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The last time I heard a woman call a man a “dog,” she did
not mean it as a compliment.
Now, in yet another sign of the decline and fall of Western
civilization-- in particular, of the Anglo-Saxon branch-- British television has
done an expose on men who believe that they are dogs, who dress up like dogs,
who walk on all fours, who bark like dogs, but who are, alas, vegetarians.
And, why not? If you can be whatever gender you want to be;
if you can change your gender based on your belief and impose that belief on
everyone else; why not become a dog or a cat or a goat.
[For the record, a woman in Norway considers herself to have
been born into the wrong species. In her case, as in the case of the transgendered,
God made a mistake. She is really a cat. The trouble is: she cannot catch
mice.]
Is it all any different from bronyhood. You recall the brony
contingent. Having discovered that many girls love a story called My Little
Pony, groups of men have taken to dressing up as ponies. The call themselves
bronies and get together in congresses. They do not, I have reason to believe, think of themselves as real
ponies. I wrote about this absurdity several years back. Link here.
At least Gregor Samsa had the good sense to be metamorphosed
into a giant and verminous insect… involuntarily, however.
Just in case you were having trouble adjusting to men who
think they are women and women who think they are men and people who think they
are neither, soon our government will issue an executive directive explaining
that if Tom thinks he is a dog, you must treat him like a dog. Or, to be fair,
like a puppy. Treating people like dogs does not sound quite so felicitous.
Anyway, here is what’s coming around the bend, from The Guardian, where they take this stuffy utterly seriously. Don’t you know that
they are simply testing the strength of your conviction, your ability to
believe anything whatever. If you buy into it you have shown that you have
completely taken leave of reality and thus have become a complete fanatic.
Keep in mind, if you don’t believe this, you are a bigot.
And if you think that these people,
including the journalists, are not serious, you do not see what is going on
around you:
It’s
easy to laugh at a grown man in a rubber dog suit chewing on a squeaky toy.
Maybe too easy, in fact, because to laugh is to dismiss it, denigrate it –
ignore the fact that many of us have found comfort and joy in pretending to be
animals at some point in our lives.
Secret
Life of the Human Pups is a sympathetic look at the world of pup play, a
movement that grew out of the BDSM community and has exploded in the last 15
years as the internet made it easier to reach out to likeminded people. While
the pup community is a broad church, human pups tend to be male, gay, have an
interest in dressing in leather, wear dog-like hoods, enjoy tactile
interactions like stomach rubbing or ear tickling, play with toys, eat out of
bowls and are often in a relationship with their human “handlers”.
In the
documentary, we see Tom, AKA Spot, take part in the Mr Puppy Europe competition in Antwerp, a mix
of beauty pageant, talent show and Crufts; David, AKA Bootbrush, talk to camera
in a leather dog mask; two pups walk through London pretending to wee on
lampposts to raise awareness of their identity; and lots of men jumping up for
“treats”, barking and wagging their mechanical tails.
When I
speak to Tom, he is keen to point out that puppy play is about more than just
outfits and surface-level power games: it’s about being given licence to behave
in a way that feels natural, even primal. “You’re not worrying about money, or
food, or work,” says Tom, who works as an engineer in a theatre. “It’s just the
chance to enjoy each other’s company on a very simple level.”
It’s easy to laugh at this, but don’t you dare. If you
refuse to accept these people for what they really are, the thought police will
come and get you.
If perchance they do, here is a solution. Tell them that you
are invisible. Tell them that since you believe you are invisible, you are
invisible. If they can see you, they are bigots. If they touch you they are bigots. They should be condemned for failing to accept you for
what you really are.
7 comments:
I've heard of Furries, people who liked to dress up as human-like animals, and they have conventions to all get together and mutually admire their stylish costumes. It seems to be more connecting to our mammalian heritage, so "cute" is the goal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom
I see the guardian article ends with this troublesome assertion:
--------
Whether we see it as a kink, an identity, a reaction to an early experience, a form of escapism or a fetish, the main thing, says Tom, is that we see it at all; that we know it’s there and accept it. “It feels like you can be gay, straight, bisexual, trans and be accepted,” he says. “All I want is for the pup community to be accepted in the same way. We’re not trying to cause grief to the public, or cause grief to relationships. We’re just the same as any other person on the high street.”
--------
And along with the trans-mutilation, you instantly have to worry that soon enough people are going to find a plastic surgeon who will permanently alter people's physiology, perhaps transforming ears, nose and mouth to resemble their animal totem.
I imagine like James Cameron's movie Avatar, that virtual bodies will be more popular since they aren't permanent, or that other movie with Bruce Willis, Surrogates, where humans transfer their awareness through android bodies that can be as strong or handsome as they like, and interact in the world, while the real bodies stay home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogates
On the older side, we have a wide human heritage of self-mutilation, including male circumcision, and Chinese women foot-binding, and all the various piercings.
And on the future, you have to imagine inter-species gene-splicing, so perhaps the human race itself will divide as various enhancements go through a process of artificial selection and cultural selection, and there really will be dog-like humans or human-like dogs that can speak?
How would we ever decide which one of these are aiding culture in some way, or which are more regressive - expressions that allow people to avoid adult responsibilities?
And the whole question of "what maturity means" opens up, and it can remind us that perhaps all of modern culture contains an enabling infantilization, dependent upon artificial cultural constructs that trap us into one way of seeing the world, which ironically is the way that guarantees a harder future, when diminishing returns takes away our easy one-time wealth exploited from the environment.
And what's more curious is we can consider some "religious cults" are more about setting artificial constraints that challenge immaturity and can help people find inner strengths from of our deeper psychic heritage, that only come out by passing through trials by fire, well sort of like bootcamp rebuilds individual egos into a collective psyche for action.
I agree acting like a dog looks more like escapism fantasy of someone who doesn't want to deal with reality. But perhaps like Jung said, fantasy contains ritual aspects that connect us with different parts of our being that may not have expression in ordinary awareness, and so like Merlin changing young Arthur into a fish or a hawk, there is value in temporary shape-shifting, to see things from a different point of view.
It seems to me that this kind of fantasy escapism is, as Ares notes, an integral part of human nature (small part, aberrant nature) and has been known for a very long time, disguised as factors in religion, secret societies, myths, etcetcetc.
We won't ever eradicate it (unless through draconian means, and that only drives it underground), but societies which promote fantasy to mainstream "normalcy" are on a short ride to the trash heap of history.
All of the more extreme aspects that Ares lists have been part of the Science Fiction genre for a long time.
Do dog-men have the right to use the fire hydrant?
[For the record, a woman in Norway considers herself to have been born into the wrong species. In her case, as in the case of the transgendered, God made a mistake. She is really a cat. The trouble is: she cannot catch mice.] Would she eat them if she caught them? (Inquiring minds...)
"If perchance they do, here is a solution. Tell them that you are invisible. Tell them that since you believe you are invisible, you are invisible. If they can see you, they are bigots. If they touch you they are bigots. They should be condemned for failing to accept you for what you really are." What if they say they can smell you?
Another thing struck me. Are there any women who do this? Do they go to these parties? And do the man/dogs sniff their heinies?
Sam L. @May 27, 2016 at 12:45 PM:
Precisely. Exactly. Bravo!
This whole "identify" thing is a descent into madness.
If you cannot reason with a person about reality, they are definitionally an unreasonable person. Or insane. Take your pick.
It is not society's job to conform to unreasonable, insane people. It's the other way around.
Is it all any different from bronyhood. You recall the brony contingent. Having discovered that many girls love a story called My Little Pony, groups of men have taken to dressing up as ponies. The call themselves bronies and get together in congresses. They do not, I have reason to believe, think of themselves as real ponies.
Bronies, technically speaking, are simply men who are fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I would imagine that most of them are not into cosplay (dressing as characters from the show). Whether or not it is exactly healthy, bronies who dress up as ponies are more akin to Star Trek fans who dress up as Spock or as Klingons than they are to people who actually think themselves another species. Essentially, it is just another example of the same phenomenon as "Trekkies" - the only thing that is sociologically distinct is the fact that the show they are obsessing on is a show aimed primarily at girls.
Glaivester @May 29, 2016 at 8:02 AM:
An important thing to note is that "Star Trek" characters are bipedal.
Furthermore, is it appropriate to ask if a brony is hung like a horse? Little girls eventually become interested in that sort of thing. Perhaps now "My Little Pony" could become considered a transitional toy for early-adolescent girls.
Lastly, I imagine brinies use stalls in stables, right? Then there is no need to worry about bathroom designations.
The twistaplots of these subcultures are certainly mind-bending. Perhaps they should be approached as new members of the Democrat Party coalition. Democrats believe in magical thinking, too! Just ask Lizzy Warren how she's 3.125% Native American.
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