I feel very sorry for this poor blighter, but it's really really hard not to laugh.
Is that bad?
L
Is that bad?
Frankly, yeah, it is.
"There but for the grace of God go you or I."
Thankfully, by an accident of birth, we were born in a free country. Those who suffer in unthinkable bondage merit our sympathy, not our mirth.
The other day, that smarmy lawyer dude on Fox -- "Greg" something, the one with the slick hair (every hair always in place) and the always-pastel necktie -- was laughing at a video of a bear cub in some FSU country who had his head stuck in a plastic container -- for several days. The poor thing was stumbling around in abject terror -- starving and dehydrating, as well as slowly suffocating, blindly flailing about as it vainly tried to free itself.
That fool was literally laughing out loud, peppering his laughter with statements about how he just had to laugh, because it was so funny. What a mean, base, vile little prick he was.
The other "on-air personalities" could not believe what they were hearing, and tried to reason with him. This was clearly NOT a "scripted moment."
In the end, a courageous guy, a stocky fellow who looked to be in his fifties, managed to duck the claws long enough to free the bear, who made a bee-line for the water, to slake its thirst. The bastard broke out in more laughter at the sight.
I'm sure I personalized this somewhat. I recently lost a pet who was very special to me. She was not only a very good friend, extremely loyal and affectionate, but, she was young, only a few years old, and her death was totally unexpected.
When we rescued her, she had the jagged broken glass mouth of a Mason jar snugged around her throat like a tight necklace. She had somehow gotten her head into a jar, and then managed to break it off -- without cutting her throat or slashing her eyes -- before she suffocated or dehydrated to death. How many days she stumbled around in that state of torture, unable to eat or drink, breathing stale air, her cries of terror echoing in her ears, I will never know, until we are united in Heaven. (Yes, like C.S. Lewis, I believe that God cares for our pets in Heaven.)
Afterward, her head and neck grew to the point that the glass ring could not be removed. She was still a kitten. It wouldn't have been long before she'd have grown large enough for it to strangle her, or, slash her jugular veins. After we managed to trap her, the vet had to anesthetize her and chip it off piece by piece.
I cannot imagine the horror my little friend endured, alone, in the months before she staggered up to our doorstep.
Cruelty to animals just plain sucks, and cruelty to people is to put it mildly, no better.
I am not an "animal-rights" loon. Today, while planting my onion seedlings in my garden, I saw the biggest, fattest cottontail rabbit I've ever seen in my life. Literally. I had an instant vision of him getting fatter yet on my onions -- and garlic, and peas, and melons, and okra, and...
And, I drew my .45 and fired off seven rounds. Unfortunately, at ~30 yards, I did not hit the bastard. (If he was human-sized he'd be in rabbit heaven -- it is very irritating to watch a puff of dirt waft up about five inches from the bunny!)
Tomorrow, I set out the trap -- the same trap I used to catch my little friend who left this world a few short weeks ago. I'm making progress. I only get a lump in my throat when I tell about her, instead of having tears run down my ugly mug.
I distinguish between livestock, game, varmints, and domestic pets -- and, people.
It has been my observation that people who are cruel to animals are inevitably cruel to people too, although it may take a few years for it to manifest. In the case of the lawyer-cum-"on-air personality" who got his day's entertainment laughing at the suffering and terror of young bear, I suspect he's had his moments "in private practice" prior to his engagement at Fox. Pure speculation, of course -- but cruelty tends to run deep in the soul.