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stlf
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17 Jul 2005, 10:46 am

Last night I went to the drive in and saw War of the Worlds. In one scene the alien machines are killing people by the hundreds...and a flock of birds is frightened and flies away. I felt very angry at the machines for frightening the birds...however felt indifferent about the people.

Even as a child I remember feeling intense rage at anyone who was not kind to an animal....or even a statue or representation of one. I would not go to birthday parties where there were pinatas...I alway's felt that it was cruel to smash up the poor donkey just because greedy spoiled kids wanted candy.

It's not that I don't like people or feel compassion for them..to the contrary...I am a therapist and pride myself on my empathy and understanding demeanor. I guess it's that I feel that animals are "inocent by default" in that they are not capable of bring "mean" or "cruel" any only hurt other beings through processes such as instinct and the drive for self preservation. People on the other hand have to a person planned to and intentionally hurt other people or animals at least once in their life...humans are pompus and entitled. If a person ( I guess I should clarify this as "adult person") gets hurt...it's not as sad to me because they've intentionally hurt others

I know that this is not the most logical possition to take, but it's something that has been with me since I was young..

Can anyone else relate to this??



nayashi
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17 Jul 2005, 11:44 am

Oh yes.

I think I wrote an essay for fun about animals vs. people and how animals are innocent by default. I completely agree with you. During War of the Worlds, I was relieved to see the person who kept her horse with her. I was like "Oh thank God! The horse is loved!" but I giggled whenever the Martians killed the people.

I know that I'm going to be that crazy old lady with no real friends who stays in her house and has a billion cats and dogs. And other strange animals, as well.

:)

By the way, wasn't War of the Worlds AMAZING!?

Seen it three times.


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nayashi
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17 Jul 2005, 1:57 pm

Speak of the devil, my mother agreed to take my brother and I to Lollypop Farm (the local animal shelter) today so we could get another kitten!

YAY!! !


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hale_bopp
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17 Jul 2005, 9:11 pm

That's quite common.

I care about animals more than I care about people.

I go into fits of rage when people snap baby trees and hurt animals.



Aspie-Mom
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17 Jul 2005, 9:15 pm

I've often said that I like animals more than people. I guess I relate to them better. People who abuse animals disgust me. I can't imagine intentionally harming an animal. Last week I had to put my cat to sleep, and I can't even put into words how hard that was.

Actually I've often thought I would enjoy working in the veterinary field. However, that's not doable for me right now.

Donna



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17 Jul 2005, 10:31 pm

nayashi wrote:
Speak of the devil, my mother agreed to take my brother and I to Lollypop Farm (the local animal shelter) today so we could get another kitten!

YAY!! !



Lollypop Farm? The main shelter in Rochester or the one in the Petsmart in Brockport? I live about 15-20 min away from Brockport and go there often :D


On topic, I do feel more empathy for animals than people...but sometimes I feel empathy for people...I feel empathy when I can see why they are feeling bad, and especially if I have gone through something similar. But I always feel empathy for animals



nayashi
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17 Jul 2005, 10:34 pm

Mockingbird wrote:
Lollypop Farm? The main shelter in Rochester or the one in the Petsmart in Brockport? I live about 15-20 min away from Brockport and go there often :D


The one in Fairport, actually. Where do you live? I live right on the line of Brighton and Penfield. What a coincidence!

We picked out a kitten today, but we're getting him tomorrow. We decided to name him Apollo. I'm sure I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Cheers!


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nirrti_1
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18 Jul 2005, 12:42 am

I feel the same way about animals and children, but with adults, it's hard for me to be compassionate. I sometimes watch this show called "Animal Cops" on the Animal Planet network. The animal protection authorities bust people who are neglecting or abusing their pets. When I see dogs and horses that have to be put to sleep because they have a contagion or are unsociable because of the abuse, I'm in tears.

But if I were to watch a reality show about a hospital and one of the patients dies, I wouldn't feel anything. Now, if someone so much as speaks harshly to a child, even when it's a drama, I have to change the channel because it hurts too much to look at it. I can't even watch "That's So Raven" because the teenage girl, Raven, is always getting in trouble and I hate seeing her get punished.



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18 Jul 2005, 9:03 pm

nayashi wrote:
The one in Fairport, actually. Where do you live? I live right on the line of Brighton and Penfield. What a coincidence!


PM'd you!



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18 Jul 2005, 11:48 pm

You think animals are incapable of cruelty? Think again.

I witnessed the following scenario at a bus terminal, when transferring between buses. It was a few years ago, but it was disturbing nonetheless.

A flock of pigeons was crowding around an area, where someone dumped a pile of bread crumbs. There were many different kinds of pigeons: black, gray, speckled, brown, etc. Another one flew in to get some food. It was much smaller than an average pigeon, and had only a few real feathers. Bluntly put, it was a developmental oddball. Immediately, other pigeons ganged up on the bird. They starting pushing it away from the food, pecking its eyes, ripping its feathers out, and pressing it against the ground by jumping on its head. It reminded me of a typical schoolyard scene. If I had a camcorder, it'd be nice to film this, and have the teachers show it to the school I went to at the time.

Disburbing? You bet it is. Let me know what you think of all this.



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19 Jul 2005, 3:58 am

I was always the one, who in movie battle scenes, whenever somebody on horseback was about to be killed, I'd cry out "Oh, don't hurt the horse!" and if only the human died I'd say "Oh, okay. Good. The horse is okay."

The first movie I ever cried at (and I watched a lot of movies) was a Benji film where in one scene the cougar cub gets carried off by the big hawk/eagle type bird.

Course now, hormones insane and all with the inbalance, I can cry at a Harry Potter flic! *sighs and shakes head in self-disdane*


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jman
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19 Jul 2005, 6:51 am

Quote:
Last night I went to the drive in and saw War of the Worlds. In one scene the alien machines are killing people by the hundreds...and a flock of birds is frightened and flies away. I felt very angry at the machines for frightening the birds...however felt indifferent about the people.



Where in Pittsburgh is their a drive in?



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19 Jul 2005, 7:15 am

First of all, War of the Worlds irritated me so much. I can't stand it when stupid, annoying people are the main characters, and I just can't find it in myself to sympathize with them.

Moving on...

Yes, I can relate more to animals than I can to people. Cats, especially, though I do like all kinds of animals. I don't think I'm apathetic towards people, either, though. Just that I'd generally rather spend my time petting my aunt's cat than chatting with my aunt, for example.



V111
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19 Jul 2005, 8:09 pm

Ok i think humans are animals too. And yes it is easy for me to feel bad when non-human animals are hurt but this applys to humans as well. Given it is hard for me to read human signs of distress makes me on alert trying to read those signs in humans. Other animals give clearer signs of distress. And think humans and other animals are the same on a common base we can fell pain, and or comfort, bored, be scared, happy. And yes i have seen that bullying birds do to other birds. Humans are some were between being like a pack of wolves or a group of chimps in are ways of acting. We can chose to act in kind ways as easy as harsh and cruel. Not being as able to read social cues as well in a group of humans does make having a AS brain hard in that context.



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19 Jul 2005, 9:48 pm

Animals are far nicer than humans, and much easier to understand. I have a particular affinity with cats, and whilst it is true that they are temperamental, this is a given, so it doesn't cause too much of a problem. I am the sort of person that was constantly late to school during year 12 because one house on the way had three cats with whom I was on a first name basis, and I had made it a priority that if ever I saw a cat, I would stop and say hello because I think it is stupid and sad that people get so caught up in their daily lives that they would neglect to say hello to a cat! I am also the sort of person to get excited when I see cute little brown fieldmice scurrying around the tracks at the train station. I also happen to know that there is one pidgeon at Camberwell station and one, possible two at Box Hill that have deformed feet, where their claws are missing and/or their feet are badly swollen and deformed. Whilst I don't usually throw food to birds, I always pick off something for these birds (and the sparrows 'cos they're cute!) and feed them because they must have a harder time getting the food. (It is quite an art form, which often involves throwing food to the general flock and then quickly throwing something right at the maimed bird.)

I do however have rather curious reactions to animals in pain or animal cruelty. If anyone so much as jokes about something to do with my Annie, I hit the roof. However, when it comes to Felix, Annie's arch enemy at the top of the street, I hiss and curse and chase! Similarly, we recently adopted a kitten, Mira, who is constantly badgering Annie. Whilst she is incredibly cute, I often find myself 'rough housing' her: squeezing her tightly, laughing when she grunts, pinning her down. Consequently she doesn't like me very much! Now, this is odd. I LOVE cats, like, ABSOLUTELY LOVE CATS, and I do NOT like to think of myself as abusive, although to be perfectly honest I think that my habit of laughing inappropriately could extend to animals. I have been coming to the conclusion that, being such a cat person, I BEHAVE in an animalistic way towards cats! For example, Annie doesn't *hurt* Mira, but she swipes her and hisses at her and generally gets stroppy.

Meep! Too much analysis! But yes, animals are good! Although I did get into trouble once because I didn't want to get another kitten because I thought it would upset Annie: I had a massive meltdown and when mum and I talked I somehow mentioned something to the tune of 'I have to look out for Annie, she's my best friend', which resulted in a nasty conflict because mum thought I should hold my human family as a higher priority, and I maintained that Annie was at the top of my list, to which she said that she couldn't care less about Annie... you can all imagine how THAT went down!


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stlf
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19 Jul 2005, 9:52 pm

Quote:
Where in Pittsburgh is their a drive in?


None in Pittsburgh city limits..but 2 in Brownsville...one by the airport on moon-clinton road...one in Latrobe...one in Cooropolis...one in Butler.

check out http://www.drive-ins.com/dbsearch.htm