the guy with a house full of weapons who thinks that the government is going to come after him, because he's such a threat to the established order driving around scrapping from his falling down dump of a house in Indiana.
Both things provide people a sense of power and danger, knowing that they have something that is designed to kill things. It isn't any more complicated than that, it's basic lowest common denominator psychology. It's a largely male, immature, macho inclination.
As a dog walker, I think you'd have a more serious complaint if you addressed humans who promote and refuse to acknowledge the horrific abuse of animals in:
the disgusting heartless factory farming/food animal system - where there's no such thing as humane treatment and slaughter
the despicable outright abusive and corrupt entertainment industry
the foul, corrupt, animal torture in medical experimentation
the several million "pet" animals killed each year for no reason except humans dumping them
Ironically, while everyone bashes PETA for their advocacy, their founder actually has made a case for allowing the Pit Bull breed to become extinct since humans have destroyed it and made the lives of so many Pit Bulls a living hell, not to mention the death of kids, too.
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