1. This started out as a "Not Happy" thread post that kinda got away from me. I hope @John-Wayne doesn't mind me using his quote as the epigraph, if it's a problem, let me know and I'll remove it.

    I've been watching a lot of restoration videos lately, where people buy old semi-junked machinery and tools at swap meets and flea markets and restore it to new or better-than-new condition. I find it relaxing.

    But youtube thinks it's related to trapping mice. Kept suggesting mousetrap, rat trap videos until I finally broke down and watched one.

    Rats and mice are pests. They can be a health hazard. The idea of live-trapping them and releasing them into the countryside to be owl-food as God intended is impractical.

    I recognize these facts.

    But the way the poster had rigged up a stun-gun to a coil of wire inside a cage they could get into and not out of, and the terrified hopping about as they sought to avoid the pain, the desperate squeaking, the twitching and spasming as their bodies finally completed the circuit, the flames that began to spring from one little beasty's paw, none of this horrified me as much as the comments section...

    ...where the braying crowd, unprompted, denigrated animal rights activists and vegetarians and recommended points of particular agony with lip-smacking glee.

    When I'm dictator, we'll bring back the gladiatorial games, but there'll be no TV or internet broadcast.

    Live audience only.

    And the "performers" will be chosen by lottery from the ticketholders.

Comments

  1. jim onion
    The trend I've noticed is that where human rights are championed, animal rights are trampled. Where there are cries for animal rights, there is invariably misanthropy. It's like a straight-to-DVD rom-com where if the two characters just talked to one another in the beginning with the goal of reaching a compromise, the run-time would've been two minutes instead of two hours, and we'd have all been the better for it.

    Or as @John-Wayne might put it, in the midst of one echo chamber or the other, I find myself tinkering with thoughts of genocide. I guess I can't escape the profound irony either.
      John-Wayne and CerebralEcstasy like this.
  2. David Lee
    "...where the braying crowd, unprompted, denigrated animal rights activists and vegetarians and recommended points of particular agony with lip-smacking glee. "

    I'm not a Vegetarian, but I have 5 or more friends that are. I'm a butcher by trade. Yesterday I smoked a brisket and one of my veggie friends stopped by to sample it.

    The real problem is social media, and yes... the internet I believe.
      Cave Troll, Shenanigator and Foxxx like this.
  3. Cave Troll
    That was spooky.
      Some Guy, Shenanigator and John-Wayne like this.
  4. Iain Aschendale
    @David Lee I'm a teacher, but I love my smoker. Getting pretty good with curing and smoking my I own bacon, but I learned a few months ago that I'm not ready for brisket yet. It was edible, but... Meh.
  5. John-Wayne
    LOL, Yeah we need the gladiator matches back... People ask how the Romans could enjoy such barbaric violence, look no further than any comment section on youtube.

    @Foxxx That sounds like something I would say. I think I said something once about tribal mentality and echo chambers. So yeah, pretty much, if I had to choose 1 or the other, I pick genocide. :p .

    @Cave Troll Yeah, got dark quick, and it was beautiful. :p

    Also, Iain, I never have a problem with fellow users referencing something I said.. unless it's for ridicule, in which case.. I'll have to banter Like I've never bantered before. :p
  6. Some Guy
    A similar experience was, for me, a degrading spiral. I happened upon the mouse-trap vids while following a DIY turbine project (really cool).
    Anyhoo, I finally clicked on one after the umpteenth flash of recommendations, and it was intriguing to see the home-made version of the 'humane' electronic trap we had. We had a scary rat problem shortly after a neighbor downed a tree with an infestation of them.
    So, the first one ends, "good job, got em." Second one, "Ooh, there's two! Git in there, cmon one more! Jeez they're stupid." Right about the time we start cheering (my son came in), they pull out the freaky stuff, and the poor little vermin bastards are hopping around in obvious distress, and taking a little too long to die. It is at this point that I realize how far entertainment can slide into cruelty (and I with it). Nauseating. Extinction-class disaster is my go-to for a story, but the reality far exceeds.
    What's bizarre is I found a way to use the same phenomenon (different application) to prevent human 'acts' of cruelty, and it may actually be feasable with current technology. :meh:
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