Your Sunday LOLcats (dial-up warning) Completely Different Cat Edition

[A HERETIC I AM]

211. Since it's been almost a day since I responded to your post above, I'm going to do this here.

There is a very good reason so many jumped down your throat. That reason is because what you said - what you took issue with - is NOT an issue. You just happened to have an opinion, clearly not shared by too many others, that is quite frankly, silly.

Now I understand everyone is entitled to their opinion, but some are better kept closer to the chest, so to speak.

While Bob (SalmonChantedEvening - he has stated his real name on a thread in the lounge in the past, so I know he won't mind) and I have never met in person, I consider him a friend in real life. He and I are friends on Facebook and I can tell you with absolutely no reservation in the least, that this man has just about the biggest heart of anyone I have ever come across in my life and I am honored that he has included me in his group of friends on that Social Media website. He consistently displays an overwhelming affection for animals of all types and that, coupled with his wonderful sense of humor, his great wit and his compassion for progressive ideals make for many, MANY laughs that I am graced by on a regular basis.

I have been a regular reader of his weekly threads for just about as long as he has been putting them up and they are without a doubt among the, if not the most popular regular contributions to Democratic Underground. His threads regularly garner well over 5000 views, some exceeding 7000. For anyone that regularly posts on DU, to get 5000 views every time you hit the "Post My Thread!" button is enviable.

To illustrate this, here is the page showing his recent threads, but because of DU's software, this only shows them back to January 5th. All of them exceeded 4300 views with the top being 6703. Scroll down and you'll see the 7 threads still active in the lounge;
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1018&page=26&sort=author

But he deserves it. I don't know if you have ever put up a thread with 20 or more pictures in it and included comments, but I have and I am telling you, it is a painstaking process that is just not done in 5 minutes. It's a lot of work and I for one thank him for his craft as much as his research and sense of humor.

But I digress.

You mentioned in one of your responses to those jumping down your throat that you are in your 70's. So I want to apologize for my tone in my response. I tend to consider most DU'ers as similar in age to me (I'll be 55 in May) so I beg your pardon ma'am for my terse reply.

But I meant it. These are pictures of cats and dogs, for crying out loud! You said, and I quote directly;

With the advent of the digital camera, many of the shots you are lately showing are obviously staged and posed. Sometimes demeaning to the "pet."

and in a subsequent post you said;

Candid shots are always the best AND some set up pics go far beyond pet (or animal companion) dignity. I'll stand by this , even though my daughter once put a tablecloth on her pony and went out trick or treating dressed as a chef. Hah! But I didn't take a picture. (Only of her as a chef; spared the pony's dignity).

Really? Seriously? "Demeaning"? "Dignity"? Come on, madam. Honestly. You're in your 70's for Christs sake! Do you actually think a cat and a dog or a pony for that matter give two farts and a dead bird about their "Dignity"? Much less have any concept of the process of losing it and therefore become demeaned?

I've been around animals all my life, and with the exception of the last 9 1/2 years since I put down my last dog, we have had pets in our family since I was an infant. I've been around horses, cats, dogs and numerous exotics. I never, not once, EVER could recall a time when I thought "That animal has dignity."

Pride? Sure. Lots of animals seem to be prideful. My late Boston Terrier very often exhibited what could be called pride at doing all sorts of things, like finding the perfect stick for me to throw, or tearing a cardboard box to precisely evenly sized little shreds. But dignified? Sorry, but a hearty Laughing My Ass Off is due here.

Here's a video of a lion, an animal most people certainly might think of as prideful, proving the point that he has absolutely no dignity in the least possible measure;

Yes, he just rolled in a pile of Rhino dung.

Cats and dogs and even ponies do that sort of thing all the time.

And yet you felt it was necessary to chastise Bob on his selection of photos.

The idea of dignity is purely a human one. We might give it to animals, but I assure you, and I am willing to bet most animal behaviorists will agree, the concept is totally beyond them, with the possible exception of certain species of whales.

That you find it a "troubling trend" is also one of the reasons I think you took 3 colors of crap for your comments.

No, it isn't. Not in the least is it a "troubling trend". Want to know how I know this? Because I have been a member of this board for 11 and a half years and I can tell you with complete confidence that if Bob's weekly threads included a troubling trend of any kind, many DU'ers would let him have it with both barrels.

Look...it's the internet. People take funny pictures of dogs and cats. Sometimes they dress them up. Why? Because a cat or a dog wearing a hat or a coat or sunglasses or a scarf or shoes is funny, that's why.
Case in point, the late, great Mr Beau Brummel;



This one isn't so much as funny, but damned handsome!

Not one ounce of dignity lost, I assure you.

You know what else would make a funny picture for Bob to use? A pony wearing a tablecloth.

If you don't think pics like that are funny, then you probably shouldn't open any more of his Sunday threads, because I for one, am going to be sending him animals wearing clothes pics every chance I get from now on.

You repeatedly stated that you were merely giving a "simple opinion" and that it was a "simple remark"

Sorry, but it isn't that simple. You are taking to task the author of what has become a DU institution for something that is completely innocuous. The fact that Bob includes the "staged and posed" shots are in large part what makes his thread so enjoyable. The pics ARE FUNNY! And the popularity of his threads are witness to that.

We all have our moments. I certainly have had a few in my decade plus posting here. But sometimes the prudent thing to do is back up, take a breath, have another look at what we wrote and consider whether or not it was really worth it, necessary or appropriate.

And then do the right thing.

Regards,

Paul