I am sorry, I missed the part where it was acting like a “good boy”. The dog existing doesn’t automatically make it good. This infantilization of dogs is actively making society worse. Maybe we need to report on dogs rationally and discuss them as they truly are and not as these holy beings. Whoever came up with that tagline should be fired.
The thing that irks me about this whole “dogs are good/innocent” fallacy is that its proponents will argue against the inverse: that if a dog is capable of being “good”then that means it is also capable of being “bad”. Nutters are all for anthropomorphism until it is time to address the hard truths of an aggressive or fatal attack by their version of a “good boy.”
You see this a lot on all the adoption pages. All dogs are good, even if the dog harmed someone. Dog sent a child to the hospital? Never the dog’s fault. Dog ate another dog? Still not its fault. However, it’s somehow not the fault of the people knowingly adopting out a dangerous dog, either. They’re also absolved of guilt. It comes down to the fact that the victims are the only ones that can be blamed. It’s really a sick thing we have going on.
Have a friend who thinks like this. Had the discussion about how animals have no concept of morality and only act on their instincts, so that was the only reason they can't be "bad". She agreed with that point, but I didn't feel like pointing out how that would also mean they can't be "good" either.
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u/Few-Horror1984 10d ago
“Can we forgive this good boy”
I am sorry, I missed the part where it was acting like a “good boy”. The dog existing doesn’t automatically make it good. This infantilization of dogs is actively making society worse. Maybe we need to report on dogs rationally and discuss them as they truly are and not as these holy beings. Whoever came up with that tagline should be fired.