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There seems to be this deep seated, ingrained assumption that all other humans are evil and cruel. I've mentioned how this bothers me before, but the last couple days have been several shining examples of this problem again.
Woman today with a little dog that she got from a breeder (puppy mill, she says, and she may be right--I dunno where the dog came from, but it's not like we have no irresponsible breeders around here). She's had it a year, and it was chunky to start with, now it's just down right fat. She points to a divot above the dog's tail and is telling me that she knows the breeder who had the dog abused her, because look! that HAS to be a spot where she was kicked with a sharp-toed boot. Wha? No, ma'am, that's the space between fat rolls. That divot is there because your dog is obese. Woman proceeds to tell me about a bunch of dogs she's had in the past, and claims that every single dog she's ever had was "slapped around" or kicked or abused in some manner before she got it. Now, I suppose it's possible, but I've worked in rescue for a long time, and have to date had exactly one dog that I honestly think was beaten. Neglected and ignored, brought to rescue because of stupidity, sure. But outright maliciously beaten? Not so much.
Talked to a woman Monday and yesterday about a couple colicky horses; woman was dead certain someone nefarious had sneaked into her place and poisoned the horses. Had to have been poison, could not even entertain the possibility of anything else. Then she finds out that the friend who'd been watching her place over the weekend had accidentally fed them pig chow instead of sweet feed. They had upset stomachs because of the sudden diet change and grain overload. Why is the first assumption (and one she'd argue HAD TO BE until absolutely proven wrong) some random person's malice?
Do we really hate and fear each other so much that the automatic conclusion to anything going poorly is that someone else hates us back enough to sabotage our life? How do people even live with the constant paranoia that has to engender? No wonder there are so many failures of society.
Woman today with a little dog that she got from a breeder (puppy mill, she says, and she may be right--I dunno where the dog came from, but it's not like we have no irresponsible breeders around here). She's had it a year, and it was chunky to start with, now it's just down right fat. She points to a divot above the dog's tail and is telling me that she knows the breeder who had the dog abused her, because look! that HAS to be a spot where she was kicked with a sharp-toed boot. Wha? No, ma'am, that's the space between fat rolls. That divot is there because your dog is obese. Woman proceeds to tell me about a bunch of dogs she's had in the past, and claims that every single dog she's ever had was "slapped around" or kicked or abused in some manner before she got it. Now, I suppose it's possible, but I've worked in rescue for a long time, and have to date had exactly one dog that I honestly think was beaten. Neglected and ignored, brought to rescue because of stupidity, sure. But outright maliciously beaten? Not so much.
Talked to a woman Monday and yesterday about a couple colicky horses; woman was dead certain someone nefarious had sneaked into her place and poisoned the horses. Had to have been poison, could not even entertain the possibility of anything else. Then she finds out that the friend who'd been watching her place over the weekend had accidentally fed them pig chow instead of sweet feed. They had upset stomachs because of the sudden diet change and grain overload. Why is the first assumption (and one she'd argue HAD TO BE until absolutely proven wrong) some random person's malice?
Do we really hate and fear each other so much that the automatic conclusion to anything going poorly is that someone else hates us back enough to sabotage our life? How do people even live with the constant paranoia that has to engender? No wonder there are so many failures of society.
