"Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by Dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become."
- Steve Jobs

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Kitties, wheelie bins, and an ugly Mob Mentality that leave me cold

So yesterday a woman was caught on CCTV stroking a cat before dropping it into a wheelie bin and walking off.  (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305751/Cat-bin-woman-Mary-Bale-Whats-fuss-Its-just-cat.html)  The cat wasn't found for 15 hours.  When it was fished out of the bin, the owners immediately released the footage onto a Facebook group so they could identify the culprit. Now there are Policemen outside the woman's house, her face and name is splashed all over the papers, and she is receiving death threats.  Comments being posted about her on the internet are such as:

"if ever saw her id violently shove her head into shit filled toilet & hold the lid down with an anvil.... fuckin witch!"

"she looks like an horrible cunt.....bet thats the only pussy she's seen stroked in ages thats why she hates it....bitch....."

"WTF i don't give a shit if some stupid ass police was standing right in her way I would shoot the cop then get that fat bitch get in my car reverse into her then throw her in a bin for 15 hours dumb bitch."

And on it goes, 34,000+ comments on the YouTubepage showing the video.  It's no wonder I'm a Misanthropist.  People disgust me, and the Mob Mentality of the reaction to this crime just reinforces that fact.  Cue the Monty Python "Burn the witch!!  Burn her!" scene.

She's not helping herself by talking to the newspapers and saying "it's only a cat, I didn't think I'd do much harm".  Why isn't a lawyer or advisor telling her to shut up and not say such things, quotes that have been fallen on by the media masses and induced more howls of disgust.  I would think that she'll now have to move house and go into hiding until this incident blows over.  She'll never be safe again in her house, there will always be some delusioned idiot just dying to make his mark by shoving flaming dog poo through her letterbox, or a brick through her window.

Of course what she did was wrong and yes, a punishment should be meted out. It's rather unsettling that the Police are saying they can't charge her because "no crime has been committed" and the papers say that the matter is still "being investigated" by the RSPCA.  Surely they can do her for "animal cruelty and suffering" for what the sentence is, I don't know.

However, the baying mobs and keyboard warriors seem to be forgetting that much WORSE crimes against animals happen every day and go unreported.  Dogs kicked and beaten, cats put in tumble dryers, pet hamsters stamped on, horses kept in their own filth until they resemble Belsen victims.  Their perpetrators are caught and sentenced and nothing is said and we go on with our lives as  normal.  How many of the uneducated Chavs posting hate comments have a pitbull-esque dog sitting at their feet, perpetuating the growing trend for these dogs which has spawned cruelty, inbreeding, abandonment of unwanted dogs, not to mention the growing underground dog fighting scene.

What makes me laugh is that all of these "Kill her" self-righteous doogooders probably have freezers full of supermarket-bought meat. Meat from animals reared in terrible conditions and slaughtered in equally terrible conditions.  I suggest that they stop playing the "kitty in the bin" video over and over, while pursing their lips and demanding Bin Lady's death - and watch this video instead


Now THIS sort of shit is what righteous protests, indignation, horror and outrage should be directed at.  But despite worldwide protests that ARE happening, the meat industry prevails, because we can't break our addiction to meat.  And we don't seem to CARE where it comes from, we prefer to avert our eyes from videos such as the above, and watch "softer" cruelty videos like Bin Lady.  It's easier to stomach, we know the cat was found and is OK.  It's cute and cuddly compared to watching pigs writhing on a concrete floor in their own blood while listening to their almost humanlike screams of terror.

I've not eaten meat for a long while now and yes, part of me is hypocritical in that I posess some leather shoes, and my wardrobe is also full of clothes doubtless made in sweat shops.  But nobody can point the finger at me before examining the contents of their own closets.  The point is, I made a conscious decision to quit meat after I DID force myself to watch those videos, and I was outraged at the levels of cruelty we humans can inflict on animals.  Reading the sick preaching of these internet "Witch burners" simply erodes my faith in humanity a little more.

So please - a fitting punishment for Bin Lady and then LET IT GO.  Then look at yourselves and the contents of your freezer before you pontificate any further on who is cruel to animals.

3 comments:

SwissBarb said...

Great post.

"What makes me laugh is that all of these "Kill her" self-righteous doogooders probably have freezers full of supermarket-bought meat. Meat from animals reared in terrible conditions and slaughtered in equally terrible conditions."

Thank you for pointing this out. For some reason I can't see the vid you posted the link to, but I was glad I was already a veggie when I watched "Earthlings". Human beings can be despicable and cruel in so, so many ways :(

stephenv said...

What's wrong with holding the assholes of the world accountable for their evil deeds?

The mob mentality arises in certain periods in history when people lose faith in institutional justice and seek more immediate solutions. These typically tend to be amplified by emotion and ultra-violent.

Gofannon said...

I don't know who you are, but I love you.