[lit-ideas] Re: Can't have a gun? Get a dog
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 23:58:35 -0700
Andreas wrote below: "Look, this 'doggie dog world' and 'gotta show 'em
who's boss' and 'Leader of the Pack' and 'Call of the Wild' stuff is some
sort of American projection. A few weeks ago, Lawrence wanted to bomb the
rest of the planet. Last week, he wanted to shoot everyone. This week, he
beats his dogs into submission. Do you see a pattern here?"
I notice a pattern here Andreas. You have provided a series of three
absurdly gross exaggerations. Just take the last discussion about dogs. I
said that Eric's statement should be taken figuratively but that the
principle was that you should show a dominant dog that you were dominant.
This is simple stuff Andreas. If you have a dominant dog and don't show it
you are dominant then it will think it is. I never said anything about
beating a dog. I don't approve of beating dogs. Showing a dominant dog
that you are boss is not dog-beating. Eric used "dog-beating" terms but I
assumed he was speaking figurative. I said that.
Bombing the rest of the planet? This presumably is a gross-exaggeration of
the idea that it is unacceptable for Iran, a rogue nation that supports
terrorism to have atomic weapons. Note that Iran is one nation and not the
whole planet. Note also that I argued for diplomacy and was optimistic
about its chances. Note also that the current news seems to support my
optimism.
As to wanting to shoot everyone, this is a gross exaggeration of my belief
that people should be allowed to defend themselves from predators and
criminals.
As to the rest of your note, the part that has nothing to do with me, there
have been studies about Pariah Dogs. I've read several of them. The Canaan
Dog from the Middle East and the Carolina Dog from the South are examples.
The tentative argument is that dogs left to themselves will assume this
general configuration. But as to their being docile, forget it.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Andreas Ramos
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 9:48 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Can't have a gun? Get a dog
> Dogs in packs damage, kill, eat other dogs.
Not true.
Everyone knows there are cows in the streets in India. Yes, I saw quite a
few cows wandering
around.
But what I didn't expect was the dogs. There are thousands of dogs in the
streets. They're
everywhere. I'd guess there are several hundred thousand street dogs in
Bangalore. Nobody
owns them, they just live on the streets. In every block, there were maybe
two or three
dogs, sometimes five. They live totally free, doing whatever they please,
walking around in
traffic, sleeping on the sidewalk, whatever.
Nobody vaccinates them, nobody does anything about them. It's just dogs on
the streets.
I also noticed that the dogs didn't howl at night. There was no endless
barking. The dogs
mostly just slept. Laziest things I ever saw.
So, it's not true that dogs form packs and attack each other. The dogs in
India don't.
They're very docile. I went up to a few. They let themselves be petted on
the head. They
didn't mind at all.
Look, this "doggie dog world" and "gotta show 'em who's boss" and "Leader of
the Pack" and
"Call of the Wild" stuff is some sort of American projection. A few weeks
ago, Lawrence
wanted to bomb the rest of the planet. Last week, he wanted to shoot
everyone. This week, he
beats his dogs into submission. Do you see a pattern here?
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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