Any society that fails to care for human beings who are sleeping on the street is sick. That fact becomes even more obvious when you compare it to the way we treat our pets.
Cold
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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On the other hand, Ted, when one one grows tired of a pet, one can take it to a vet and have it put down….
Henri
Henri!
I am genuinely shocked. The first rule of pet ownership: The second you take that pet in, you are not allowed to become “tired” of it. (And I know tired, it’s my name.) It becomes your obligation until it dies or you found another home for it. There’s a particular hot corner of hell for people who abandon animals. I send the devil some propane and fiberglass insulation every year to help keep the heat in that corner at its highest possible level.
Compare with Turkey. Yes, Turkey the country.
They have taken in waves of refugees from the wars the West has created in the area.
Then they treat pets differently.
They have street cats with homes and people that feed/neuter/love them. They are not owned any more than the birds in a British garden are ‘owned’. Meanwhile, in America, cats can be declawed and kept inside at all times.
But when people go from Britain to their holidays in Turkey they think it is terrible that there are these poor stray cats and dogs. They think the people there are cruel for not taking ownership of them, to lock them in, imprisoned.
In cafes and shops in Turkey there will be a donations box for food for the local street cats. There is a whole culture that goes back centuries to the Ottoman Empire of having to be kind to animals. Western influences have diminished this in recent times, but we could learn a lot from other cultures when it comes to what species we have sleeping in the streets.
And homeless people in Turkey ?…
Henri
Speaking of declawed cats. I had a cat that had been declawed when I picked it up, at the age of 1, from a shelter. It’s one of my three wishes out of the genie’s lamp that I get to meet the person who ordered the cat mutilated and the vet who did it. It’ll be totally fair. They’ll be strapped to chairs at the neck, shoulders, elbow, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. I’ll have only a pair of secateurs, a sewing kit, and a box of Band-Aids.
Indeed, this is AmriKKKa:
The leftovers from the system, left out to rot in the cold.
The other contestant rats, so lonely in their race to the american dream that they need solace they can only get from pets, which they’ll treat lavishly since money is their substitute for affection.
Then you have the opportunists, for whom any situation is a chance to make $$$: Here, see some scoundrel drawing a cartoon of a poor old hag, rather than trying to help her.
And, behind the scene, the same fraud, endowed with a trumpic ego, madly jerking off when pressing the delete button on any post bearing any dissenting opinion.
Ted Rall, number one!