Lets Ban Stupid People

What is fear? When it all comes down to it the human mind is only scared of one thing, things we don’t know. Fear is the ignorance of what can hurt us. A young kid would see a monster in their closet and turn on light to only find a sweater, a harmless thing which once gave fear now harmless. Knowledge is often thought of as a light, showing us just facts, as man kind progresses we tend to look more at the facts. But why is it when we hear about violence we suddenly go back to our old ways and assume we know everything? Some hear the headline “Man Mauled by Dog” face it we all to do the same thing we picture the scariest looking dog we could possibly think of, pushing our imagination to the limit creating our own personal monster. This thought process, unfortunately, has labeled many pit bulls as a threat, for simply being a pit bull. So in 2004 a pit bull ban was placed in the city of Denver.

Since that ban an estimated three dogs a day have been euthanized. It doesn’t even matter if the dog doesn’t have pit bull in them, if they fit any characteristic they are ordered to leave the city or be seized by the authorities and put down. Let’s take a look at different breeds of dog, when I say Labrador most picture a loyal and faithful dog. However say the words “pit bull” the response is very different. Being a pit bull owner I have seen many different reactions the response varies from person to person. The most common response is an “Oh really?” then followed by many questions involving the dogs behavior and history.

Of course you probably understand why, there is still pit bulls bred for fighting and you never know how a dog will act. Admittedly there are pit bulls with forced aggression that are very dangerous to society, but they aren’t simply born that way. In every case of aggression with pits it’s because of a neglective owner. An owner raising a pit for fighting abuses the dog, hoping to make it stronger and making it lose its trust for humans. Which leads to aggressive behavior, however any dog could be trained to fight but because of negative media attention to the fighting rings it attracts the worse types of owners to pit bulls in particular. Most people picture a pit as a muscular monster ready to kill anything that moves. It’s because of this stereotype that the ban has been put in place.

I have a friend who owns pit bulls and one day the three of them got out of their yard. These dogs were probably some of the nicest and well behaved dogs you could ever meet in a life time. They were taught never to be afraid of people, which in the end was the thing that killed one of the dogs, Cisco. When a dog is lost they often run up to any people that are outside, seeking help or just a friend. A man was outside and when Cisco ran up to him. The man ran into the house, got a gun and shot him point blank in the head, killing him instantly. His reason for killing Cisco was because he seemed “threatening” because I’m sure if you saw a dog running up to you tail wagging ready to lick your face the first thing you would think is ‘Where’s my gun?’But the question is would the man have acted differently if a golden retriever had run up to him?

It’s because of this stereotype that people fear pit bulls. The man who shot Cisco didn’t care to see if he was a threat, fueled by ignorance and a common fear he took the life of an innocent dog. With that same ignorance that the pit bull ban was put in place; people will do anything for peace of mind.  If the word pit-bull gives a mental picture what does the word genocide make you think?