I concur about the issue being a pet at large.
It’s just the irrational, visceral hatred evident in so many replies that causes me dismay.
Odd thing, though: I remember there being “neighbourhood dogs” that were everywhere when I was a wee lad. There were dogs loose in every area of town. This was a city of 500k.
What changed, that suddenly folks are getting bit? Perhaps not knowing how to act around a dog is a factor in this?
“It’s just the irrational, visceral hatred evident in so many replies that causes me dismay.”
I have Dobermanns, a Harley and snakes.
I’m used to knee-jerk, categorical vitriol.
:)
“Perhaps not knowing how to act around a dog is a factor in this?”
That’s my theory, too...and the MSM’s fear mongering.
I grew up with dogs running around everywhere, too.
From porch dogs to packs of hunting hounds to junkyard dogs, they were just a part of normal life if you wanted to visit somebody.
From a very young age, I was taught how to act around strange dogs and if something bad had happened, I know I would have been held responsible, not the dog.
[or any other kind of animal]
I’ve never known anyone who was bitten by a dog.
It’s not even something that happens locally, despite every ‘yute and his brother leading a Pit wherever they go.
The aggression evident in many replies results from the same factor that causes such behavior in dogs...fear.
Such behavior is more easily dealt with in dogs than people,
for as you say there is an irrational element to their behavior that is absent in canines.
It a psychotic reaction out of all proportion to reality.
They could know better but their emotions overwhelm their critical faculties.
You can see it manifested in their fixation on violent dog porn that elicits in them
a twisted sort of glee blended with delusions of moral superiority.
It is core to liberal reactions to many problems.
They are pathetic and deserving of both pity and scorn,
but like any fanatic, dangerous to a free society.
They are domesticated great white sharks that sometimes degenerate to a feral state.
If you think this is no a dangerous matter, consider letting your children swim among them.