Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, June 18, 2018

Dogs!

Wonderful essay by Nashvillian Margaret Renkl in this morning's New York Times:
There’s a story my husband has been telling for nearly 15 years, since not long after United States forces invaded Iraq. In a news report, American soldiers were going door to door with bomb-sniffing dogs, trying to persuade the citizens of Baghdad to adopt a well-trained pet.
Many Iraqis regard dogs as unclean, and American soldiers were making the case for rethinking that policy: Baghdad would be safer if dogs were housed throughout the city, sounding the alarm whenever an enemy tried to plant a roadside bomb in the night. Also, a dog will love you unconditionally.
The Iraqi homeowner in the story looked at the G.I. and shrugged. “Then you would be loved by a dog.”
My husband thinks this story is hilarious because it reminds him of the small-town Southerners and country people he grew up among — and also because it is so deeply at odds with the attitudes of suburban America, with its pet strollers and doggy day cares and canine pulmonologists. Iraqi soldiers would have no better luck persuading suburban Nashvillians to banish their dogs to the yard than American soldiers had in persuading Iraqis to invite a dog into the house... (continues)
 

Pita & Nell

Darwin understood Renkl's & my obsession. Those who errantly attribute to him a reductive view of animal nature as strictly cutthroat, "survival of the fittest, red in tooth and claw" etc., need to look more closely at his canine affections - as Emma Townshend does here:
When we become angry, we can see the same behaviour in a dog. When we love, said Darwin, we can see the same behaviour in a dog. When we dream, we can look at a dog twitching and yapping whilst it sleeps, and know that they are dreaming too...



No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.