Chapter Two wrote:If the holocaust had never happened, but the jews had all been sterilised, would the nazis have been better in your eyes?

Destroying an entire species of animal for the sake of making human life safer is, to my mind, really fucked up. This goes for mosquitos, so it sure as hell goes for dogs too.

If there were ever a thread that I would not expect to see Hitlered on the first page, this was it. Okay:

One: Dogs are not humans. The comparison of sterilization of dogs to sterilization of Jews is, at best, specious, and at worst, well, much worse. Your question is awful and adds nothing to the discussion and I'm not going to answer it.

Two: Pit bulls are not a species.

Three: Dogs are sterilized every day, without their consent. This is done not to make human life safer, but to make it more convenient. If you have a problem with the sterilization of dogs, that's fine and we can discuss that. But if you're okay with a human taking a dog and not allowing it to breed for that human's convenience, I don't understand how you're not okay with a group of humans taking a group of dogs and not allowing them to breed for those humans' safety.

tom wrote:Sure, but there have been plenty of instances where something has had a better use than what it was intended for.

I guess, but I don't find that convincing.

tom wrote:In addition, if someone knows you have a pit bull in your yard, that in itself is a deterrent, possible more so than a german shepherd or another guarding dog.

FYP. That's true, and somewhat convincing.

I don't have the time or inclination to do the research right now, but I'd be willing to bet that no nation's military or police force uses pit bulls as guard dogs. I think that's worth something.

Actually, I do have a problem with domestic animal sterilization. I have a problem with big daddy human. Sorry if my question was awful Linus, but you are talking about wiping an entire breed (ok, not species!) off the planet because it doesn't behave like a good doggy should. It's not a million miles away from ethnic cleansing. At all.

Chapter Two wrote:It's not a million miles away from ethnic cleansing. At all.

Yes it is.

There is an analogy here. That's all.
Pit Bull is not an ethnicity.
If a mad scientist created a shark\dog mutant and unleashed it on the world and the shog started attacting everyone, it would have to be stopped. It's not that we hate the shog, it's because they are hunting us down.

Dogs are not people.
Dogs are not people.
Dogs are not people.


Was Ripley immoral for blowing up the Alien planet in aliens?

Chapter Two wrote:Actually, I do have a problem with domestic animal sterilization. I have a problem with big daddy human. Sorry if my question was awful Linus, but you are talking about wiping an entire breed (ok, not species!) off the planet because it doesn't behave like a good doggy should. It's not a million miles away from ethnic cleansing. At all.

I guess we're at an impasse. I'll point out just two things: if you have a problem with "big daddy human", then you have a problem with the very existence of pit bulls. This does not necessarily make your position hypocritical or inconsistent, but it bears pointing out. Also, to clarify, I'm not talking about wiping an entire breed off the planet because it doesn't behave as it should. I'm talking about wiping an entire breed off the planet because it behaves exactly as it should.

Other than that, our disagreement is rooted in core beliefs, and I don't see that much progress can be made.

ETA:

Tom wrote:Dogs are not people.
Dogs are not people.
Dogs are not people.

If this works, I'll be impressed.

Linus Van Pelt wrote:I don't have the time or inclination to do the research right now, but I'd be willing to bet that no nation's military or police force uses pit bulls as guard dogs. I think that's worth something.

Maybe, though I think the application of a military guard dog and a personal guard dog is different enough that it would be good for a person, but not a military base.
ie.
If I live by myself on with a fenced in yard that I don't want people getting in, A pit bull would be just fine.
If I'm in charge of a military base with soldiers walking around, having a pitbull in there with them isn't so good.

People are animals.

Chapter Two wrote:People are animals.

...er...no.

Well, as has been said, it comes down to how you see things in the first place. I'm a talking, thinking animal. What are you?

Chapter Two wrote:People are animals.

So? Just because "people" is a member of a larger class doesn't mean that we have to treat every member of that class the same way we treat humans.

Or, what do you eat? Remember, people are organisms.

Chapter Two wrote:People are animals.

No arguments here.