Couldn't hold my tongue....

[spicedogs]

I was disturbed about GK's recent column about the state fair. I think that Pig Lover Anonymous should uprise and picket outside his home. (OMG, am I asking for trouble or not?) I am really upset about his treatment of pigs. Not so much the eating of pork, but the suggestion of whacking a pig. So, i went to salon.com and posted this comment on his column:


GK, do you whack your children? Why would you whack a pig? If you are around your animals and know how to handle them, kind gestures and training go much farther than violence. In fact, llamas that are not very well trained are nasty animals that hiss and spit. I believe that Democrats want to view themselves as kind and not violent people. I am a proud Democrat, and I believe that you view yourself as proud Democrat, too. Then why view violence as a means of obedience?




    

Comments

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Oh, lordy, Edith. You may not get that yay you are looking for. ;)

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

No, I may not. But then again, I doubt that he spends time reading those comments.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Really? Why do you think that?

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

I think that he has way too much to do than to spend time reading the comments that he gets. The man writes novels, radio shows, syndicated columns, prefaces for other books, music... When can he breathe?

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

This is true. Well, maybe you can bring up these questions if you are given that opportunity. ;)

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Hehehehehe. I sure will if I can.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

I wonder when you'll hear something!!!

[divka.livejournal.com]

That is such a strange bit of that article. I mean, I've been around llamas and pigs--and I can't say I've felt the need to whack either. Well-treated farm animals tend to be pretty mellow. I'm not sure what sort of negative pig experience it is that he's had.

The only farm animals I've ever had come after me are the large birds--things like geese. And I imagine that is because geese tend to get harassed by dogs and therefore are a bit jumpy. I'm still not going to *whack* a goose, though.

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

OMG, I used to work for National Geographic in G'burg. And you know that we had a beautiful lake there. The geese had a sanctualry in our campus and they were mean. They would follow you, hiss and try to peck you. I definitely would not argue with a goose.

[divka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the same goes for swans. Boy, those things are mean.

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

I really don't like birds. I think that they are all ready to bite you if they can. A friend of my mom's had a macaw and that beast could break your fingers if it wanted to, and many times it tried.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Can we say The Birds?

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

LOL. That movie is terrifying.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

It was! And did you know they are remaking it?? Not cool!!!

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Nooooooooooooooooo!

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Yes. :/

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Generally remakes are bad. So, we shall see.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Or not. I have no desire to see a remake of that.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Actually geese and turkeys are just nasty animals. We used to have both. We had to carry a stick to protect ourselves against the turkey. Oh, yeah, and I was attacked by a rooster when I was much younger. So, yeah, sometimes you do have to protect yourself.

[divka.livejournal.com]

I've never been assaulted by a pig, though. The domestic pig is a total wimp compared to the average goose.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Right, I wasn't talking about pigs. But come to think of it, haven't there been reports of pigs or probably hogs attacking cars? I'm going to have to try and google that.

[divka.livejournal.com]

I could see a wild pig doing that. Not a domestic pig. Not unless someone had really been tormented it, I guess.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just found this. They are wild though. http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/004365.html

ETA: I'm not sure if this was a wild pig:

http://pigofknowledge.blogspot.com/2006/11/when-pigs-attack.html

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

That sounds like wild pigs that were there to eat poisoned corn.

[boheme06.livejournal.com]

Whether an animal is hissy or not doesn't mean someone should kill them. But it's an issue that's going to be debated for a very long time, why animals are eaten and the like. I think we're on the losing team. :(

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

I gather that you are a vegetarian. Am I correct?

[boheme06.livejournal.com]

Not really. I just don't eat red meat.

[mythicfeline.livejournal.com]

Well, as someone who got chased around Hyde Park by the Queen's geese outside Kensington Palace, I'm inclined to say that it was because I didn't understand them. I may have been doing the one thing to provoke but had no idea I was doing it.

I volunteered last May at the bird facility at a animal sanctuary, Best Friends Animal Society. The birds ranged from peafowl, geese, swans, ducks, parrots, cockatiels, doves, ravens, with a roaming band of wild turkeys, to keep things interesting. They have chickens from time to time, but they have always ended up getting adopted.

The one thing that struck me is how far outside the mammalian matrix, these animals are, which is why we don't "get" them. The handlers worked magic with these birds. So it is possible. Me they saw coming a mile away and weren't going to let me off so easy.

Having spent a couple afternoons with them was good for me. I grew to care a lot about them. I was sorry they had lost their persons, were abused or misunderstood, just like their counterparts outside the sanctuary.

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's the secret of it all, we don't understand their species. We understand mammals because we are mammals.