So...am I wrong here?

[Evoman]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4454291&mesg_id=4454291


I don't believe this story, although the message resonates with me. Do you guys think this is true? Am I way off?

[WhollyHeretic]

1. I found it very moving but the minute I finished reading it I snopes'd it

Didn't find anything but I'm pretty sure it's not true.

[PVnRT]

2. I suppose it's possible they might gas animals

if the volume is high, funds are low, and it's cheaper. I've never heard of agencies doing that, but I'm also not an expert on this subject.

[WhollyHeretic]

3. That part is definitely true. It happens in a number of states, North Carolina among them

I just don't buy that this was actually written by an employee of one. The story is just too pat.

[PVnRT]

4. Probably true

Effective, but you're right, it's probably glurge.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Carbon monoxide is odorless.

Furthermore, CO euthanasia is rare, and never done with two or more species at the same time.

It's fake.

[WhollyHeretic]

6. I don't believe the letter is real but CO euthanasia in North Carolina is not rare

[moggie]

9. While CO is odourless

It wouldn't surprise me if, when it's used for gassing, an odour is added for safety. You wouldn't want someone staying in a room with a high concentration of CO, so you want a way to alert them to its presence.

[Nevernose]

7. It's absolutely true

But only from an literary, existentialist perspective. Hemingway said, "I am a writer of fiction who tells the truth." Tim O'Brien, in his classic The Things They Carried says essentially that it is impossible to write a war story and tell the truth, but just because something didn't happen doesn't make it any less true.

Keats said that "'Beauty is truth, truth beauty.' That is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." And sometimes beauty is terrible and sad.

[moggie]

8. I didn't buy it

Then I skimmed the thread, and was annoyed at the posters who repeatedly misinterpreted the objections. Why is it so hard to understand that "I don't think this was written by someone who really does that" is not the same as "I don't think animals are killed in this way, and anyway I don't care"?

[dropkickpa]

10. CO euth is definitely done

It's cheap (a 65lb tank costs $14). There are many places across the US that still employ this method, though slowly but surely more humane methods are taking over. The problem is that it takes more training and more money to use the more humane methods, and some backwater dirt poor counties just lack the resources to be able to do it. The letter is most likely a load of hogwash, though.

[Orrex]

11. Sounds like glurge to me

The bit about "I tell them I know I'm going to Hell" put it over the top for me. Look, I've worked jobs I hated, but if they were compromising my immortal soul, I'd seek other employment.

Progressives should beware of the heart-rending apocryphal story, because it comes too close to a long-favored Republican tactic of "creating reality" to suit immediate needs. If this story is true as written, then that's terrific, but I don't believe it as is.

[varkam]

12. My bullshit detector started going off the charts as soon as I read it

And, FWIW, I read it before seeing this thread.

It was a moving piece, but after I finished reading it I couldn't help but feel like I'd been had. To me, the piece felt like propaganda - especially towards the end:

They are in heaven now, I tell myself. I then start cleaning up the mess, the mess, that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not spay or neutering your animals. The mess that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not demanding that a vet come in and do this humanely. You ARE THE TAXPAYERS, DEMAND that this practice STOP!

If old dude hates his job so much - which it sounds like it is pushing him right to the brink - then I cannot imagine why he wouldn't quit even if other work was difficult to find.

In addition, he talks about quite an attachment to these animals in a situation where he has to kill them. I have a pretty decent understanding of psychology, and that seems fishy to me. For instance, during WW2, soldiers on the front lines would tend to not make friends with new replacement soldiers in the unit because they figured they were just going to die (since they were so green). People shut down, emotionally, in situations like that because it is much easier to cope.

Also the constant refrains of "I'm going to hell" and "I'm a monster" seemed a bit much.

While none of those things in and of themselves lead to to believe we're being had, all taken together it leaves a real nasty taste in my mouth.

Just my .02.

[Warpy]

13. I know a cancer research assistant

in studies involving drugs crossing the blood/brain barrier whose job it was every morning to kill a feral cat for dissection.

He eventually had to quit because every tenth cat or so would cuddle up and purr. He just couldn't take it.

There are some jobs only psychopaths should do.

[realisticphish]

14. i wouldn't even think about taking that job

yeesh. necessary, i suppose, but not for me