{"id":2523,"date":"2011-11-04T07:58:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-04T12:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/citings\/?p=2523"},"modified":"2011-11-04T07:58:17","modified_gmt":"2011-11-04T12:58:17","slug":"crazy-cat-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/2011\/11\/04\/crazy-cat-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"Crazy Cat Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Felix<\/a>
\n<\/small>
\n<\/small><\/p>\n

Could the President of the United States be a vegetarian?\u00a0 According to Vanderbilt Professor of Philosophy Kelly Oliver, it\u2019s not likely.\u00a0\u00a0 In her recent New York Times <\/em>Op-Ed, Oliver explained,<\/p>\n

In the United States, we often see our political leaders hunting, particularly bird-hunting, which seems to demonstrate their manly fortitude and bloodlust \u2014 qualities intended to persuade us that they can keep us safe.\u00a0 Hunting has become a tool of sorts within the realm of political image making.\u00a0 With few exceptions, President Obama among them, most presidents and presidential hopefuls have been seen hunting.\u00a0 Meat eating, too, is an act used to portray strength.\u00a0 Obama is known to enjoy his burgers, a fact that has helped counter his image as a green-tea drinking elitist.\u00a0 Even Sarah Palin\u2019s so-called new brand of feminism revolves around the image of a tough \u201cmama grizzly,\u201d as she calls herself, shooting and gutting moose to feed and protect her family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet while hunters are often seen as tough providers, animal lovers are infantilized.<\/p>\n

In popular culture, celebrities who take on animal causes are seen as a bit crazy \u2014 rich versions of the \u201ccrazy cat lady,\u201d or dog-crazy Leona Helmsley. Not coincidentally,\u00a0they are usually women.\u00a0 And, our relationships to the animals with whom (or rather which, <\/em>to be grammatically correct) we live is given very little status in our society.\u00a0 Despite the proliferation of\u00a0 \u201ccute\u201d pet pictures and anecdotes on the Web, actual displays of affection toward one\u2019s pet or companion animal, or grief expressed over their illness or death, is looked upon with ridicule.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What more, people who are dependent on their animals are seen as unhealthy.\u00a0 In fact, this is reflected in laws surrounding guide dogs, comfort dogs used to provide emotional support to children testifying in court, and other forms of animal service.<\/p>\n

The regulations are very clear: these animals are not pets.\u00a0 They are \u201cserving\u201d an essential therapeutic purpose.\u00a0 The fact that these relationships are circumscribed by laws relegate animals to the role of\u00a0tools or medication, an act that also\u00a0pathologizes the people who rely on them.\u00a0 Animals, then, can enter our intimate family units only as pets, which is to say property, or as a result of trauma, disease or disability.\u00a0 This cultural attitude suggests that people who are dependent upon their animals for anything other than amusement or entertainment are abnormal or unhealthy.\u00a0 Loving animals as friends and family is seen as quirky at best and at worst, crazy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To read more about Oliver\u2019s specific reflections on animals and philosophy, click here<\/a>
\n<\/small>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could the President of the United States be a vegetarian?\u00a0 According to Vanderbilt Professor of Philosophy Kelly Oliver, it\u2019s not likely.\u00a0\u00a0 In her recent New York Times Op-Ed, Oliver explained, In the United States, we often see our political leaders hunting, particularly bird-hunting, which seems to demonstrate their manly fortitude and bloodlust \u2014 qualities intended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39074],"tags":[155,39114,152,868],"class_list":["post-2523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sightings","tag-animals","tag-gender","tag-medical","tag-power"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2523"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2529,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523\/revisions\/2529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/clippings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}