Monday, November 4, 2013

Of Dogs And Men

A dog did this - scene from "The Green Mile"
Anybody wondering about what Briton Alison McElwee has to say, or bother to hear her out? The dog was alleged to have bit her four-year-old daughter. Yet she went through the trouble of procuring professional services to put the animal down humanely. Most mothers would have freaked out and done a Lady Macbeth:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out

In a scene from the Tom Hanks movie "The Green Mile", about John Coffey, a giant black man convicted of raping and killing two young white girls, there's an insight about how something gentle is capable of inexplicable violence:
We had a dog.
Just the sweet mongrel.
You know the kind.
Often, you get to love it.
It is of no particular use...
...but you keep it around because you think it loves you.
Caleb, come here for a second. (calling son over)
He still has the one good eye.
That dog attacked my boy for no reason.
My dog never bit before.
But I didn't concern myself with that.
I went out with my rifle, grabbed his collar and blew his brains out.

There are lots of animals in the Tammy horror sorry. One would assume that volunteer groups like Action for Singapore Dogs exist to spread goodwill among men, not turn ordinary folk into warring factions. Throw in a minister of law, a member of parliament and a heavy weight litigious law firm, and you have a cauldron of ill will, boiling over with virulent vindictiveness. What makes this shameful episode so despicable is that the same minister involved has not uttered a single word in support of the accounting for Dinesh Raman, an incarcerated young man who was put down more violently than the canine.

The contract used by animal welfare volunteers includes a clause preventing adopters from carrying out euthanasia "without prior consent of the rescuer". Commenting, SMU law professor Eugene Tan said future prospective adopters may not welcome the rescuer still having residual rights, resulting in fewer dogs being adopted. Maybe, just maybe, that will result in fewer foreign talents who consider setting up home in an over crowded kennel. Freeing up dog-houses in the sky will reduce demand, and reduce housing to affordable levels. There's always a silver lining in every cloud.

11 comments:

  1. Very good observation, my friend. The minister spoke up for a dog, but not for a dead Singaporean.

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    1. The minister is a well trained lap dog himself, so much so he has developed this instinct to empathise with canines only. Last check, groomed at the LKY obedience school.

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    2. Strongly agreed with you. the minister is just protecting himself, his lackey dogs, sycophant dogs because they are dogs themselves. If they don't speak up for dogs, they are not speaking up for themselves. They always have agenda themselves and won't do thing that don't benefit them.

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    3. That's the reason why they concur when a PRC scholar say there are more dogs than humans here.

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  2. The minister will speak up for anything as long as the political agenda suits him. Well choreographed., good spin, lots of exposure in the ST, everyone was quoted except the one being sued. Good exposure for law firm (who was the partner there, minister might enlighten us?? no, no, no corruption, just friendly free exposure). And yes, the pet owners are a significant minority of the voting population. Good calculation. One minister go after pet lovers (that's 20% votes), one obasan ( LBH) can speak for the lau hiao (10%), one minister speak for HDB flat owners who only want prices to rise (30%), wow, like that straight away declared 2016 won, another 60% victory! Mr Low, you got any populist strategy or not?

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    1. Of course. That's why they are targeting a harmless website Ashley Madison instead of doing something real meaningful like banning casinos. It's all about wayang, people.

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  3. Some of us are not even up to the worth of an animal in the eyes of our law makers. That is the spirit of our rule of the law here.

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  4. So change PAP to DAP: Dog Acting Party

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  5. NO WAY THIS DOG SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUT DOWN! This was a puppy and the decription of "THE BITE," is bare! This woman should not and is not cpable enough to have a dog which needs understanding and guidance. Anyone with just a bit of Dog Sense can handle and train a 7 month old dog. You can ramble on all you want about government I don't give a d.m but this is about the dog, the incompetent owner and a vet who should loose their license, full stop!

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    1. What have you to say about 21 year old Dinesh Raman being put down while in detention ?

      Anyone with some human sense will agree the incompetent prison officers, warden, etc, should lose their jobs and perhaps even charged for manslaughter, right ?

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    2. McElwee's lawyers are now counter claiming with: "Your client saw a grown (Tammy), with aggression issues, as our client's problems. The only thing your client offered to do was to 'broker' the boarding".
      It looks like the lawyers (which included a minister) who assumed it was a slam dunk case should lose their license, full stop!

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