Writer's Block: Pet central

[jedusor]

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Honestly, I believe that pet ownership is morally wrong, whatever you call yourself.

I recognize that this is not a popular viewpoint, and I'm not prepared to face the social repercussions of fighting for it right now. Society isn't at a point where a movement to abolish pet ownership would be seen as anything but a crackpot notion from a bunch of hippies. I don't know whether it ever will be. It's not something I think I can do much to change right now, and if it won't do any good, there's no point in being a jerk to people who have pets.

Comments

[dougo.livejournal.com]

The concept of pet ownership sometimes makes me a little uncomfortable too. I wouldn't call it morally wrong, but I think I know where you're coming from. On the other hand, I am also uncomfortable with many things that animal rights activists espouse. I eat meat and I don't think raising and killing animals for food is morally wrong either. ...It's complicated.

[gerald_duck]

I'm a cat person, and I don't think cats are actually pets in quite the sense you object to. They are, after all, free to come and go as they please; and, for the sake of a steady supply of food, warmth, shelter and snuggles, they choose to hang around. They wouldn't even have to fend for themselves if they chose to leave — in the UK, at least, it's pretty easy for strays to find someone else who'll take them in if they wander around mewling pathetically for a day or two.

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

I think the view that pet ownership (or "guardianship") is morally wrong is quite sane, and it's sad that it's viewed as outrageous by so many. I see the reaction as part of the general tendency to treat habit as morality; it's what we've always done, so it shouldn't be questioned.

The pet issue, though, is complicated by the fact that many domesticated animals are utterly unable to survive without us. It may be morally wrong to own a dog, but releasing your Pomeranian into the woods seems a bit lacking in the moral department as well.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely not saying the solution is to turn all domesticated animals loose into the world. I don't know what the solution would be, were society to decide that I'm right. But there are never easy solutions to difficult social problems. (The fact that I view it as a social problem also probably sets me aside from most people, although it would probably be easier to convince them that relationships with pets are social than it would be to convince them that they're immoral.)

[justme8800.livejournal.com]

What?

I can understand (and even fully agree with) the idea that we shouldn't harm or exploit animals any more than we do humans, and that there is an indescribable quantity of this injustice in the world. Nature's order etc.

But how can the very idea of having a pet be in any way morally wrong? Assuming the owner isn't a jerk, it's an entirely win-win situation for all involved. Some of my best friends were pets. Is this some kind of "the pet isn't over 18 and isn't legally capable of consenting" riff?

I could sort of understand maybe rejecting the way many people treat their pets in our society, but pet ownership altogether? "Ownership" is just a word meaning responsibility, it's not like there's slavery or labor or hardship implied.

I'm honestly curious. An unpopular viewpoint is one thing, but a nonsensical one is something else.

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

I don't know about wrong, but I find it frustrating how irate people can get over the treatment of pets, or that I would want to euthanize a dog (adopted when he was already senior) whom I could no longer allow to run around my house and who would be miserable living elsewhere, when they have no problem with the number of animals that have to die so the dog can get fed.

[xthread.livejournal.com]

Fascinating.
What is your opinion of the evidence that several sorts of creatures (notably dogs and cats) domesticated humans and not so much the other way 'round?

[jillcook.livejournal.com]

This made me think of an interesting book I read several years ago called The Secret Life Of Dogs. To avoid spoilers I will just say that it was written by a woman who had a lot of dogs and stopped treating them as pets, then recorded her observations in this book. I bet you'd find it interesting, and it is a quick read.