It's about time!

April 13, 2001 10:36 AM

It's about time! Remember the Road Rage case in San Jose where a man threw a lady's dog into traffic last year? He's been found. The man who threw Leo the dog into oncoming traffic last year has been found. Ironically, he was found already in Jail.
posted by da5id (8 comments total)

There's nothing ironic about it. A person willing to do that to an animal is never far from doing something worse to people. I don't have time to find any links, but I seem to remember hearing that profilers keep tabs on animal abuse cases for just that reason: escalation.
posted by silusGROK at 10:57 AM on April 13, 2001

This of course has nothing to do with the story, but the first two times I loaded the page, the banner ads were this and this.

Carry on...
posted by Avogadro at 11:34 AM on April 13, 2001

Hmmm... I think I am using "ironic" too much today...

where's that damn thesaurus?
posted by da5id at 2:50 PM on April 13, 2001

"McBurnett was inundated with condolence messages from dog lovers around the country, and $110,000 in reward money was collected."

If only the general public would have that kind of reaction when people killed people...
posted by mrbula at 3:09 PM on April 13, 2001

Remember how the audience cheered when the dog leaped to freedom in Independence Day? Yep, millions of humans had just been incinerated by aliens, but you know, the dog's all right!
posted by dhartung at 4:07 PM on April 13, 2001

I forget what part was that? When they were leaving the White House?
posted by redleaf at 8:39 PM on April 13, 2001

Face it, animals are better than people.

As for aliens, you don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.
posted by pukin' dog at 10:35 PM on April 14, 2001

Some cases gain more attention than do others, due in part to the amount of time and the type of presentation given to it by the media, and the ability of people to empathise with it and understand it. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed by large-scale events, and are unable to fully comprehend them. I agree this is a problem.

However I disagree with the comment(s) which state or imply that people do not or would not do the same (or even a great deal more) for a human in a similarly high profile case. Particularly so if they felt that this help will substantially improve the possibility of bringing justice to the case (which, given that our law enforcement and legal systems view crimes against humans far more seriously than crimes against animals, is admittedly more likely if there is a human victim)

There's a real link between how people treat animals and how they treat people. The fact that sometimes people or the law is inequitable and/or unfair doesn't change the fact that any public concern over this behavior is not a sign of an unhealthy society.

Certainly this is just one example, so proves nothing. Every day, all around the world, people are treated badly, and animals are treated badly. People who treat animals with respect are generally more empathetic and well adjusted than those who do not.

What we do know, is that the least well-adjusted people in society, those who might be labeled as being sociopathic or psychopathic, nearly exclusively have a history of cruelty towards animals.
posted by lucien at 1:37 AM on April 15, 2001