Well-known transphobic and general jerkass Dan Savage is also a pit bull hater and kind of stupid about it. On his blog, he asks...
""An Aurora man has been charged with battery after attacking his sister with a pit bull, according to Aurora police. Rey Jaquez, 50, of the 1000 block of East New York Street, was charged with two counts of domestic battery on Monday after he threw the pit bull at his sister and the dog bit her, police said.
A question for pit bull apologists: we hear you, we hear you. There are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners, and perhaps it's unfair to take a dim view of an entire breed when it's actually a particular breed of humans who are to blame for all those maladjusted, poorly socialized, violent pit bulls making the news. But how are we supposed to tell the difference? When a pit, perhaps unleashed, is trotting towards us, how are we supposed to determine that this particular pit has a good owner? Do we guess? Cross our fingers—while they're still attached—and hope for the best? Or, considering the potential consequences if we guess wrong, do we presume all pit bulls have bad owners for the exact same reasons we presume all guns are loaded?""
First of all, if a pitbull is being THROWN AT YOU per the article that sparked this question, it's probably safe to say that the dog will be scared and frustrated and angry when it falls to earth, any kind of dog would be. Savage ironically titles his article "it's not the dog, it's the owner" as if he doesn't think having an owner who throws dogs across the room would contribute at all to one of those dogs at some point biting somebody.
As for meeting a strange dog on the street, if the dog is standing rigid, barking at you, crouching and bearing her teeth, or growling and coming out you with her head near the ground, that dog is about to make trouble. In that instance, you should stand still, speak softly and always remain facing the dog. If you've done nothing to antagonize the dog, in theory you should be fine.
I should mention that meeting strange dogs on the street is not something you should try to do. For a dog to be roaming around leashless with no obvious owner is a bad sign. A much worse sign, actually, than a dog having been born a pit bull.
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Criminal Justice *headdesk* of the day. Like a golden retriever can attack someone and never have to worry that her breed will be banned, cops can usually drive drunk and know that the other cops and paramedics will cover for them, even when they kill people.
3 comments:
"cops can usually drive drunk and know that the other cops and paramedics will cover for them, even when they kill people."
Well it's not like "less than excellent" U*U ministers can't blog drunk and know that other U*U ministers and UUA adminstrators will cover their U*U for them, even when they ever so "virtually" sodomize "less than perfect" senators on the Statue of Liberty's torch. . .
Apologies, but I can't get past the notion that you have a big beef with Dan Savage and see all of his opinions as asinine and therefore can't give them any merit and anything you say about the man or his thoughts will be excoriating and dismissive. (transphobic? I'm sure you have mountains of evidence, but I question whether that evidence is coming from many years ago and/or trans-support groups given to hysterical over-reaction... most of what I read/hear in his podcast seems to be supportive...)
My aunt has a pitbull. It is a well behaved and sweet pitbull. That being said, Ziggy really loves to jump up on people when she's super-excited (like, when the Nephew she hasn't seen in a year or two comes to visit)... and she's about 75 lbs of solid muscle with sharp nails and I sometimes sit there going "ow ow ow, I really wish sometimes they had a fluffier pooch". That being said... I don't deign to say that she shouldn't have gotten the pitbull, or that I don't love her as much as any other dog.... but I can completely understand the extra-butt-pucker that people feel should they see a pitbull/doberman/german-shepherd/insert-maligned-breed-here wandering the street leashless over, say, a Labrador or a Greyhound.
Pit bulls are are mighty powerful puppies, I am not totally against the notion that more stringent accountability and responsibility should be given to the owners of said pups.
(((see all of his opinions as asinine and therefore can't give them any merit and anything you say about the man or his thoughts will be excoriating and dismissive.))
I've never said anything of the kind. Indeed, the only other time I've quoted him on this blog was approvingly.
As for trans-phobic, you're welcome to google "Dan Savage transphobic" and see what people have to say. It convinced me.
My main problem with this article was that in several places, Savage's logic just made no sense. For example, why is he using a story where a dog was thrown through the air to illustrate how you can never tell if a pit bull has been raised well so you can know to avoid it? Isn't it pretty obvious that a dog raised by someone who literally uses it as a weapon isn't going to be in good shape emotionally? How hard is that one to figure out?
And the news story has nothing to do with Savage's question about walking down the street and meeting a dog one has never met before, which is a risky situation no matter what kind of dog you're dealing with.
(((I am not totally against the notion that more stringent accountability and responsibility should be given to the owners of said pups.))
Me neither. Dog owners mostly do assume the risk and mostly do have to pay when their dog causes damage. That's fine with me. Dan Savage favors banning the entire breed. As in, your aunt would have to take her dog in to be euthanized.
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