Freethinking for Dummies

Of Animal Cruelty and Immorality

There was a very sad, disturbing article in the Omaha World Herald about 64 chihuahuas that were rescued from a home in Falls City, NE.   While this is an upsetting story in itself, it isn’t the neglect of these dogs that I want to talk about.  I want to talk about a comment that was posted about that article.

Posted by: Tea Party Tom on 08/18/11 @ 12:30 pm:

Here we go agian, more government on our back telling people how to live our lifes. I guess the govenment is never satisfied, now there tellign dogs how they have to life.

When another commenter said that, while they felt it was wrong to mistreat animals, the government should focus on taking care of people.  Tea Party Tom responded:

Posted by: Tea Party Tom on 08/18/11 @ 10:03 pm:

To Concerned: why should government take care of people??? Let people take care of people and if they cant do it, to bad thats the way the cookie crumples. I never had the gorverment take care of me and I’m doing just find!

There are so many things wrong with Mr. Tea Party’s responses that I am not quite sure where to start.  I suppose I’ll start with his comment that the government shouldn’t be telling dogs how they have to live.

The authorities are considering charges against the owner.  The laws that may have been broken have nothing to do with telling animals how to live their lives, but with ensuring that animal owners treat the animals in their care humanely.  If anyone is being told how to behave it is the owner, not the dogs.

As for Tea Party Tom’s contention that this is an example of more government on our backs, the fact is that the Humane Society (not a government agency, by the way) was called in because the owner called authorities to tell them that he could no longer take care of the dogs.  So the authorities didn’t come out and raid the home or anything.  They came in response to a call for help.  They weren’t poking their noses into the owner’s private business, but responding to a legitimate call for assistance.

The most egregious comment of Tom’s, though, is his belief that if people can’t take care of themselves that it is their own fault.  Basically, fuck the poor, they deserve it.  Considering that the Tea Party is, by their own admission, openly Christian, his statement is completely contrary to the teachings of Christianity, which call for compassion and aid for the poor.

Finally Mr. Tea Party states that the government never took care of him.  While I can’t say that’s not true for sure, given his atrocious grammar and spelling I can only assume that he attended a public school, a government funded institution that provide him with 12 years of free education.

This ill informed, bigoted screed is just another example of the moral bankruptcy of the Tea Party and its followers.

It has been shown that sociopathic killers often start their careers by torturing and killing animals when they are young.  The same, I believe, holds true for a person’s attitude toward animal welfare.  This is clearly illustrated by his comments.  Tea Party Tom, and his cronies, show not just their indifference to human suffering, but their outright hostility and disgust of those less well off then them.  To call themselves the party of family values and morality is more than disingenuous, but is grossly immoral and abhorrent.

August 27, 2011 Posted by James Walker | Humanism, Social Justice | animal cruelty, christianity, morality, morals, tea party | Leave a Comment