Animal cruelty - creating dialogue about ourselves? (originally posted 8/10/08)

"To be sure, both the care and lack of it that is being directed towards non-human animals is interesting. It raises a lot of questions about how we look at ourselves, much less the aforementioned critters."

Dear friends,

To be sure, both the care and lack of it that is being directed towards non-human animals is interesting. It raises a lot of questions about how we look at ourselves, much less the aforementioned critters. Of course, that means a lot of things. I hope to raise some dialogue about this issue. After all, especially religious institutions have made most people see humans as being apart from nature, when, actually, just like birds and fishes, we are a part OF it (i.e., nature). Consequently, it seems, at least to me, that issues about the abuse of domesticated pets, for example, are very much connected to the same problems that humans experience as a result of our violent sentiments and actions, including personal conflicts as well as international wars....

In recent times, a professional football player, Michael Vick, and his brother were convicted of perpetrating very sick and cruel acts upon some dogs they "owned". Yet, the abuse of dogs like greyhounds, as well as horses, for example, is quite legal and, in fact, proliferates on race tracks, almost everyday, in our country. What distinguishes the cruelty that was delivered by the Vicks from their counterparts at the race tracks just mentioned?

Nevertheless, the author of the article on the link below, Dana DiFilippo of the Philadelphia Daily News, is someone with whom I have connected every now and then, over the past several years. He writes about a variety of topics. However, I had to touch bases with him on this one, not just because it is quite informative, but, as well, it made me reflect upon issues of both violence and the lack of civility that is ingrained in so many citizens in our society. Worse yet, the improprieties are not just directed towards dogs and such, for it seems to spread across the Ocean Sea, as it were, denying other nations their rights to territorial integrity. "What's that all about?", as the jargon goes.

G. Djata Bumpus
Animals 'jailed' for owners' legal woes Philadelphia Daily News 07/31/2008*
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Complete Media Blackout of August 13th protest against US involvement in Libya (originally posted 8/16/11)

"...where's our "Black" president?...And where is a single one of the "Black" journalists of NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists) who held a Love Party and golf tournament in Philly last weekend?"

Dear friends,

According to personal reports that I received, this past Saturday (8/13/11), some 100, 000 people rallied in Harlem for a protest against the US War in Libya. Yet, conveniently, we haven't heard a peep about it through either the print or electronic media in the US.

Meanwhile, where's our "Black" president? And where is a single one of the "Black" journalists of NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists) who held a Love Party and golf tournament in Philly last weekend? And where's loudmouth Al Sharpton?

At any rate, on the link below is a little bit of info and a 10 minutes-long video in reference to what the Libyan situation is. This coming Saturday (8/21/11), a similar huge protest is planned in Boston.

"Dare to struggle - dare to win!" - Frederick Douglas

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/videos/article_8038.shtml
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