My view of refering to humans as barnyard animals

[David]

Road apples

     That's for the highway patrol.  The mounted cops are horse apples.  The meter maids are crab apples.  The administrators are big apples.  The plainclothesmen are apple scruffs.  The rookies are apple dumplings.  I'm sure y'all can come up with more of your own.
     Damn!  This works better than I'd originally thought . . . !

 

As much as it feels good to criticize those who so richly deserve it, in the most offensive ways possible, I have never been one to do that much, and my gut tells me Lauren is right.  I treat people I don't like in private life reasonably well, and I believe that has served me well, primarily by reducing unnecessary conflict.  I suppose I should not change just because I am an activist. 

[Recumbent ReCycler]

I just wanted to state that if a person does something wrong there is nothing to be gained by referring to that person as a barnyard animal. 

I agree with and accelerate F4L's viewpoint.  There is something lost when you dehumanize a person, no matter how repugnant: you've lost your ability to persuade them.  Even if you have the most logical, effective, and beneficial plan for him he won't go along with it because he can tell you don't really care about him. 

Thought experiment:  You are kidnapped at gunpoint by people who want some information you may have.  They lock you in a cold room, keep you for days, don't feed you or let you sleep.  When you don't answer their questions satisfactorily they strap you in a dentist chair and force your mouth open.  One torturer says, hey you have an inflamed tooth there, do you want us to remove it? 

Even if the guy is a dentist and you do have an inflamed tooth and removing it would be best for you, will you say yes?

That's what it feels like to people who fear our message.  I like to be gentle with inflamed people, so they are more likely to be swayed by our message.

Good point.  These last few years, I've tried to be polite to the police, even when I see them blatantly breaking the law and violating the rights of the people.  I've found that it seems to help maintain good relations with the more honest cops, and it gives the dishonest ones less reason to make life hard on me.  Back when I first moved to NH, I called the chief here a criminal after he not only blatantly broke the law, but made it clear that he didn't care what the law said, and that he was going to do what he wanted and he expected me to do his bidding if I wanted to exercise my basic Constitutional rights.  While I may have been factually correct, I don't think it helped me any, and it seems that I am being harassed more than I probably would be if I hadn't given him a hard time for breaking the law.

[Sam A. Robrin]

As much as it feels good to criticize those who so richly deserve it, in the most offensive ways possible . . .

But "apples" isn't offensive--that's the whole point.

[Kat Kanning]

There are no 'sheeple'
http://www.blackoakmedia.org/archives/Votlucka.html

[freeman4liberty]

There are no 'sheeple'
http://www.blackoakmedia.org/archives/Votlucka.html

You've convinced me. 

[TackleTheWorld]

Yeah, nicely put, Marcel! 
One who calls people sheeple is

• name calling
• disrespectful of our own past
• disrespectful of human spirit
• evading knowledge of the state coersion
• evading knowledge of state indoctrination
• sour grapes over not being more influential

I would add that if you call people sheeple while claiming adherence to evidence and truth and logic, you are admiting your own failure.  Yeah! I am so big on looking at reality and figuring out what makes people tick, that I have absolutely no persuasive ability on the great majority of the population.   

[AntonLee]

doesn't Michael Savage say "sheeple" all the time?  Isn't that a good enough reason for sane people NOT to say it?

[J’raxis 270145]

doesn't Michael Savage say "sheeple" all the time?  Isn't that a good enough reason for sane people NOT to say it?

+1

[MaineShark]

Bureaucrats aren't human, and to treat them like they are is the affront to the civilized world.

I agree.

People are reasoning beings, and respect the rights of those around them.  They are moral actors, and are responsible for what they do.  There are no excuses when it comes to people, because people use their faculty of reason, so any action they take must be pre-meditated, including any evil action.  Given that, I would have no reason to retrain myself from killing any person who engaged in aggression.

On the other hand, cops and the like aren't people.  They are animals, behaving according to their social conditioning.  While I might feel the need to kill a dog that is menacing myself or others, I much more likely to take pity on it because I know it's not really the dog's fault (rather, the fault of its training), and that I can act in a way to prevent the dog from attacking me, or seek to re-train it to be more docile, or take many other actions.

A person who decides to plan out and do evil is not going to be persuaded, and he can only be deflected or killed.  An animal who does something I dislike can be addressed in many ways that don't extend to killing it.

A misbehaving animal is not a moral actor, so I have no cause to hate it for what it does.  If a bear attacks me, it's not "evil" - it's just being a bear, and bears don't follow any moral code, so good and evil don't apply to them.

No, I'd rather think of them as the animals that they are.  It allows me to deal with them dispassionately and with a myriad of non-violent means.  I presume they would rather me think of them that way, too.

Joe

[freeman4liberty]

I'm also an animal, my species is homo sapien.

[Mike Barskey]

Thought experiment:  You are kidnapped at gunpoint by people who want some information you may have. 

We want information.... Information!


I agree with freeman4liberty and Lauren, but it's difficult to do. I feel passionately about liberty, and I take a lot of things personally (some validly, some not), and in the heat of emotion I want to lash out and cause hurt to those that cause hurt. This is not good and I know it, but when I'm emotional I don't control myself well. Often with personal relationships, I have the wherewithal to say "I want to talk about this later because right now I'm too emotional about it and will make bad decision." I need to work on being able to do that (if not say it) when cops and judges and such are attacking liberty.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Yeah, nicely put, Marcel! 
One who calls people sheeple is:
name calling

Well, Duh!

[Pat K]

Yeah, nicely put, Marcel! 
One who calls people sheeple is:
name calling

Well, Duh!

Oh Lloyd is just at the top of his game lately
he must be starting every day with a big bowl
of Cranky Puffs. 

[Lloyd Danforth]