Hey everybody.
Today’s offering is a bit stream-of-consciousness. I’d hoped for more time to proofread and edit, but my wife got up earlier than expected. So, we’re heading out to brave the 20-below temperatures in search of coffee. Forgive any misspellings or poor grammar. My heart was in the right place, but my fingers were rusty.
STACY
She’s baaaa-aaaaack.
Stacy has been dragged kicking and screaming back into blogging. I’m glad. Since I’ve shirked my own writing duties on more than one occasion lately, she and I can now go back to tag-team blogging rather than feeling obligated to create 10,000 word, eloquent tomes each and every day.
Welcome back, Stacy. I trust you’re healthy and ready to go.
LINKS
Off to the right there are several links to fellow bloggers. I’d like to apologize to them because I haven’t been able to read their blogs nor comment lately. My schedule has been insane, and what’s more—like Stacy—I’ve grown burned out on blogging lately. It’s funny how the world is at a person’s fingertips on the Internet yet it’s still possible to grow bored with it. I experienced information overload and it was all I could do to periodically post a couple hundred words letting you know I’m not dead.
Read the links, these are all great writers and wonderful people.
Check out the blog of Art Howard while you’re at it. Like me, he’s a jaded former broadcaster who is eager to tell the world about his trials and travails in the radio industry. Like my own Internshit blog, Art’s blog is like a train wreck. He clearly went through some awful things during his attempt to become huge in radio, and he has some interesting tales to tell as a result. Too many broadcasters share "on the cross" stories, each eager to outdo the others with the humiliations they were willing to suffer in order to obtain a lucrative position as a $10 per hour graveyard shift board operator where their voice will never be heard by listeners nor the powers that be. Art is justifiably disenchanted and I for one find his writing fascinating.
ANIMAL CRUELTY
Yesterday I was listening to a popular drive-time talk show and the host mentioned a news story about a goat that was tied up in a frat house, trapped in a tiny pen wallowing in its own feces and urine. The truly “funny” part, according to the host, was that the goat was being held in preparation for a hazing event; frat boys had been led to believe that as part of the solemn ceremony leading to their acceptance into the organization, they would have to be “intimate” with the animal.
That, my friends, is comedy.
This is a talk show host I heretofore respected and admired greatly—in fact, I produced his show once while working as an intern at the station—and he thought this was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. His willing lackeys in the production booth guffawed right along with him. My stomach turned and I switched off the station.
There are two extremes when it comes to animal rights: People who take it so far that they stop at nothing, even damaging property and possibly hurting people, to further their causes; and people that care so little that they don’t think about what it must have been like for that goat, tied up in a filthy environment, any shred of dignity it could and should have felt stripped away so that spoiled frat boys could have a joke at its expense.
Me, I have no idea how the goat felt. For all I know it felt/thought nothing. It’s not a sentient being; for all it knows, being tied up in a frat house up to its knees in its own filth is the way life should be.
However, there’s the difference: Human beings know that’s not how you treat a living creature, regardless of how far down the food chain it is.
Therefore, morally who is worse? A person who is so blinded by their dedication to animal rights that they would do “immoral” or illegal things to further their cause, or a supposedly rational person who merely thinks a bona fide example of cruelty to animals is nothing more than fodder for a wacky drive-time radio show? I’m on the fence on this one. I’m historically a hard-core conservative and tend to side with the likes of Rush Limbaugh on such issues; that animals don’t have “rights” in that they don’t extend such rights to one another, and therefore aren’t deserving of “rights” from human beings. Rather, what they are entitled to is simply humane treatment. I really can’t argue with that logic.
Right now, however, I would almost argue that a person able to turn a blind eye to such a horrendous incident is a “worse” person than someone who identifies such a problem and is willing to go to any extremes to correct it. At least the latter person still maintains a shred of what sets them apart from our relatives in the jungle. Whether it’s a bullfight in Mexico, or cockfighting, or pitbull fighting, or having a laugh at the expense of a frightened, humiliated goat chained up in a frat house, I think we’ve crossed a dangerous line when life of any kind is exploited in the name of entertainment. Particularly on the one and only planet in the known Universe capable of harboring life. We should be cherishing it, but instead we put it on public display for ratings, money and radio hijinks.
My personal opinion is that anyone involved in the frat house incident should be forced to live under similar circumstances for a couple of weeks. Tie these frat boys up in a shower stall with a rope around their necks, and make them eat and sleep and shit and pee right where they stand. Let’s see how funny it is then, you spoiled little fucks.
There have been times—particularly when confronted by news stories such as that above—where I’ve wanted to drop all my hopes, dreams and goals and simply go to college to be a veterinary tech. I have a real soft spot for animals and often wish I could (or had) done something with my life to directly benefit them. However, I don’t have a gift for the hard sciences. I’m struggling with my Geography class, for Pete’s sake, and can only imagine how I’d do if faced with test tubes and formulas and such things.
Also, I know that veterinary techs make very little money. Now, that sort of flies in the face of benevolence, placing my own comfort above doing what’s “right.” However, I’m starting to realize that a person could do worse than using their skills and experience to earn a decent living, and then contribute to organizations that “do the dirty work.”
When I was recently working as a $9 per hour editorial assistant at the newspaper, my benevolence decreased markedly. I was contributing as little as $5 per month to the Humane Society and Animal Ark, two organizations I support wholeheartedly. This week I received my first paycheck from the Temple where I now work, and I got so excited at the prospect of earning a respectable living again that I immediately went online and made sizeable donations to both organizations mentioned above.
The last time I blogged about donating to such organizations, I had a couple of people e-mail me and say they can’t support such organizations because they don’t agree with their politics. I would argue that when dealing with issues such as the humane treatment of animals, politics is secondary to consideration of the organizations’ missions. Frankly, if I discovered tomorrow that the CEO of Animal Ark is a Communist dedicated to bringing America to its knees, it wouldn't change my monthly contribution one iota. If he/she is able to manage Animal Ark and provide food, shelter and ultimately homes to animals abused by extra-chromosoned morons in trailer parks, I say more power to them and I'll contribute whatever I can gladly.
WHO'S NEWS...???
Waddya think, Who's News tomorrow? Yes? No? Who gives a crap? We have a day-long family gathering in beautiful, historic Faribault, Minnesota tomorrow, but I'll see what USA Weekend has to offer and make the decision on the morrow.
STACY
She’s baaaa-aaaaack.
Stacy has been dragged kicking and screaming back into blogging. I’m glad. Since I’ve shirked my own writing duties on more than one occasion lately, she and I can now go back to tag-team blogging rather than feeling obligated to create 10,000 word, eloquent tomes each and every day.
Welcome back, Stacy. I trust you’re healthy and ready to go.
LINKSOff to the right there are several links to fellow bloggers. I’d like to apologize to them because I haven’t been able to read their blogs nor comment lately. My schedule has been insane, and what’s more—like Stacy—I’ve grown burned out on blogging lately. It’s funny how the world is at a person’s fingertips on the Internet yet it’s still possible to grow bored with it. I experienced information overload and it was all I could do to periodically post a couple hundred words letting you know I’m not dead.
Read the links, these are all great writers and wonderful people.
Check out the blog of Art Howard while you’re at it. Like me, he’s a jaded former broadcaster who is eager to tell the world about his trials and travails in the radio industry. Like my own Internshit blog, Art’s blog is like a train wreck. He clearly went through some awful things during his attempt to become huge in radio, and he has some interesting tales to tell as a result. Too many broadcasters share "on the cross" stories, each eager to outdo the others with the humiliations they were willing to suffer in order to obtain a lucrative position as a $10 per hour graveyard shift board operator where their voice will never be heard by listeners nor the powers that be. Art is justifiably disenchanted and I for one find his writing fascinating.
ANIMAL CRUELTY
Yesterday I was listening to a popular drive-time talk show and the host mentioned a news story about a goat that was tied up in a frat house, trapped in a tiny pen wallowing in its own feces and urine. The truly “funny” part, according to the host, was that the goat was being held in preparation for a hazing event; frat boys had been led to believe that as part of the solemn ceremony leading to their acceptance into the organization, they would have to be “intimate” with the animal.
That, my friends, is comedy.
This is a talk show host I heretofore respected and admired greatly—in fact, I produced his show once while working as an intern at the station—and he thought this was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. His willing lackeys in the production booth guffawed right along with him. My stomach turned and I switched off the station.
There are two extremes when it comes to animal rights: People who take it so far that they stop at nothing, even damaging property and possibly hurting people, to further their causes; and people that care so little that they don’t think about what it must have been like for that goat, tied up in a filthy environment, any shred of dignity it could and should have felt stripped away so that spoiled frat boys could have a joke at its expense.Me, I have no idea how the goat felt. For all I know it felt/thought nothing. It’s not a sentient being; for all it knows, being tied up in a frat house up to its knees in its own filth is the way life should be.
However, there’s the difference: Human beings know that’s not how you treat a living creature, regardless of how far down the food chain it is.
Therefore, morally who is worse? A person who is so blinded by their dedication to animal rights that they would do “immoral” or illegal things to further their cause, or a supposedly rational person who merely thinks a bona fide example of cruelty to animals is nothing more than fodder for a wacky drive-time radio show? I’m on the fence on this one. I’m historically a hard-core conservative and tend to side with the likes of Rush Limbaugh on such issues; that animals don’t have “rights” in that they don’t extend such rights to one another, and therefore aren’t deserving of “rights” from human beings. Rather, what they are entitled to is simply humane treatment. I really can’t argue with that logic.
Right now, however, I would almost argue that a person able to turn a blind eye to such a horrendous incident is a “worse” person than someone who identifies such a problem and is willing to go to any extremes to correct it. At least the latter person still maintains a shred of what sets them apart from our relatives in the jungle. Whether it’s a bullfight in Mexico, or cockfighting, or pitbull fighting, or having a laugh at the expense of a frightened, humiliated goat chained up in a frat house, I think we’ve crossed a dangerous line when life of any kind is exploited in the name of entertainment. Particularly on the one and only planet in the known Universe capable of harboring life. We should be cherishing it, but instead we put it on public display for ratings, money and radio hijinks.
My personal opinion is that anyone involved in the frat house incident should be forced to live under similar circumstances for a couple of weeks. Tie these frat boys up in a shower stall with a rope around their necks, and make them eat and sleep and shit and pee right where they stand. Let’s see how funny it is then, you spoiled little fucks.
There have been times—particularly when confronted by news stories such as that above—where I’ve wanted to drop all my hopes, dreams and goals and simply go to college to be a veterinary tech. I have a real soft spot for animals and often wish I could (or had) done something with my life to directly benefit them. However, I don’t have a gift for the hard sciences. I’m struggling with my Geography class, for Pete’s sake, and can only imagine how I’d do if faced with test tubes and formulas and such things.
Also, I know that veterinary techs make very little money. Now, that sort of flies in the face of benevolence, placing my own comfort above doing what’s “right.” However, I’m starting to realize that a person could do worse than using their skills and experience to earn a decent living, and then contribute to organizations that “do the dirty work.”
When I was recently working as a $9 per hour editorial assistant at the newspaper, my benevolence decreased markedly. I was contributing as little as $5 per month to the Humane Society and Animal Ark, two organizations I support wholeheartedly. This week I received my first paycheck from the Temple where I now work, and I got so excited at the prospect of earning a respectable living again that I immediately went online and made sizeable donations to both organizations mentioned above.
The last time I blogged about donating to such organizations, I had a couple of people e-mail me and say they can’t support such organizations because they don’t agree with their politics. I would argue that when dealing with issues such as the humane treatment of animals, politics is secondary to consideration of the organizations’ missions. Frankly, if I discovered tomorrow that the CEO of Animal Ark is a Communist dedicated to bringing America to its knees, it wouldn't change my monthly contribution one iota. If he/she is able to manage Animal Ark and provide food, shelter and ultimately homes to animals abused by extra-chromosoned morons in trailer parks, I say more power to them and I'll contribute whatever I can gladly.
WHO'S NEWS...???
Waddya think, Who's News tomorrow? Yes? No? Who gives a crap? We have a day-long family gathering in beautiful, historic Faribault, Minnesota tomorrow, but I'll see what USA Weekend has to offer and make the decision on the morrow.
posted by Admin Worm at 6:21 AM
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