"There is absolutely no excuse for not being able to get the dog down. What a POS!"
Little Sadie jumped in the water. Her 64 year old owner went in after her and, when he struggled, his 61 year old wife (who could not swim) went in after him. Sadie, like Missy on the mountain, survived. Sadie's owners were not so lucky. Donald and Patricia Cyr are dead.
The opening quote is one of a multitude of similar comments spewed across the net about the owner of a dog left on a mountain. The dog's owner opted to save his human companion and get himself down from the mountain and was unable to get their hiking companion, his dog, down with them.
Well, KUDOS to the raving lunatics who are supporting the concept that animals should come first. You're getting your wish. A dog survived and 2 old humans are gone. I'm sure you're all thrilled!
Words have meaning, they create feelings and beliefs. They are spewed and externalized and internalized and taken to heart by others. Two HUMANS are dead.
I really can't sufficiently express my utter disgust with those who would genuinely insist that another human put an animal's life before that of any human. If you want to put an animal's life before your own, please, feel free. However, expecting that of others, promoting that concept is demeaning, despicable; INHUMANE. Going beyond that to take such a concept and use it for grounds to spew hateful concepts and even lies about a particular individual across the net is even worse.
"Slander is murder with words. It can lead to social death for its victims...
I won't go so far as to call defamation a "murder" but it is abominable and damaging to HUMANS. Think your spewed comments are a freebie? Maybe not. We're beginning to see some rather hefty legal judgments handed down. Think your comments are anonymous? So did some of the people who will be paying those hefty judgments. OK, so you don't care about the damage you do to others. How about the possibility of a judgment you'll be paying out over the rest of your life?
Oh, yes, I'm fully aware that someone crazy enough to die to save an animal might well be willing to pay over a lifetime. However, I suspect that's an even smaller minority.
I would like to think that much of the hate mongering I see on the net would go away if people thought their closest loved ones were looking over their shoulder, seeing what they spew. I have my doubts though. On a more fundamental level, I simply don't understand the thrill in tearing someone down. Oh, hey, I prefer my cats and dogs BY FAR to most of the humans on the planet! That part I understand.
There's all this blather out there about a direct connection between animal cruelty and human abuse. If it's at all true, then it says that abuse/cruelty are rather contagious. Animal cruelty allegations sure seem to prove THAT point as they've become an easy excuse for abusing the human accused of such and it is much to easy to make the accusation. One merely alleges the owner was less than stellar which becomes neglectful which morphs into CRUEL. SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE. No need to wait for facts, let alone consider those facts; besides, one can't believe an abuser anyway and the accused was convicted by the forum before any facts were even presented. The 14ers.com thread about Missy started with a presumption that she was deliberately abandoned. When someone mentioned that there might be an injured human hiker, the dog's owner, up there too; that concept was utterly dismissed. Help the dog, screw the human.
Seriously? We're becoming an every human for themselves and "oh, the poor little animals" society? Shame on us. All that accomplishes is a hateful, self centered society and THAT will be bad for ALL the animals too. They are more at risk than we and, the more isolated we become from one another, the more at risk they are too. If cruelty is indeed contagious, cruelty to one another will have a push down effect on pets. We cannot improve things for animals by dehumanizing ourselves. It's that simple.
There were a few rays of hope on 14ers.com as well.
No excuses, HUMANS first.