Examples: the fact that ‘the dog died!’ in a book or movie is somehow an arbiter of sadness, and makes people cry who wouldn’t cry otherwise.
Lots of people say ‘I like dogs more than people’, like they’re proud of it.
It’s such a projection of innocence onto animals and a projection of calculated malice onto humans.
It’s a similar thing with kids. Why is it more evil to hurt a kid than any other adult? If one had the capacity to hurt the person, that means they weren’t as capable of protecting themself, so the ‘defenseless’ defense doesn’t hold up.
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if you are at least a little bit self aware of the human species you must know how much suffering and destruction we cause to animals, eachother and the earth. And mostly for power, sex and luxery. Of course people have more empathy for animals and children.
So this is interesting. It has to do with the fact that an animal, and most children love you unconditionally and absolutely. As we get older, we become jaded and have conditions that we put up to protect ourselves. Also, people are capable of cruel monstrosities that most animals and most children wouldn’t even think of. Mark Twain has a quote “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” It’s one of my favorite quotes ever.
I don’t go out of my way to hurt or even just be rude to other people, but i have no qualms in saying that if it came down to my dog or a random stranger my dog is going to win every time. We all protect the things we love that are close to us more than other things. There isn’t anything wrong with that. The reason I prefer the company of animals to that of humans is mostly because humans talk too damn much and think everyone cares about their endless opinions lol.
I’m going to swim against the tide and agree, though for different reasons than you give. You can control a dog, and it will never argue back except for barks and growls. People are dreadfully inconvenient—but you shouldn’t give up on things because they’re inconvenient.
Children, though? Everybody should care about children, no matter how noisy, whiny, or uncooperative they get. You were in that position of powerlessness once. Don’t exploit or minimize the powerlessness of others.
It’s the innocence factor animals and kids can’t speak for themselves or I should say consent to things. Kids for the most part don’t know better. Adults often times one has to ask what did they do to be in the situation which is sad but it’s human mentality. A lot of times adults will bring it by their own stupidity. We stop pitying youth at 16-18 and besides the pg-13 catagory it’s often why they are the main demographic in horror movies to get killed. Most don’t bat an eye if it’s that age group because we think stupid teens but you notice with horror most don’t have the balls to kill off 0-15 very often. I agree but the problem is most of the time adults have it coming they can consent to things, do things and often put the innocent ones in dangerous situations. Please I recommend watching sinister to see it in full action
I’m going with the other comment. If it’s save a random baby/teen/adult or save my pet, I’m choosing my pet 100% of the time.
It’s more evil to hurt a kid than another adult because they are smaller, weaker, and more susceptible to emotional trauma that can have long term effects on their mental health leading to psychological and behavioral issues. Common sense.
I love animals. They’re my life and my passion. I’d do anything to work with them and I’ve always had pets, but I’m not silly enough to say I like them more than humans lol I am a human. But animal deaths do make me more sad than any human deaths bc animals are so innocent and cute
I get where you’re coming from on the “I like dogs more than people” sentiment, but not on the others.
The reason people get more sad at animal and child deaths is because compared to adult humans, those beings are far more innocent and defensless, and thus their deaths feel less fair.
I would say it’s worse to hurt a kid than another adult because most kids cannot meaningfully defend themselves from most adults, and kids often have a deep trust in the adults in their lives that I think is pretty monstrous to take advantage of. So you’re combining the shittiness of hurting another person with the cowardly sliminess of knowingly and intentionally hurting someone who can’t hurt you.
It is absolutely possible to hurt someone who has the ability to defend themselves, what are you on about
I… I cannot disagree with everything, because there is one specific point I also believe: when one says “I’d save a cat/dog from a burning building faster than a child”. Are you mentally impaired? How could you ever say or do that? It is obnoxious.
Otherwise, having a strong bond with animals and valuing them is not wrong nor outrageous.
My dad once mentioned that he was being driven home in a shuttle service well his car was being serviced, and he told me that the guy driving him cried more about his dog dying than his actual wife dying. On one hand to each their own, but it sounds pretty bizarre to me.
I probably biased because I’ve never had a pet to mourn but…
It’s an admission of self hatred which is common among us 🙁
Animals are innocent. Always.
Humans often aren’t.
Eh. I agree with your title but not your post.
There’s a certain level of sardonic humor where “I like dogs more than people”is fine honestly. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but fine. There are people that then take that way too far and genuinely start to argue or believe they care more about animals than people. That is 100% immature edgelord shit. It’s usually not true even if they believe it is, and when backs are against the wall you’d be hard pressed to find a person who would actually sacrifice a human for a dog.
The book and movie example is (sorry) stupid though. People feel more sorrow when animals are hurt or die in media because it removes a layer of protection between the audience and the media. A general “rule” is that when bad things happen, the characters “deserve it” (even when they obviously don’t literally.) since animals can’t make the choices we expect from human characters to “earn” death/harm, people naturally then feel an extra level of emotional vulnerability when harm happens to them. It’s an indication the safety rails are off.
Also, more people have had to deal with actually having a pet die and seeing it. Compared to say: seeing someone shot. A degree of separation is removed.
You can see the same thing happen with why parents tend to struggle more with violence against children in media. It’s a real life fear/experience, so it hits harder.
For me I just don’t trust people, humans scare the shit out of me. I’ve seen how many drop the “civilized” act once they encounter a vulnerable person who society doesn’t GAF about and/or won’t be believed. I still see their value though, especially children though I’m really awkward with kids lol. I have a handful of loved ones and I have no desire to increase that number any further. When it comes to everyone outside of that group? Yeah I 100% would rather chill with my cat.
Adding: If my cat was trapped in a burning house with a random baby, yeah I’d get the baby out first. I’d definitely take the risk of going back in for my cat though.
To be fair I wish everyone cared about a lot of things a lot less.
A projection of innocence? Are you under the impression that dogs can be malevolent?
I like animals more than people, lol. Personal pets will never betray you. I’m not going to jump in and save a random human over my own pet. However, I do feel for humans who are still going through wars and unnecessary genocide.
People help/save kids because they are more innocent, weaker and the trauma can impact them….more than an adult. Adults should be able to handle their emotions better, but that’s not the case since a majority of us are all
traumatizedbecause our parents shouldn’t have been parents. That’s a story for another day thoughAdult humans are the ones ruining the planet/everything so yea I really don’t give much of a shit about most of them. They’ve had their whole lives to learn and grow and become good, caring people and millions of them said “nah fuck everyone else, I care about myself and nobody else”. Fuck em
its literally just bcz little kids and dogs can mostly never be evil. its never their fault if something bad happens to them
It’s because human behaviour is messed up.
I agree to some degree. I love my cat and I’ll give my life to her, but if someone puts a gun to my head and asks me to choose between my fiance and my cat, I’ll definitely choose my fiance. It’s definitely to do with the innocence of children and pets. Adults are capable of doing evil things, children and pets are unlikely.
But, those earthquake videos about those moms choosing to save their literal human babies rather than their dogs and cats are being dragged down in the comments stating that they should’ve saved the pets rather than their literal human children are just beyond cruel and twisted.
I agree – they must have something that prevents them from bonding with humans. It isn’t a normal reaction
Dogs are loyal to people, but people aren’t loyal to people. Dogs have a smaller brain than people, so they will stick with whoever chooses them first. People, on the other hand, fear of being called a lapdog whenever they’re loyal to someone, hence why they possess a higher chance of betraying/hating the person they’re loyal to.
Pet culture needs to die. Most of these people aren’t even taking care of the pets the way they deserve.
Animals and children are both helpless beings that manage to have unconditional love and trust out of the purity of their innocent hearts. They see only good in us even when we are deeply flawed, and exist without knowing what hate is. Their lives absolutely do deserve to be cherished in a special light.
Other animals are not as calculatingly awful as (far too many) adult hominids are, yeah that’s about it
Is that messed up, probably, but that’s just too bad (see hominids are awful)
I’m with you on the animal thing but you lost me with the kid thing.
Society has a special obligation to protect children that are unable to protect or care for themselves. So when something horrific happens to a child it’s an additional societal failure in a way that isn’t equivalent to the same thing happening to an adult.
I agree that the “fur baby” thing has gotten out of control though. This is primarily an ego-driven phenomenon — people “love” their pets more than random humans because their pets are dependent on them for survival and thus unconditionally devoted in a way that a random human stranger isn’t.
So to an extent it makes sense to have a stronger sense of attachment to your own pet, since they have an attachment to you.
That said, if I’m in a burning building and only have time to save either my pet or someone else’s child, I’m saving the child every time because I’m not a selfish sociopath who only values the lives of other beings based on how much they personally like me.
Child<Adult<Dog
I also like dogs more than people. Or cats. You see, these animals were always nice to me. You do that have to deal with the cat the same way you have to deal with people.
In books and tv it doesn’t matter because it’s all fictional anyway.
In real life a dog doesn’t talk back and a good one won’t argue. It doesn’t take social skills to talk to a dog.
A child can’t defend themselves like an adult can most of the time. Adults are supposed to protect and help children, so when an adult hurts a child it’s considered extremely horrible. This doesn’t mean it’s alright to hurt an adult, but punching a 4 year old kid is very different from punching a 25 year old adult, the kid is most likely more at risk for injuries and potential long term fear and trauma.
With how easy it is for a person to end up with the majority of their social interaction taking place at work, particularly if it’s dealing with customers, I completely get this sentiment. Like when you spend eight or more hours a day having forced social interactions with people who just want things from you and fast, it’s pretty hard to not get jaded af. It can also be really hard to foster positive and fulfilling social relationships outside of work when you’re basically always socially exhausted from dealing with customers all day five or more days a week. I think it’s something people need to talk about more. I didnt realize how easy it is to like other people until I stopped working in retail. I’ve also seen friendly and outgoing people become jaded and bitter quite quickly after starting a retail job, it’s really terrible for a lot of people’s mental health.
Your logic doesn’t track. How is a child or animal not defenceless against an adult human?
Humans have killed millions in genocide, created bombs that instantly killed tens of thousands. We are currently in a mass extinction event, perpetuated by humans. All knowingly and intentional.
Give me examples of non-human animals doing similar things and then we’ll talk.
It’s not a projection of malice on humans. It’s acknowledgment of bullying. Adults with full agency aren’t dependent the way children and pets are. They’ve got a fighting chance. If you strike another adult, there’s a chance they can hit you back. You’re taking more of a risk. Hitting a child? Not so much. So it’s cruel, but there’s an added layer of shittiness on top of it. Consider that it’s against the law to physically injure another capable adult, but we have departments that focus on abuse of vulnerable adults/seniors, children, and animals. That’s why. Even verbally, if someone had a bad day and picked a fight with a friend, that’s a dick move, but it’s not nearly as bad as yelling at their child or scaring their dog. It’s just not. They don’t have the same capacity to understand what is happening or distance themselves from it.
I am in med school cuz i give less of a fuck if someone dies than when an animal dies lol. people dying is just life, you can say your wishes and express what’s bothering you. an animal in pain can’t tell you what’s up, so yea. also i love animals so much i just feel bad. when people die, well it’s what we do..
I am one of those people that gets sadder at a dog or child death than an adult human. I don’t mean to be this way it’s just my subconscious emotional reaction.
I don’t disagree with your innocent and defenseless arguments. To me its more like a loss of what that person/animal is experiencing. Adulthood is hard and tiresome. Childhood and being a dog seems fun and joyful. Taking someone out of that fun and joyful place seems so much more cruel than letting someone finally rest and be at peace. This isn’t to be a pessimist and say being an adult is all hardship but generally speaking it is so very exhausting.
Animals are more reliable than people and don’t subjugate others based upon shitty opinions and lack of evidence.
Animals don’t practice sophistry.
Therefore are better beings than humans and deserve more respect.
Fact.
It’s because so many people are mean, cruel, or ignorant. Animals are easier to like. Humans don’t get along very well with each other, as you can tell by the state of the world.
When you realize that half of Reddit is under the age of 29, the ridiculous takes you see here make more sense. When you factor in the number of 14 year olds lying about being older, it makes even more sense.
Case in point – yesterday, I left a comment on a thread about people without kids not understand people with newborns. I said parents of newborns talk about the experience because, to them, it is one of the most interesting things that has happened to them.
One person responded saying that this was “majorly fucked up”. To want to talk about your newborn child.
People without life experience will have red hot takes about becoming a parent….because they are probably 14. Actually or emotionally.
“Projection of innocence onto animals”
Can you tell us what animal you are mad at and why ?
Aminals are furry and cute. Humans fat and ugly.
You’re telling on yourself if you see children the same as adults.