[Wafflepudding]

It's been awhile since a video has been circulating around youtube (and other clip websites) of a marine tossing a puppy off a cliff. The video itself has long since been pulled off youtube, and I just can't be bothered to find it, but the videos discussing the fact are pretty easy to find.

So... many things are profundly retarded here, that I think I might get an aneurism. Although I am by no means pro puppy tossing (although it sounds like a new sport in the making, people can make sports out of anything these days, just ask ESPN), the first thing that came to my head, was "well what the hell did you expect?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning what he did, but apparently, we don't even know if the dog was real or just WHO did it. (http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080305/NEWS01/303268761/-1/news01) But apparently that doesn't stop people from sending threats and general hatemail to whoever they think was responsible, and their families.

Seriously? we press the jackass (the MTV show, not a general insult) generation into service into one of the toughest branches of the military, train them to believe they're the toughest SOBs ever to serve on the armed forces, and suddenly we're surprised that they're making animal experiments with gravity?

That was thought no. 1, but the shock came when I found out that they apparently sacked a marine in connection with the scandal (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23852051-2,00.html). Well, now we know, Ehren Watada (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1587056,00.html) could have saved himself a lot of drama and money if he just threw a sack of Daschunds into the Euphrates.

I guess what really bothers me is not the disproportional, fanatical backlash, deplorable as it is, I've come to expect it, no. What really bothers me is the fact that when you sack someone for hurling pets into gullies, someone gets fired in less than a month. When you kill Iraqi 15 civilians (http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2844311120080328?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0) the process takes over 3 years and someone has yet to be sacked, let alone prosecuted. Oh also, the American public cares more because everybody knows, puppies are cuter than Iraqi women and children by a large margin, and some furries would argue, sexier too.

I don't know if the pentagon or anybody else has realized yet, but basically what we, and I'm not blaming the military I'm talking about our whole society, are saying is 1 puppy > 15 Iraqi civilians. Anybody else have a problem with this?

[Magi2]

YES!

[Thelonious]

... What really bothers me is the fact that when you sack someone for hurling pets into gullies, someone gets fired in less than a month. When you kill Iraqi 15 civilians (http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2844311120080328?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0) the process takes over 3 years and someone has yet to be sacked, let alone prosecuted. Oh also, the American public cares more because everybody knows, puppies are cuter than Iraqi women and children by a large margin, and some furries would argue, sexier too.

Waffle,
That sounds really mighty liberal this stuff yer writin 'bout killin civilians n stuff. LOL.

[Michael DeM]

I guess what really bothers me is not the disproportional, fanatical backlash, deplorable as it is, I've come to expect it, no. What really bothers me is the fact that when you sack someone for hurling pets into gullies, someone gets fired in less than a month. When you kill Iraqi 15 civilians (http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2844311120080328?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0) the process takes over 3 years and someone has yet to be sacked, let alone prosecuted. Oh also, the American public cares more because everybody knows, puppies are cuter than Iraqi women and children by a large margin, and some furries would argue, sexier too.

I don't know if the pentagon or anybody else has realized yet, but basically what we, and I'm not blaming the military I'm talking about our whole society, are saying is 1 puppy > 15 Iraqi civilians. Anybody else have a problem with this?

Well, I doubt that this comparison reveals a case of our putting puppies over people. I think it's something else, which I'll get into momentarily. A general look at the way our society treats animals, including puppies, disproves any notion that we value nonhuman animals more than people. At the same time, very few people will attempt to justify blatant cruelty against companion animals. It doesn't matter if it's a US marine, a star football player, or just some idiot in his backyard. When you get to an issue that could potentially be political, however, it's a completely different story. If you talk about a situation where civilians get killed by some American soldiers, then you're automatically smearing all American soldiers and hurting the war effort. You're anti-American. You're daring to challenge the myth of American exceptionalism. You're diminishing morale. . . It's this kind of thinking that downplays the criminality of events like Haditha and effectively shuts up any opposition to the lack of justice. The far right wants you to look at the situation with rose-colored glasses and think that everything is fine, because if you actually see the atrocities for what they are you might end up opposing the war that they so vehemently still support.

people can make sports out of anything these days, just ask ESPN

I don't care what you say. Competitive eating is a sport!

[Thelonious]

Once back in the 90s, I read about a survey of newspaper editors. It was international. And that year the American editors surveyed agreed by a large margin that OJ Simpson was the biggest news story of the year.... the same year the European editors said that Rawandan Genocide was the biggest story of the year. Hmmmmm. OJ killed like 2 people.... the Rawandan Genocide killed almost a million people... which is worse? which is more important? which does a concerned citizen need to know about?

A responsible citizen, in a democracy, needs to really try hard to keep things in perspective. Murder is wrong. OJ is bad, for sure. But really watch the sensationalism. Really watch the emotional impact of one short film... or the lack of one short film... a black and white text filled with numbers like "800,000 dead" doesn't stick in the mind like the sound and sight of a puppy getting kicked. If we are to act reasonably, and think clearly we have to remember that perspective can get lost...

yet we desperately need perspective in this time of transition. We have to remember that killing thousands of Iraqis for something that a handfull of Saudis did is stupid and counterproductive.

The murder of one puppy is a tragedy... but it REALLY helps to keep things in historical perspective... the murder of 3000 on Sept 11 was a tragedy... Stalin killed 10million and he was still our ally against the Nazis... keep an open mind... do the practical thing... getting all blind with rage about one or the other tragedy doesn't help me make the contribution to the practical things that make the progress happen... the progress that progressives can and will make...