Sunday, November 5, 2017

“Humans Love Dogs More Than Other People,”

“Humans Love Dogs More Than Other People,” or so says this study to be found in the New York Post.
This has long been a concern of mine, because once people start perceiving dogs and other animals as superior to ourselves, as having more worth and value than our fellow human beings, we’re on a downhill path to destruction.
This is a very unpopular discussion and often gets me into a great deal of trouble. Don’t even think of suggesting dogs don’t actually have souls and a full range of human emotions and human thought patterns. People will chase you out-of-town with torches and pitchforks for disrespecting the human fur babies.
First off, I love dogs and I am probably one of those very people who would happily live on a planet full of dogs, rather than people. However, I’ve got just enough reason left to recognize there is something immoral about that, something self-centered, something not quite right. Just because I much prefer dogs to most people does not mean I should prefer dogs to most people.
The fact that we are now spending more money on doggy acupuncture, therapy, grooming, dressing, housing than we are on actual human beings who are genuinely suffering, is not a good sign. The fact that we would rather hang out with an animal rather than one another is not a good sign. The fact that we empathize with animals more than people is not a good sign.
This is a path, a trajectory we have been on for a long, long time. Our concern, our modern laws regarding for child abuse, domestic violence victims, actually stemmed from our laws against animal cruelty. Our concern for animals has often superseded our concern for one another. Where I live abortion is legal, protected, and often free, but if you break an eagle’s egg, you are in serious trouble. Federal crime territory, if you live long enough to face charges.
I don’t know what we can do to shift our thinking or to start asking ourselves questions, but I think we should. It is not that dogs are the enemy or anything, it is that we are now turning to our dogs for the things that humans should be giving to one another, but obviously are not. Things like loyalty, companionship, cheerfulness, gratitude, genuine excitement when we see one another. Trust. Affection. Encouragement.
It’s not the fault of dogs, dogs have simply slipped in to fill an emotional and spiritual void within people, but the fact that there is such a void there speaks to our issues around struggling to build an intimate relationship with the Lord, and with one another.
oz3

1 comment:

  1. Bravo writing this! It took lots of courage!

    Before being saved as a Christian this could have been about me.
    When I abandoned Roman Catholicism I became passionate about animal rights and then a vegetarian. I then just became morally lost for many years.
    I still love animals, birds and dogs in particular but do see how it can be dangerous to not think of people first.
    I noticed this trend during the whole are you a cat person/ dog person debate.


    I've always been a dog person and I've been told that dogs are stupid and by extension people who love dogs are stupid because dogs love people!
    Let that sink in for a moment.

    The people who I know that love cats seem to be particularly anti-people. They have said to me that cats are clever because they are distrustful of people and only please themselves! Is that to be admired in a person.

    I remember one person sizing me up by saying to me with contempt "I bet you're a dog lover!" I was shocked that he knew! When I asked him how could he tell and he said also with contempt "because you love people!"

    I am not here trying to argue that dogs are better than cats or vice versa. I am here to argue that we shouldn't be modelling our HUMAN behaviour on ANIMAL behaviour.
    Animals have no consciences so it is a very dangerous place to be if you prefer them to humans.

    It used to be said that you could judge a state on how they treat their animals. This is no longer the case when animals can be pampered whereas humans can be treated in ways that people once said "you wouldn't even treat a dog like that!"

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