In the last month or so, two issues have inexplicably become revolving themes in my life. Neither of these issues is even slightly difficult to understand, the facts are indisputable, and the SCIENCE! is fucking settled. However, just as inexplicably, people are frankly fucking idiots about both.
The first issue is pit bulls.
I hate pit bulls. If you own a pit bull don't bother telling me how sweet and adorable it is. I will still hate it and then I will think you're a fucking idiot besides. It'll be a two-fer.
Let's go over the SCIENCE! for any 'tards that are going to defend these animals.
- We have breeds of dogs precisely because man can breed them to consistently display certain traits, characteristics and behaviors. This is indisputable.
- Certain breeds herd. Others track. Some chase. Etc. Etc. E-fucking-cetera! This is indisputable.
- Aggression is a trait that can be bred into a dog, just like the desire to chase is bred into the sighthounds. This is indisputable.
- Aggression combined with a thick, stupid, large-jawed, short-necked, wide shouldered piece of shit killing machine is a very, very, very stupid idea. This is indisputable.
- Men come up with stupid ideas all the time. This is indisputable.
- Pit bulls account for the vast majority of FATAL attacks on other pets and on humans. This is indisputable.
- Many of these attacks were unprovoked and there was no warning of any kind. This is indisputable.
- The pit is ugly. This is indisputable.
- There is no sane reason to own one. This is indisputable.
- Everything the pit bull provides in terms of companionship can be done by hundreds of other breeds...without the handy dandy extra feature of possibly killing you or a family member.
- If you insist on owning one and defending this breed as sweet and harmless -- AGAINST ALL EVIDENCE -- then you are a liar. This is indisputable.
Dangerous Dogs
From DogsBite.org: In the 9-year period from 2005 to 2013, pit bulls killed 176 Americans and accounted for 62% of the total recorded deaths (283). Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers accounted for 74% of these deaths.
Pit Bull Attacks Sharply Rise
These are facts. Pit bulls don't just attack. All dogs can potentially attack. Pit bulls kill. Always. The only time they don't kill is when the attack is somehow stopped. So spare me the stories about a Golden Retriever who bit someone you know. I'll bet any amount of money the victim didn't DIE! Or wasn't so severely mauled that they were disfigured and handicapped for the rest of their life.
This blog post says it better than I can. I'm so worked up about the insanity of people who defend these dogs that all I can do is swear.
Okay...deep breathing...deep breathing...in with good...out with the bad...
Issue #2.
Oh shit...here I go again.
Fat. Overweight. Big-boned.
I don't care.
Honestly, I don't care. If you want to be overweight, go for it. It makes no never mind to me. But please for the love of SCIENCE! and REASON! do NOT tell me that you can't lose weight. I am sick to fucking death of people saying shit like that and no one calls them on it. We all just politely nod our heads -- IN SYMPATHY!!! What the hell is wrong with people?
If you're fat, you're fat because you choose to eat more than you need. Period. It is a calorie in, calorie used or stored BASIC FUCKING FACT!
So just shut up about it. I've never brought up a person's weight in my entire life. It is none of my business and I could honestly not care less -- until you start in with the excuses and expect me to afford you victim status instead of pointing out that you simply don't want to change your life enough to lose the weight. Fine. Because that's the truth. Anyone who isn't disabled or taking Prednisone can lose weight. Just put down the donut and go for a walk. Every day. For the rest of your life.
If you don't want to do that, I understand. Just do not expect me to agree that you "can't lose weight." Let's all just decide to either tell the truth or shut the hell up with the excuses and bids for pity or sympathy. I have been thin for most of my life. But there were a couple of periods where I gained weight. And every single time it was because I stopped being active and ate whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted. I didn't like it, so I changed my habits and lost the weight. It's not easy, but it is simple.
Honest to GOD! I was listening to a table of women who were all over 250 lbs sitting around talking to each other about how to lose weight. Obviously not a single one of them knew jack shit about how to lose weight. They were all morbidly obese. Notice that really heavy people NEVER ask a thin person how to lose weight. Never. They don't want honest answers. They want to sit around and confirm each others' delusions that "it's impossible." One woman actually said, "Diets and exercise don't work." I kid you not. Another said she lost the most weight on what she called the "Snickers and Coke" diet. I almost busted out laughing. She explained that she would go until she was starving and then eat a Snickers and have a Coke. And they were all nodding to this like it was wisdom from Oprah. I am still trying to get the memory of this level of stupidity out of my mind.
That's it. I'm done.
No, I'm not.
One of the biggest bullshit reasons that women make for weight gain is pregnancy. Okay, yes, WHILE you're pregnant you should gain weight to feed the growing bambino. But AFTER you give birth you aren't somehow disfigured and physically unable to get back to your pre-baby size -- FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! Jeebus, women. Are you seriously kidding me? And let's remember that for most women, pregnancy happens when you are fairly young. So we're all supposed to believe that a young woman goes through a perfectly normal event like pregnancy and that's it, she'll never be the same again. Un-fucking-believable. If you can't lose weight and get fit at 25, you're just not even trying.
And again, I don't CARE if you don't want to do the heavy lifting it takes to get fit and/or lose weight. Just do not tell me it is impossible. Do. Not.
So now I need a drink.
To be fair, most pit owners contribute significantly to the problem. The dogs are naturally aggressive as you note, and there are far too many owners who either don't care, who think their baby could never do that, or who actively want their baby to do that. To be good dogs they need thorough training, and constant management, which most owners just aren't able or willing to do.
ReplyDeleteRotties have a pretty bad rap too, but again, a significant portion of the problems are from owners who don't bother to properly train and manage their dogs, or who intentionally want them that way. We had two young Rotties get out of a yard and attack 6 people just down from my house years ago. It turned out the owners had never bothered socializing them, just turned them out in the yard in the day and locked up at night so they became their own pack, as well has having stuck them in a kennel and ignored them for several months during home and yard renovations. And of course they weren't up on their shots either. Both were put down. The woman who had bred one of them was livid, saying that in decades of breeding Rotties she'd never had one go bad before, and if she'd known how the dog was going to be treated she never would have sold him.
As for fat... those women do sound like idiots. But read Good Calories Bad Calories, or better yet Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. It really isn't as simple and easy as fewer calories in than expended for most of us, and carbohydrates are the human animal's worst enemy. Once you start getting fat, often the body becomes so efficient at it, it will lay down fat in preference to giving your body energy, so you can eat enough calories, but still not have enough available fuel, which is why you are often starving on a low-fat diet - the sugars are just too, too easy to turn into fat while fats and proteins bypass that particular system, and are far more likely to be used for fuel or removed as waste. It's why one usually puts on weight when taking a course of Cortisone (or is totally starving and miserable for the whole time on the drug and weeks after). It acts the same way insulin does, telling your body to store everything as fat. I actually found an article in a reputable sports nutrition journal stating that dietarily the adult human had no need to ingest carbohydrates ever. Most of the stuff we're told right now, about eating low fat diets and tons of whole grains is actually a great way to guarantee that one will never lose weight, no matter how hard one tries.
What makes it worse is that until about half a century ago, everyone knew that carbs made you fat, and fats and protein were what you needed to concentrate on to lose weight. The story is fascinating as to how we forgot that and started pushing "healthy" diets which are anything but.
Pit Bulls and whinging fat people, that's an odd combination to be bedeviled by. Since pit bulls were bred to be tough and aggressive fighters I don't know why anybody would think they'd suddenly become just cuddly old soppies.
ReplyDeleteThe science on weight gain/loss seems to have become less settled in the last few years. Logically if calories in > calories out then calories stored has to go up. But there are indications that the source of the calories (carbohydrates) affects the equation, either increasing appetite or changing the metabolism.
Agreed on all points with both of you.
ReplyDeleteIt just makes my main point about people complaining about weight loss like it's some scientifically impossible goal -- and not ever asking someone who might know a little about it. Yes, there are all sorts of interactions in the body via insulin and the conversion to ATP, use of proteins/fats as fuel, etc. There are a myriad of factors that influence calorie usage vs calorie storage, and it is necessary to understand nutrition to really get fit and healthy. Most people don't and won't. They just gripe. And when you tell them, they aren't interested.
But at the end of the day, no matter what, if you don't eat, you lose weight. So it is, finally, about calories in and calories used.
It's the evasions, lies, and delusions that we are all supposed to support politely that really irks me. Frankly because we aren't doing anyone any favors. Being seriously overweight is a big health issue. Pretending they can't do anything about it can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and hypertension.
As for pit bulls and owners. Yes, owners can and do often make it worse. But not always by encouraging the dog's aggressive tendencies. A LOT of the time it's because the owners have no fucking clue about dominance behaviors and allow the dog to be Top Dog. A submissive or clueless owner of an aggressive breed is a tragedy waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteExactly! The Rotties near where I lived had been sweet dogs, (one of the kids who was attacked told his father that they'd had to go to the hospital because the dogs bit them, and he guessed that the dogs didn't know them anymore), but were left to go wild by their owners, and unsurprisingly, did.
DeleteThat being said, I agree with you. I'd never get a pit (maybe one of those little terriers like the Target dog, but not the full sized mastiff ones) because I know that I don't know what to do with it. My kid wants something large. I told her if we ever did get a dog, it would be small so if we messed up the training, we could still pick it up. I don't want a 150lb dog who thinks it belongs on my bed.
I've had a Doberman, an Irish Wolfhound, a Standard Poodle and two Cavaliers. I love the big dogs, but they are just a bigger hassle -- everything from feeding them to traveling with them. Everything is just BIGGER. I'm simply in love with the breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Sooooooooo precious. Lovely, lovely dogs.
DeleteI was attacked by a Rottweiler -- it was just a puppy and on a chain. I was VERY quick and the dog missed me by scants inches. No one had done anything to the dog. The owner was a very knowledgeable animal owner who rode with me at a competitive show barn. She put the dog in the car and took her to the vet and had her put down that day. I never shed a tear. Frankly, neither did she. She got a Golden Retriever next.
ReplyDeleteAnd I woman who owned and bred TOP Rotties had a National Champion. She said she always knew there was something "off" about the dog, though it had never done anything wrong, and it was such a winning champion that she kept him. One day it attacked and nearly killed her 7 year old daughter. Out of the blue. Do I dislike Rotties like I do pits? Not as much, but I would be very careful around one.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. Dogs have bred in tendencies, but also have personalities, so it sounds like that one had a personality which exacerbated the tendencies more than training and handling could counter
DeleteSomething else I was reading said that some large percentage (over 80%?) of fatal dog attacks were by unneutered males, which also makes sense.
Yes, Unneutered males, like stallions, have much more natural aggression and therefore require firm, consistent handling. But even the BEST handling and training may not prevent an attack from a dog. And it can be a Pomeranian. But if it's a Pom, you're not going to die.
DeleteUsually not. Fatalities and maulings from some of those tiny dogs was surprising.
DeleteI know. I saw that on the link about dangerous dogs. In all cases it was a child. I should have stipulated that. An adult is not going to die. Or I should have add PROBABLY. tee hee...
DeleteAnd another thing while I'm on a rant. I HATE HATE HATE it when the defenders of these dogs who have attacked and/or killed people try to make it the person's fault. "Oh that kid was by his food." Or "He tried to take his toy." Or whatever. A dog NEVER GETS TO BITE A PERSON AND BE EXCUSED. I don't care is a toddler goes over and grabs the dog's toy. The dog never gets to bite. There is never anything any person could ever do that would excuse a fatal attack or mauling. Never. Ever. Period. It is ALWAYS THE DOG'S FAULT.
DeleteSo true.
DeleteWe had a fantastic cat once who was recovering from fairly major surgery (removing two golf-ball-sized tumors from his belly) though dying of cancer when my then 8-month-old daughter last her balance when sitting near him and landed with her hand and all her weight on his incision. He squeaked and then hissed at her. That was all. We would have forgiven him if he'd nipped her in the circumstances, but all he did was hiss.
He died about a month later. It will have been 18 years in two weeks and damn, I still miss that cat.
This whole rant on pits was prompted by the viral video of the cat saving the boy from a dog attack. The dog is a Chow/cross, not a pit, but the CAT IS AWESOME!!!
DeleteI am 330 lbs. I have literally done everything to lose weight, and I mean every thing. I can lose the weight, and no matter what, it comes back, no matter what I do.
ReplyDeleteI can maintain the 330 with no issues whatsoever. So I am not eating enough to gain weight. My body just goes there on it's own no matter what I do. This diet, that diet, starvation, endless bloody exercise, drugs,and surgery. And here I stay. And yet I cannot find anyone who can keep up with me- the work I do, the hours I keep, the miles I drive, the bullshit I put up with. But I don't as a general rule discuss it with anyone. I have had people "Call me on it" and when I ask them to see if they can keep up with me for one day, they all wimp out. Not one person will put up or shut up. And they keep flapping their jaws about "lazy, undisciplined fat people". Sorry, it's just not that simple. Sure, there are plenty of couch queens (And kings!) who just need to put down the Ben and Jerry's, but I'm not one of them. My work days are usually ten hours with 3 hours travel and then I come home and work around the house for a couple hours. In addition to reading a novel length book a day, blogging, and other hobbies. Feel free to call me fat; it's true. Don't tell me you know why I'm fat, because you don't. I probably eat less than most rail thin people, I know I work a LOT more than most people, and this is what my metabolism does to me for it.
BTW that "you" was not directed at you. Just a general "you people"! (Shakes fist) kind of ",you"
ReplyDeleteI would never call you fat. I think it made it clear I would never even mention it. And I hope I didn't (but I probably did) imply that ALL people with weight issues are lazy or undisciplined. But you even said you CAN lose the weight. It comes back because you stopped doing whatever it was you were doing to lose it. Really.
ReplyDeleteOne of the nicest men I've ever known was a hard working, crazy strong huge guy and he died of a heart attack because of heart disease when he was only 42. He could work circles around me. But he's still dead. It's not healthy.
I also never said it wasn't hard. I said it wasn't impossible. I know it's hard. It requires doing different stuff, eating differently, etc. for-fucking-ever. If people don't want to do that, then fine...like I said...I don't care.
And right now I have a lovely lovely woman friend who has been obese for many years and is dying.
It just pisses me off.
I lose weight if I eat zero carbs and about 900 calories a day. This is a well documented fact. That means mostly clear broth.Yes, iI can continue to do that forever, and my doctor says its healthier to be fat. Many members of my family are over 500 lbs. Most live and work into their 90's. Dad, slim and trim, died at 57. Everyone is different. If I had a dollar for every yenta that said " why don't you just push away from the table?" I could buy Portugal.
ReplyDeleteLike I said...if you're happy at the weight you are - whatever that is - and aren't constantly complaining - I don't care. I find it's mostly women who do this. In fact, I've never once heard a man complain about his weight. But women are fucking ENDLESS whiners about it. Just shut up is all. Shut up.
DeleteBut healthier? Hmmm....I just don't buy it. You can point at anomalies to prove something that statistics of broad populations show is false. Being overweight is not healthy. It just isn't. It's like the stats on pit bulls. Okay, you can point at one pit you've known who was nice and try to disprove statistical evidence. However, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter one way or the other. We all have to die sometime of something. If you've lived your life so that you're happy, then dying of whatever is just what is.
But it still makes me made that my friend is going to die pretty damn young because she "could never lose the weight." Horseshit.
makes me mad...not made.
DeleteI'm not 'happy at the weight I am" let me assure you, the amount of work I would have to do to get to 'Normal" weight, you would never ever do.
DeleteSome people are ferarris. Some people are yugos. Some people are Bentleys, and some people are bicycles. I am a bulldozer. No matter what I do, I will never be a Ferrari or a bicycle. it is as simple as that. Unless you can become someone else and live their life with their genetics and their metabolism you cannot make judgements about what they can and cannot do, because you cannot know. This is not about being a vegan or being a horse person or liking the color blue, those are chosen behaviors. This is about being Asian or having blue eyes or uneven breasts. We each of us can only do what our genetics allow us to do, and then only within narrow parameters. You might as well be mad because someone had sickle cell anemia and 'Just couldn't shake it".
Like I said, there are plenty of bicycles that eat their way to bulldozers; there are also a huge number of bulldozers who have been sold the lie that if they just work hard enough they can be bicycles. Walk a mile in my shoes, or in your friends. unfortunately you have been given the gift of genetics that allow you to more easily control your body's metabolism and size. I don't know your friend so I don't know one way or another- but to automatically assume that it's about willpower or proper diet is to assume that all people are genetically identical- in other words, wrong.
I'm not trying to be contentious, this is a pet peeve. I have a stomach the size of a golf ball. I can eat about a handful of something at a time. And without starving myself literally until my hair begins to fall out from malnutrition, I cannot lose any damned weight. I am a fat storing machine, and I am damnably efficient at it. 54 years of this. I have some experience.
OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT ALL OF THIS.
ReplyDeleteI have to get off the computer and cook dinner right now, and also get my drink on because holy fucking SHIT I've had a bad day (and a lot of it was because of the pit bull conversation that you know I had this morning with someone), so I'm keeping this short.
I goddamn hate pit bulls. Three pit bulls on two continents have attacked four of my dogs and I fucking hate them, and also they are ugly and have beady eyes.
And I want to know exactly when pit bulls became the protected class of dogs. It's like you can't even say you think they're ugly and stupid-looking without someone getting offended. Why can I say that I think chihuahuas are ugly and stupid-looking, and nobody gets all preachy at me about statistics and about how YOU SHOULD NOT HATE THOSE POOR INNOCENT DOGS? It's like pit bulls are the Muslims of the dog world.
Fuck that noise.
Fuck that noise is right, girlfriend!
DeletePit bull owners aren't normal. SCIENCE! (studies) prove it. HAHAHA!
There are more than one breed of pit bulls, and the hybridization of the different breeds has leaned toward favoring the breed that was bred for pit fighting. Otherwise, a dog bred to be vicious, short tempered and aggressive. None of these characteristics are good for a pet, and anyone defending the continued breeding is either twisted, looking to make money, or both.
DeleteAs far as weight control, I've had a weight problem since I was a teenager. The only sure method of keeping my weight healthy is small food portions, avoiding snacks and exercise; three things that demand self-discipline. .
Yup. Yup. And yup.
Delete