Unusual Opinions
- Thread starter Mojochi
- Start date
Dogs and cats have been domesticated over thousands of years, so their relationship with humans is ingrained at this point. The kind of relationship and companionship you get from a pet is qualitatively different in many ways from what you get with a human, so it's not equivalent to say, "get a human friend" as a replacement. But I do get why you personally don't get want a pet. My mom is the same way. It's just not quite as logical a stance as you would maybe like it to be, and it's not quite as irrational to own a pet as you might think.
I watch the Tour de France, it's the only sporting event I've ever taken an interest in. I love it, the strategy, the scenery, the stage by stage excitement. But people always make snide, mean comments to me about it because they think it's elitest or boring or filled with nothing but doping athletes.
I watch the Tour de France, it's the only sporting event I've ever taken an interest in. I love it, the strategy, the scenery, the stage by stage excitement. But people always make snide, mean comments to me about it because they think it's elitest or boring or filled with nothing but doping athletes.
Fellow TdF fan here. Got into it in the mid-2000s and now am a general road cycling fan and follow a particular team. The Tour is probably the best grand tour in terms of presentation, but for a while it hasn't been the best in terms of the racing. Though this year it has been a cracker.
As a kid, I loved to watch the TDF. I knew a few places where they always passed and went there to cheer them up, plus I collected all the memorabilia they gave away, the paper hats, keychains, bottle openers.. etc. I still have a cardboard box full of them. I haven't opened it for decades though. Well, it's a little of my childhood there.
I don't watch the Tour de France, but I do listen to it. 
I've not watched TV in 8 years. When I last mkoved, I found that my appartment has no cable conection and can't receive terrestrian signals. I'd have to put up a sat dish but that requires 2 people (1 to control whether the image is clear and 1 who adjusts the dish accordingly) and I am on my own.
But frankly, I don't miss TV at all. I do watch a DVD now and then and enjoy having no ad breaks every 5 minutes
As for pets: I grew up with pets, therefore I am very biased and can't imagine a life without animals. Mojochi made good points about pet shelters, about very wrongly kept animals and about going out and getting friends. However, while I see and appreciate the basic idea behind it, I disagree with the latter point. In my experience there are huge moral/psychological differences between humans and animals:
Or, as my old zoology prof put it: if you know humans you love animals.
But frankly, I don't miss TV at all. I do watch a DVD now and then and enjoy having no ad breaks every 5 minutes
As for pets: I grew up with pets, therefore I am very biased and can't imagine a life without animals. Mojochi made good points about pet shelters, about very wrongly kept animals and about going out and getting friends. However, while I see and appreciate the basic idea behind it, I disagree with the latter point. In my experience there are huge moral/psychological differences between humans and animals:
- an animal will always give you a second chance
- lies are a concept unknown to almost all animals
- an animal will always show you clearly what it thinks of you and what it feels at the moment
- an animal is always straightforward and doesn't beat around the bush or cheat
- an animal loves you as you are, totally and unconditionally.
Or, as my old zoology prof put it: if you know humans you love animals.
In summary: Animals are less effort to know... & thereby, in my clearly minority opinion, less meaningful to know
and in almost all but the most recent times, they were kept to service mankind in multitudes of ways. I think the term "pet" really only surfaces a few hundred years ago, as in petting, which is derivative of petty. Until very recently, a dog & cat had a point beyond just being a thing to give affection to, but not in the modern world, unless you have a legit service animal
Well, in Homer's Odyssey: The only one that recognizes Ulysses after twenty years of absence is his own dog and the joy of seeing him kills the poor animal. So that means that even then, IE millennia ago, they acknowledged the deep affection that links a man to his dog. Dogs were already then, not just something you used for practical purposes.
I think that's been documented enough that it's widely accepted as fact. The US would probably have a different president today if not for the essential fakery of "reality" tv.
I agree with the gist but this isn't true of cats. Felis catus is much newer to domestication than dogs are, and their hunting abilities are essentially all intact. In fact our good old house cats are one of the most efficiently deadly predators on earth, and they have no problem providing for themselves in the wild. This has been devastating for many species when cats are introduced to places like islands where wildlife evolved without such predators.
But that's begging the question, defining the benefits as only those which replace or could be replaced by human interaction. There are good studies that show benefits to blood pressure and stress hormones related to just petting an animal. There are people who get exercise with their dogs that they would not get otherwise. And there are, anecdotally, people like my wife and me who have very strong and supportive family and social networks, but who also find great pleasure, enjoyment and stress-reducing benefit in having a pet around.
And I'm in no way trying to say there isn't and hasn't been shared affections/bonds between people & pets. What I do question is that if that shared affection is sufficient cause for the whole of humanity, on mass, to breed numerous animal species for only that reason, (For us to enjoy) which is what we predominantly do now, when previously there were other purposes for general individuals to have them, on top of growing to like them... was my point. They were essential in helping human kind, in a time when it needed all the help it could get, to haul, herd, hunt etc... Our vast age of advancement is not one of those times imho, and now they are just, another creature comfort luxury item, by & large.
I'm not trying to disprove whatever benefits they can offer to our overall well being, that mostly revolve around making us more content & in contentment thereby potentially even leading to better health, which I feel like we could do largely for ourselves at this point, or better yet, for one another, in lieu thereof
I am pointing out that we live in an exorbinat age where our well being has never been weller, & more capable of sufficiency, without the need to populate the planet with billions of creatures who only exist to give us comfort. Is our individual happiness worth the trade off? Does our comfort matter that much? Is the notion that they are a good thing to our state of mind merit what the end result of so many of us having them means? Personally I can't get there
^yes, that's it in a nutshell.
Getting to know people can certainly be awarding occasionally but how often do we invest a lot of time and emotions in another person only to find that they are emotional leeches who only take but give nothing back in return?
Animals are natural givers who rarely demand much, and that's propably the secret of their popularity.
Another important point is that during the last decades the tone has gotten very rough, almost everywhere in the world. Can anyone here claim in all conscience that they have never in their lives been a victim of mobbing, cruel teasing, abuse, humiliation or even violence? I very much doubt it. And it gets worse all the time. How many of us have been abused online or IRL for the way we look, speak or dress? Hasn't every single one of us felt unloved and miserable at times?
A pet will always give you a positive feedback. It takes you as you are and not only accepts you but wholeheartedly loves you.
Pets are good for your self-esteem. That's another reason for their popularity.
Getting to know people can certainly be awarding occasionally but how often do we invest a lot of time and emotions in another person only to find that they are emotional leeches who only take but give nothing back in return?
Animals are natural givers who rarely demand much, and that's propably the secret of their popularity.
Another important point is that during the last decades the tone has gotten very rough, almost everywhere in the world. Can anyone here claim in all conscience that they have never in their lives been a victim of mobbing, cruel teasing, abuse, humiliation or even violence? I very much doubt it. And it gets worse all the time. How many of us have been abused online or IRL for the way we look, speak or dress? Hasn't every single one of us felt unloved and miserable at times?
A pet will always give you a positive feedback. It takes you as you are and not only accepts you but wholeheartedly loves you.
Pets are good for your self-esteem. That's another reason for their popularity.
My feeling in reality shows which is probably minority: I like the aspects that are games but I wish the producers would let them be games without heavily manipulating the drama.
I especially wish they’d treat American Ninja Warrior more like a sport. Qualify people based on merit, not sob stories. Stop it with gimmicks. And live broadcast it.
On pets, the only thing stopping me from getting cats now is cost. Having something to take care of and emotionally bond with just feels nice.
One provision I would add though, I think the only animals that should be kept as pets are animals that would prefer living in your house to living in the wild. Dogs want to be with you. Cats are happy to have their food delivery service. Certain small rodents prefer safety from predators to freedom. Fish, err, don’t give a crap either way. Animals that will run away instantly the moment you open their cage, then not be happy when returned to it, you probably shouldn’t keep them in one.
I especially wish they’d treat American Ninja Warrior more like a sport. Qualify people based on merit, not sob stories. Stop it with gimmicks. And live broadcast it.
On pets, the only thing stopping me from getting cats now is cost. Having something to take care of and emotionally bond with just feels nice.
One provision I would add though, I think the only animals that should be kept as pets are animals that would prefer living in your house to living in the wild. Dogs want to be with you. Cats are happy to have their food delivery service. Certain small rodents prefer safety from predators to freedom. Fish, err, don’t give a crap either way. Animals that will run away instantly the moment you open their cage, then not be happy when returned to it, you probably shouldn’t keep them in one.
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I'm an atheist, living in Texas. I couldn't possibly have a more "unusual opinion" if I tried.
I'm an atheist, Democrat, sports-hating, non-drinker who has no interest in guns, living in Texas. And I have no desire to own a truck.
Needless to say, I spend a lot of time alone.
I'm an atheist, Democrat, sports-hating, non-drinker who has no interest in guns, living in Texas. And I have no desire to own a truck.
Needless to say, I spend a lot of time alone.
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^ Well, it is the Lone Star state, so at least you fit in one way!
I'm an atheist, living in Texas. I couldn't possibly have a more "unusual opinion" if I tried.
I'm an atheist, Democrat, sports-hating, non-drinker who has no interest in guns, living in Texas. And I have no desire to own a truck.
Needless to say, I spend a lot of time alone.
Well, I am an Atheist while both of my parents were fervent Catholics and most of my friends married in Church (I even went through the motions (do all the churchy stuff and all) for the sake of a good friend of mine whose wife really is into the thing (between you and me and the lampost I am not even sure he believes), so I didn't want to cause a casus belli if you see what I mean, I wouldn't do that for just anybody)
twin soul here, auntie. Only difference is that I loathe beer which is considered the paramount of perversion in Bavaria. 
Honest, I'd rather swim in a sewer than take a sip of that disgusting brew.
@Discofan: I share your catholic parent prob. My sis and I are both atheists, I openly, she secretly as she fears my parents would freak out if they knew.
Coincidentially, one of my best friends is a catholic priest but he accepts my opinion (and I his). I wish my parents would be just half as tolerant as he is!
Honest, I'd rather swim in a sewer than take a sip of that disgusting brew.
@Discofan: I share your catholic parent prob. My sis and I are both atheists, I openly, she secretly as she fears my parents would freak out if they knew.
Coincidentially, one of my best friends is a catholic priest but he accepts my opinion (and I his). I wish my parents would be just half as tolerant as he is!
twin soul here, auntie. Only difference is that I loathe beer which is considered the paramount of perversion in Bavaria.
Honest, I'd rather swim in a sewer than take a sip of that disgusting brew.
@Discofan: I share your catholic parent prob. My sis and I are both atheists, I openly, she secretly as she fears my parents would freak out if they knew.
Coincidentially, one of my best friends is a catholic priest but he accepts my opinion (and I his). I wish my parents would be just half as tolerant as he is!
Well, my dad died long ago and my mom is kindness incarnate so even if she disapproves of my lack of faith she never told me. My dad, on the other hand, would have voiced his disapproval once in while, while still letting me do what I want in that area. He passed away when I was one week from being fifteen, IOW a very long time ago. However, I received a full education, even though I was already an atheist back then. Well, if anything, it gives me arguments against people who would say that I don't know what I am talking about, other than that, it was a giant waste of my time!!!
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