Last Spring, my partner and I went on a hike beside some pothole lakes. We noticed a gorgeous species of fish in the water. I think they were Pumpkinseed sunfish. Their scales flashed bright colours in the sun, reds and blues. Each of them was tending to a bower they had built. They had each cleared a circle of the pond’s floor, making a visibly smooth, light coloured depression. We could see them guarding their little domain, scooping rock up and spitting them out around the perimeter, chasing off rivals, and displaying themselves in the sun. They were beautiful and we watched for the better part of an hour. It was really special to be able to observe animals engaging in highly evolved drives and striving to fulfill their imperatives.
Walking back, we came across three boys. They couldn’t have been more than ten years old. They were making a circle around one of these mating fish that they had caught. They were bent over, fascinated. It flopped in pain and fear, slowly dying. I was so fucking horrified. I wanted to throw the children into the water, though I kept my distance and did not interact with them.
I can’t blame children for being cruel and violent to a vulnerable individual. Children don’t have the full human capacity for empathy, and live in the weird world conjured from the things they are told rather than actually in reality. But when it comes to adults, there are no excuses. Adults who enjoy hurting animals, who do it for no reason other than it gives them pleasure, those people are fucked up. IMO, without exaggeration, they are adjacent to violent sociopaths that abuse humans. Most such people start out by hurting animals.
It’s bad enough that nearly everyone cruel and violent to animals three times a day, but there is a lot of context to that. Billions of dollars a year are spent conditioning and deceiving people, hiding their own cruelty from them and making them feel good about the violence they commit. They don’t even think about it. But when you are killing a terrified vulnerable individual with your own hands, JUST FOR FUN, that reality is unavoidable, undeniable, and unforgivable.
Last Spring, my partner and I went on a hike beside some pothole lakes. We noticed a gorgeous species of fish in the water. I think they were Pumpkinseed sunfish. Their scales flashed bright colours in the sun, reds and blues. Each of them was tending to a bower they had built. They had each cleared a circle of the pond’s floor, making a visibly smooth, light coloured depression. We could see them guarding their little domain, scooping rock up and spitting them out around the perimeter, chasing off rivals, and displaying themselves in the sun. They were beautiful and we watched for the better part of an hour. It was really special to be able to observe animals engaging in highly evolved drives and striving to fulfill their imperatives.
Walking back, we came across three boys. They couldn’t have been more than ten years old. They were making a circle around one of these mating fish that they had caught. They were bent over, fascinated. It flopped in pain and fear, slowly dying. I was so fucking horrified. I wanted to throw the children into the water, though I kept my distance and did not interact with them.
I can’t blame children for being cruel and violent to a vulnerable individual. Children don’t have the full human capacity for empathy, and live in the weird world conjured from the things they are told rather than actually in reality. But when it comes to adults, there are no excuses. Adults who enjoy hurting animals, who do it for no reason other than it gives them pleasure, those people are fucked up. IMO, without exaggeration, they are adjacent to violent sociopaths that abuse humans. Most such people start out by hurting animals.
It’s bad enough that nearly everyone cruel and violent to animals three times a day, but there is a lot of context to that. Billions of dollars a year are spent conditioning and deceiving people, hiding their own cruelty from them and making them feel good about the violence they commit. They don’t even think about it. But when you are killing a terrified vulnerable individual with your own hands, JUST FOR FUN, that reality is unavoidable, undeniable, and unforgivable.