Comparing the instinctual behaviour of a cat with no capability of rational or moral thought to that of a seemingly grown adult?
Really?
So cats are just inherently evil? Do you really believe that?

BEWARE THE DEVIL CATS!!!!!

The comparison exists only in your fevered imagination. It is a fact that garden birds can’t defend themselves against cats. In no way does that suggest a moral equivalence.

Regarding instinct, the point is moot: cats only exist in the numbers they do because they are fed and housed by humans. So the massacre of garden birds is also humans fault.

Massacre of garden birds? It is a natural instinct for cats to hunt, we didn’t invent them in a lab you know (don’t you?)
It is not natural for us to want to swing them around for fun.
If you cannot see the difference then you really need to have a stern word with yourself or if incapable, get someone else to.

It is not natural for us to want to swing them around for fun.

Ah, so this youth is unnatural?

I mean seriously, have you never done harm to another living thing?
Kicked a cat? Pushed a pelican? Choked a chicken? Tickled a turkey? Poisoned a rat?

It’s perfectly natural for us to want to swing them around for fun. Fortunately, most of us have evolved sufficiently to realise that it’s not acceptable for all our primal instincts to be acted upon, and that actions have undesirable consequences (such as distress and injury of an animal).

Comparing the instinctual behaviour of a cat with no capability of rational or moral thought to that of a seemingly grown adult?

All of this frothing and gnashing about a cat you have never met makes me wonder how rational and moral a lot of you outraged types really are.

How much of this outrage is in fact your instinctive reaction? A reaction that you would have a great deal of trouble suppressing through the use of clear thinking and moral wisdom. Probably about the same trouble that this lad has controlling his behaviour towards the cat or indeed the cat has controlling his behaviour towards mice.

How much control do any of us really have over our instincts and why should we declare others cruel (cats or people) based on our own values.

The fact that alot of you have leapt off the deep end to label this lad a ‘chav’ when you have no idea of his background and are willing to stereotype based on your own shallow assumptions somewhat belies how enlightened and morally superior you really are.

Massacre of garden birds? It is a natural instinct for cats to hunt, we didn’t invent them in a lab you know (don’t you?)

In your desire to froth with self-righteous indignation you’ve missed the fundamental point that there’s nothing natural about keeping domesticated animals as pets. Domestic cats don’t need to hunt. Domestic cats don’t need to torture mice. They do so because they feel like it.

I’ve already pointed out that there’s not a moral equivalence with a human torturing a cat. One wonders if you skipped English comprehension classes.

One wonders if you skipped English comprehension classes.

If you did that on purpose, that’s tremendous.

The fact that alot of you have leapt off the deep end to label this lad a ‘chav’ when you have no idea of his background and are willing to stereotype based on your own shallow assumptions somewhat belies how enlightened and morally superior you really are.

Yes he is a volunteer charity worker with the homeless by night and by day he teaches moral philosophy and ethics. He a aproper good egg who just got led astray that one time.

All of this frothing and gnashing about a cat you have never met makes me wonder how rational and moral a lot of you outraged types really are.

I can assure you that I am not frothing. However, I do fail to see how this could be funny. No rationalisation could persuade me otherwise.

How much of this outrage is in fact your instinctive reaction? A reaction that you would have a great deal of trouble suppressing through the use of clear thinking and moral wisdom.

No instinct involved just a well developed sense of right and wrong (moral wisdom if you will) formed over a few decades. Do no harm to those who do no harm to you. We cannot expect an animal to share these values but we can expect a person to.

How much control do any of us really have over our instincts and

Quite a bloody lot I hope.

why should we declare others cruel (cats or people) based on our own values.

So your values see this cruelty as OK?
I will and do label this individual a chav, much as I do anyone whom I regard as a scumbag. Maybe my definition of the word is slightly different to yours.

One wonders if you skipped English comprehension classes.

Oh, does one?
I do not need to insult you, your comments tell us all we need to know.

The fact that alot of you have leapt off the deep end to label this lad a ‘chav’ when you have no idea of his background and are willing to stereotype based on your own shallow assumptions somewhat belies how enlightened and morally superior you really are

Did someone really think that? And then type it out? Seriously?
Well f me sideways.

Oh, does one?
I do not need to insult you, your comments tell us all we need to know.

Except you already have. Thus proving, in the unlikely event that anyone was still in doubt, that you struggle with English comprehension.

I hate cats but would never do that to one; I wonder if he’s available for hire?

To be fair I would quite happily do that to the little feline swines who constantly crap on my drive and lawn. I would release it like a hammer throw though.

I will and do label this individual a chav, much as I do anyone whom I regard as a scumbag. Maybe my definition of the word is slightly different to yours.

Yes he is a volunteer charity worker with the homeless by night and by day he teaches moral philosophy and ethics. He a aproper good egg who just got led astray that one time.

I personally find the term ‘chav’ offensive for a few reasons. Most of them under the umbrella of social deprivation. Many people are scared to behave and dress in a way that distinguishes themselves from others. In a lot of these environments kids can only afford cheap sports wear and are likely to come in for a lot of flak if they differentiate themselves from the norm.

Most of them are good, honest kids who have been forced into behaving in a certain way because their environment punishes those who are different. Not, you understand, by sneering at them from afar (say, on an internet forum where they would be derided for being illiterate and wearing cheap clothing or riding a halfords special) but by following them home and threatening the security of their families and lives. For lots of kids, affiliating with groups is the only way to try to stay safe but no doubt you think that is their fault and they should just stop being scumbag chavs. Nice one moral majority.

To label them as ‘other’ is lazy and stupid, it takes a little more to look deeper into the reasons why people behave the way they do rather than just looking at the behaviour.

I have made no assertion as to whether the lad in the film is being cruel. In this case he probably is but I cannot say for sure, let alone get excited about it.

When I watched the video I did laugh though, not because it is the way I would behave but because I am often suprised at the weird behaviour of people. I think that laughing is usually done in response to witnessing something that is wrong or does not compute within our own morality. I reckon it might be an instinctive, evolved behaviour to enable us to handle the many terrible and often traumatic things that happed to us in our lives, you know the saying, ‘if you don’t laugh you’ll cry!’

I did laugh, but I am not a bad person, though no doubt you will not hear that over the jungle drums of your instinct clouding your ability to reason the matter.

DezB – You love it.

I can’t read all that, but THERE’S bloody VIDEO FOOTAGE of him BEING A CHAV. What more do you need??
*sigh*

I like the way you cant be sure about whether swinging a cat from its tail is cruel 😯 |No offence but I am not sure i can atke the rest of what you say seriously

Most of them are good, honest kids who have been forced into behaving in a certain way because their environment punishes those who are different.

What- the chavs do the punishing and plenty of young pweoel manage to be “different” ie not chavs – whay ar ethey not forced into chavdom?

Not, you understand, by sneering at them from afar (say, on an internet forum where they would be derided for being illiterate and wearing cheap clothing or riding a halfords special) but by following them home and threatening the security of their families and lives.

Yes everywhere is plagued by gangs of chaves making emos become chavs or muslims or they do something illdefined to you and your family home – is this like some PC daily Mail paradoy?

For lots of kids, affiliating with groups is the only way to try to stay safe but no doubt you think that is their fault and they should just stop being scumbag chavs. Nice one moral majority.

Dont live somewhere that has gang culture so cannot really comment.
I have worked with those labelled as chavsand for want of a lengthy intelectual STW debate they tend to be bad uns and they tend to come from poor [ not just financially but emotionally / morally] backgrounds. They are both victims and perpetrators.

I can’t read all that, but THERE’S bloody VIDEO FOOTAGE of him BEING A CHAV

Show me the Burberry!

ahw **** it, I am not here to argue about chavs, or cats for that matter, just wanted to poke the frothing types for whom everything is so black and white.

He’s a chav. Chavs are bad and cats are nice. String him up etc etc…

This thread would be a perfect place to start my gene pool cleansing experiment…..

This thread would be a perfect place to start my gene pool cleansing experiment

To be honest if you are leaving pools of your genes around the place, you really need to be cleaning it up anyway.

looks like this found its way onto C**t of the Day
http://www.shrubmonkey.com/

Really? Talk about melodrama…

Not really melodramatic at all, it’s a perfectly reasonable point. To do such a thing you have to be pretty screwed up, childish and pathetic, hardly worthy of being called a “man”.

good shout cougar, can I edit slightly?

It’s perfectly natural for us to want to swing them around for fun beat the crap out of people who abuse animals. Fortunately, most of us have evolved sufficiently to realise that it’s not acceptable for all our primal instincts to be acted upon, and that actions have undesirable consequences

Quality keyboard fothing/warrioring on this thread. (Certainly not defending the tool on the vid BTW)

This thread would be a perfect place to start my gene pool cleansing experiment…..

Yep