HUGE DU PEEVE

[Bertha Venation]

WHY do DUers have to post about animals killed by fireworks or neighbors or other abject cruelty?!

STOP IT! PLEASE!

We sensitive types can hit the ignore X but -- duh -- we have to see the title of the post in the first place, and just that is enough.

Please!

/rant

[theivoryqueen]

1. yikes - never saw one of those threads and am very glad

I am extremely sensitive to animal suffering and it kills me to learn of new and awful instances of abuse. People are bad.

[matcom]

2. well, since this is obviously directed at me......

sorry i guess

[Bertha Venation]

3. not directed at any one person, matcom

You aren't the only one. I honestly mean to single out no one.

Just. Please. Stop. It.

This ultrasensitivity is impossible to explain and probably impossible to understand. Perhaps those who don't understand it can make concessions as an act of humanity. :shrug:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. I don't have it but I can understand it

It's the absolute innocence and helplessness of the victims that get to you. I'll bet cruelty towards small children gets to you in a very similar way.

[Bertha Venation]

40. Yep, towards children - absolutely.

Adults can understand what's happening to them. Children and animals -- all they know is terror.

[Tempest]

5. You have nothing to apologize for

It's news, and this site is for passing news stories along.

Sensitivities aside, it's important ALL stories related to politics are aired.

How is the puppy story related to politics?

It occurred in Oklahoma, where the state Senator voiced approval of the torture of Iraqi prisoners. Now his state is reaping the whirlwind of his approval by being singled out by this horrendous act.

And it's up to us to point it out to everyone.

[Bertha Venation]

8. that's a stretch

Puppy killing in OK related to an OK senator's approval of torture? So "his state is reaping the whirlwind of his approval by being singled out by this horrendous act." ?

You're kidding, right?

And I agree. Matcom & others have nothing to apologize for.

[Tempest]

Not a stretch at all

The actions at Abu Ghraib is a perfect example.

The government approved the use of torture in interrogations, and it manifested itself into the pictures and abuses outside of the scope of the interrogations by the soldiers.

When you look at the big picture, it's easy to see how it is all interrelated.

Violence begets violence.

[Commendatori]

4. No offense, but

if we went by pet peeves and honored every request, what would we have left?

Just from my peeves alone, you'd lose:

* all shadow threads, mirror threads or whatever they're called

* any of those "Robb is a dingbat" poll threads (this has been overplayed as badly as MasterCard's "priceless" ads)

* any of those "ask me anything" (in other words, "build my post count") threads

There's stuff that bothers all of us, but that stuff is important to others here. Just as I don't watch reality shows, if the market is there they should be as well.

[Bertha Venation]

7. Your point is taken. Please take mine:

As I told matcom, this ultrasensitivity to the suffering of animals is impossible to explain and probably impossible to understand. In this one instance, where harm is done -- yes, folks like me are hurt by hearing about animal suffering -- perhaps a concession can be made.

But if not, so what? I'll deal with it. I have for forty years.

[Commendatori]

23. I'm ex-military. If that Marine is executed, can I expect no posts?

That would hurt me quite a bit, possibly as much as the animal thing hurts you.

I understand what you mean, but asking 50,000 people to lay off a subject for your convenience simply isn't a reasonable request. And for the record, I have never have put up one of those posts and wouldn't bother - but some people want to outrage others to gain support for their cause, which I'm sure you support.

[Bertha Venation]

36. Sigh.

I don't know how to answer this.

Everyone will be hurt if, god forbid, he is executed, and rightfully so. We have all been ripped to shreds by the Bush administration, but no one as much as the ones who've lost their lives because George W. Bush is president.

The only other thing I can say is that my extreme reaction to animal suffering is utterly irrational. I am fully aware of it and I can't control it.

:shrug:

[Unperson 309]

47. I Don't Blame You!

As I offered in my earlier post, people could put warnings in their headers.

Cruelty breaks my heart and the Missus' also. WE contribute to animal charities and we have done feral cat feeding, rescue work with cats and rehabilitation with dogs.

Animals are very vulnerable to human cruelty. When I read about the kitten, all I could do was hold our own fuzzy baby and promise her that we would never allow her to come to harm!

She's sitting ont he computer desk, purring at me as I write this. When we get a playmate for her 9which we hope to do in a couple of weeks) we will be adopting from a rescue group!

Keep reminding yourself that for every cruel heartless mothercheneyer out there who abuses animals, there are a hundred kind people who love them and take good care of their companion animals.

We watch Animal Cops (insert city) on Animal Planet. All the shows. It's hard to see the starving dogs and abused pets, but what a wonderful feeling it is to see people fined, jailed, their animals adopted to better himes... it's a relief and an encouragement.

Hang in there! There are many caring people out here!

309

[Bertha Venation]

49. LOL "mothercheneyer"

What's your little furball's name? Can you post a photo?

[Unperson 309]

50. She's 8 weeks old and her name is Chamisa

Pronounced "Sha-MEE-sa" after the sage bush she was hiding under!

I have several snaps of her, and will post newer ones when I get them online.

309

[Bertha Venation]

53. Thanks so much! Can't wait!

:bounce:

[DS1]

9. You and I have a common vision for the future of DU

:toast:

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. I second that, except for one thing: MORE DS1 APPRECIATION THREADS!

Woo hoo!!

:party:

[DS1]

I agree wholeheartedly

In fact, I say we promote those to DS1 Groveling Threads, or simply DTGs

[matcom]

12. OH NO YOU DON'T DS1 !!

i won't stand by and let you impose your fascists ways on MY DU! no sir!

you are trying to cripple the entire Internet by doing away with the DU FAIRNESS DOCTRINE AREN'T YOU??

AREN'T YOU!!! x(

[DS1]

29. It's not your DU man, and the Internet is free, man

[matcom]

30. sure, until you TAKE IT ALL OVER!

THEN what?

[DS1]

34. Sex threads, blatant and pornographic flirting, open season on Freepers

actual ~or~ suspected, mandatory weekly DU gatherings, one user account nuke a month bonus for posters with over 17,000 posts - no questions asked, DU sponsored acre of weed in B.C.

Any questions?

[matcom]

35. so, how soon can we crown you king?

:bounce:

[Commendatori]

25. I'm glad I'm not alone.

Thanks for letting me know there's another one out there :)

[Loonman]

6. So long as the cat threads stop

:evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. There are a great many things that bother many of us

And we can't go through life expecting others to edit out for us what we might find objectionable. I affirm your sensitivity to animal cruelty - bothers me, too, especially the one - well, I won't say it - but there was one today that really bothered me and made me want to take a tire iron to the perps. But I've learned, as I've grown up, that I will be forever barraged with things I don't like, and that I have a choice: I can either go through life suffering from it, trying to change everyone else, or I can learn to ignore it and let everyone live in freedom and peace. I chose the latter.

This is a public forum for discussion of politics, news, people's suppers, run ins with neighbors and familiaes, and who's drunk, just to name a few. :-) I can see banning the sex threads because they tend to multiply exponentially and take over the forum. But everything else - it's real, it's in the news, it is what it is, and I, for one, would rather not have the censorship, and wuold rather not have to worry every time I posted something whether it was going to bothersome to one or two people; otherwise, we'd end up with a pretty thin choice of thread topics.

But I empathize with you about the animal cruelty stuff. In terms of things that bother me and piss me off and cause suffering, that is at the top, along with people beating up/killing gay people and beating up/killing people of different colors. There's no reason for any of it.

[Bertha Venation]

15. I agree with you on just about everything.

One thing: it is a public forum, thank DU and the founding fathers. I can ask people to be sensitive on this issue. They can reject my request. I can understand the rejection and only hope others, like you, will respect my reasons for asking.

Hopefully, too, I won't be branded a censorship advocate. :eyes:

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. And that's the beauty of it!

We're free to ask each other, and free to reject those requests.

Hopefully always done with compassion on both sides, as you did in your initial request.

Republicans (and sadly, a fair number of liberals) could stand to learn that lesson.

[MissMillie]

38. Well put

I wonder maybe those that want to share news about animal cruelty (or even human-on-human violence) might voluntarily label their posts with a warning.... Like "News Item (ANIMAL CRUELTY WARNING)" or "News Item (VIOLENCE WARNING)".

Mind you, I don't think such a labelling system should be manditory. I just think if someone wanted to be sensitive towards those who find this stuff truly disturbing, there is a way to do it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. That would be a much more sensitive way to do it

And I would agree with that plan. While I don't think we should censor ourselves, there are good ways and bad ways to bring forth to offer information. Warnings are always helpful, just like we do sometimes "Warning for dial-ups: picture heavy thread" etc.

On the other hand, sometimes the event is so out of control, that it's good to put it right in the subject line so that at least evertyone will see it and know what happened, even if they don't read the thread. But when it comes to animal cruelty, I can't see any even that would be so earth-shattering important that it needs to be announced in such a way that everyone hears it. Unless it was a leading politician doing something cruel, or news of finding out that Cheney has a bunch of mice surgically implantd into cats in order to get a specific checmical in the cat's milk that he has to drink every day to stay alive, or something.

[Misunderestimator]

13. You know.... I have to admit that my reaction to the thread title...

was a bit put off too... and I didn't read it because of the title... so to be devil's advocate for a sec... if it had a title that didn't tell me that it was something I didn't care to read right now, I might have opened it up to find worse.

So, I totally get your point, and felt the same way, but I think I'd rather know what might be inside before opening a thread.

[sus]

14. maybe a warning in the title or a rating. NC41 or something.

seriously, a "warning: disturbing news story involving animals" or something.

[matcom]

16. don't know how much more of a warning people needed

"Teenagers Kill Puppies By Putting Fireworks In Their Mouths" isn't enough of a warning???

:shrug:

[sus]

18. doh! you said it again! stop it! haven't you hurt me enough??

"matcom scarred me emotionally and all i got was this lousy doctor's bill."

i demand reimbursement.

[matcom]

19. yeah, but can i start using the term....

'Bitch' again? :D

[sus]

22. only if the words "I'm Richard James the IV!" precedes it.

now go forth and wreak censored havoc.

[Unperson 309]

48. One Reinbursement, Coming Right UP!

A dozen roses:

------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@
------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@
------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@
------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@ ------<----<----<@

and a :hug:

and for the cruel people of the world: FISHBONES! >+++{>

309

[Bertha Venation]

20. I have to tell you that I am steeling myself to get through this post.

"Teenagers Kill Puppies" -- what I am telling you is that reading that is all it takes. I am instantly hurt. I can't explain it and I can't stop it.

How can I NOT read those words? I can't avoid seeing them if I'm browsing them. Yeah, I can and did hit the X instantly but fat lot of good it did me. Because of my neurosis I am now plagued by it.

I know it's irrational, but god dammit, I can't help it.

[matcom]

24. you SHOULD be hurt by it

but not knowing about stuff doesn't make that stuff go away either. maybe this happens in YOUR town and in the story they say that 2 puppies survived and need new homes or something. then YOU go down and adopt them

you never know

[sniffa]

21. maybe if

animaL crueLty stories aren't posted on DU, animaL crueLty wiLL stop.

[Rabrrrrrr]

42. Yep. Just like guns.

:evilgrin:

[Bertha Venation]

17. I've seen a lot of people do that, and I've done it, too.

I think it's a good idea.

[Commendatori]

28. Bertha, avoid General Discussion today.

The rest of you who want to know what I'm referring to can look at this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1882431&mesg_id=1882431

[Bertha Venation]

37. Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.

:hi:

[Commendatori]

43. You're very welcome.

I wasn't trying to hassle you, honestly, I was just making a point. :)

[Bertha Venation]

44. I know.

No worries.

[SoCalDem]

31. A M E N ... I automatically "ignore" but it's still a downer to SEE them

posted..:(

[Donkeyboy75]

32. Although it's possible that one of those threads could spur a DUer

to volunteer at a local animal shelter, or something similar. I love animals to pieces, but these things DO happen.

I do, however, respect your right to make the request...even if I don't agree with it. :hi:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

33. I understand the pain of seeing it but it should be posted

Unless people MAKE an issue of this behavior no matter how hard it is to confront, it won't be taken seriously as a social ill with dangerous future consequences.

So, while I can appreciate and respect your sensitivity, sometimes the gruesome truth and the hopes that someone will act to change the future trumps the concerns of a single individual or even a group.

[Lisa0825]

39. I'm with ya on this:-( I think it's reasonable to ask for a less detailed

topic title. "Terrible animal cruelty by teens" says enough, without forcing me to have a visual I can't get rid of:-(

[Unperson 309]

45. A Compromise?

I understand your pain. I feel it also. Still, news is news. So her eis a possible compromise that would work: Place in the header, the word CRUELTY, then the header, such as:

CRUELTY: Incident in Oklahoma

keeping the *details* in the body of the message instead of in the header where a person could read them before mentally 'bracing' for it. I've seen this done on Usenet with excellent results. Such words as ADULT for X rated threads, SPOILER for threads giving details to films or books, CRUELTY for threads on harm to children or animals and PETS for those who are sick of reading yet *another* post on what Widdle Fluffums did today!

It could work very well, allowing people to filter what they read more effectively.

309

[SiouxJ]

46. I agree with this approach

I too had my morning ruined by seeing the thread title, right before I was taking my two pups out for a walk.

I understand the need to discuss these atrocities so I don't think people should not post them, but I can't get the vision out of my head now and I would have liked the choice over whether to put it there first thing in the morning. :-) I know some people aren't bothered by it and I'm glad for them but others really are affected by it. Hell, sometimes I'll hear something like that right before going to bed and it keeps me up all night. I hate that I'm such a wimp but I can't help it when it comes to animals :shrug: . Honestly, I would give anything to not be affected by such things but I am.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

51. Are there keyword filters that one could use for subject thread titles?

If so, then I'd be happy to just put any and all animal cruelty potential keywords in a filter... I'd never see the threads, and other people would be able to post away as they see fit. I understand why people may want to discuss animal cruelty, and that some individuals may be stirred to action by seeing yet another example of just how prevelant this epidemic really is... I just really don't want to see it. Not now. Probably not ever.... But if I did, I could just take the keywords out of the magical filter file, and poof- the thread would be there.

Just my $.02

[SW FL Dem]

52. Bertha I agree, I just don't click on those threads because I know they

will upset me.