icyfire4w5
Phoenix
Joined: Sep 10, 2011
Posts: 569
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 Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:05 am Post subject: How/Why is such a statement offensive? |
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| I knew a guy who got a lot of flak for posting "Dogs outnumber people in society." |
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TheChamelion
Raven
Joined: Dec 17, 2011
Age: 18
Posts: 105
Location: Australia.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:11 am Post subject: Re: How/Why is such a statement offensive? |
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| icyfire4w5 wrote: | | I knew a guy who got a lot of flak for posting "Dogs outnumber people in society." |
It might be people think he's trying to say dogs are more import or something then humans are.
Or people might also think that he's calling most humans 'dogs'.
Or it might also be that people think he doesn't value humans very much.
In our society most 'encode' what they're saying a bit so people might think this is like that and not just a statement. (Well all this is my theory at least, and could be very wrong)
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Rax
Sea Gull
Joined: Nov 16, 2011
Posts: 226
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 2:39 am Post subject: |
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I honestly can't see why that would be offensive. I'm pretty normal for an Aspie and I have got nothing logical.
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cozysweater
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 06, 2011
Posts: 570
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 2:55 am Post subject: |
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| He got flak for posting that here? What was the context? |
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ChrisP
Sea Gull
Joined: Jul 18, 2011
Posts: 203
Location: La France profonde
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| Some people would be offended by someone possibly implying that dogs are part of 'society'. There are (at least!) two ways of reading the statement! |
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kojot
Blue Jay
Joined: Feb 18, 2012
Age: 28
Posts: 95
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:38 am Post subject: Re: How/Why is such a statement offensive? |
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| icyfire4w5 wrote: | | I knew a guy who got a lot of flak for posting "Dogs outnumber people in society." |
First of all, I'd think it implies dogs are more important than humans.
Secondly, it states that dogs are part of human society (which IMHO is false). |
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Tauri
Emu Egg
Joined: Mar 20, 2012
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:33 am Post subject: Re: How/Why is such a statement offensive? |
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| icyfire4w5 wrote: | | I knew a guy who got a lot of flak for posting "Dogs outnumber people in society." |
I feel like it's impossible to tell without context. However, if that statement was posted alone, without context, I'd assume that:
"Society" is meant to be comprised entirely of humans.
"People" is intended to mean "ethical humans."
"Dogs" is intended to informally mean "unethical humans," or "contemptible people."
By saying that "dogs outnumber people in society," then, he'd be saying that society as a whole is largely contemptible and wicked. Some readers would probably find that offensive.
But, if that statement is meant to be taken literally (i.e. "dogs" is intended to mean "fuzzy, four-legged animals") I have absolutely no idea whatsoever why it would be offensive. |
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kojot
Blue Jay
Joined: Feb 18, 2012
Age: 28
Posts: 95
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 3:13 pm Post subject: Re: How/Why is such a statement offensive? |
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| Tauri wrote: | | icyfire4w5 wrote: | | I knew a guy who got a lot of flak for posting "Dogs outnumber people in society." |
I feel like it's impossible to tell without context. However, if that statement was posted alone, without context, I'd assume that:
"Society" is meant to be comprised entirely of humans.
"People" is intended to mean "ethical humans."
"Dogs" is intended to informally mean "unethical humans," or "contemptible people."
By saying that "dogs outnumber people in society," then, he'd be saying that society as a whole is largely contemptible and wicked. Some readers would probably find that offensive.
But, if that statement is meant to be taken literally (i.e. "dogs" is intended to mean "fuzzy, four-legged animals") I have absolutely no idea whatsoever why it would be offensive. |
Ooo, I'd never came up with this interpretation. I took it literally  Thanks. |
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icyfire4w5
Phoenix
Joined: Sep 10, 2011
Posts: 569
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:50 am Post subject: |
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To all: Hi, thank you for all your replies. Um, this statement was originally posted on Facebook. I don't grasp the full story behind this statement, though you may wish to Google "Sun Xu" if you would like to have more details. If I remembered correctly, the guy posted this statement after remarking that he had encountered "ungracious old men" before. When he apologized for bumping into these "ungracious old men", they stared at him and muttered angrily instead of accepting his apologies.
As an Aspie, I'm very puzzled why so many netizens are angered by this statement that dogs outnumber people in society...
1. I myself have made various statements (online and offline) comparing humans to animals. Since I'm human too, I have no intention whatsoever to offend fellow humans. I merely want to highlight that we humans all have primitive (animal-like) traits lurking within our psyches. We can suppress these traits, but we can't pretend that these traits don't exist at all. Personally, I see myself, a homo sapien, as a member of the Hominidae family in the animal kingdom. I consider chimps and bonobos as my close cousins; gorillas and orang utans as my distant relatives. The only animal-related term that offends me is "b***h".
2. I assume that the only type of people who might be offended by this statement are the "ungracious old men" mentioned earlier. If the word "dogs" is meant as an insult, it is directed at those "ungracious old men", not directed at every member of society, so why are so many netizens offended?
I'm not American; but I assume that most of you here are Americans. I've heard that in the US, there is the First Amendment that protects the freedom of speech. If so, won't laws against hate speech violate the First Amendment? |
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hanyo
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 01, 2011
Posts: 3456
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:32 am Post subject: |
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I don't understand how anyone can find that offensive. Either there are more dogs than people which makes it true or or there are more people than dogs in which case you would tell them that it was not true.
Doing some quick searches on Google tells me that this is not true. As of June 2011 there are 311,591,917 people in the US. One site I looked at said that there are 78.2 million owned dogs in the US. I suppose that doesn't count every dog and doesn't count strays but I'd say that there are more people than dogs.
That may be different in other countries.
Edit: After looking stuff up on Google I can see why they were offended. He was referring to a group of people as dogs which is generally used to insult people. Out of context I just took it literally as a factual statement (although it wasn't true). |
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MONKEY
Sunshine Groovetrip
Joined: Jan 04, 2009
Age: 20
Posts: 9775
Location: Stoke, England (sometimes :P)
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:34 am Post subject: |
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| icyfire4w5 wrote: | To all: Hi, thank you for all your replies. Um, this statement was originally posted on Facebook. I don't grasp the full story behind this statement, though you may wish to Google "Sun Xu" if you would like to have more details. If I remembered correctly, the guy posted this statement after remarking that he had encountered "ungracious old men" before. When he apologized for bumping into these "ungracious old men", they stared at him and muttered angrily instead of accepting his apologies.
As an Aspie, I'm very puzzled why so many netizens are angered by this statement that dogs outnumber people in society...
1. I myself have made various statements (online and offline) comparing humans to animals. Since I'm human too, I have no intention whatsoever to offend fellow humans. I merely want to highlight that we humans all have primitive (animal-like) traits lurking within our psyches. We can suppress these traits, but we can't pretend that these traits don't exist at all. Personally, I see myself, a homo sapien, as a member of the Hominidae family in the animal kingdom. I consider chimps and bonobos as my close cousins; gorillas and orang utans as my distant relatives. The only animal-related term that offends me is "b***h".
2. I assume that the only type of people who might be offended by this statement are the "ungracious old men" mentioned earlier. If the word "dogs" is meant as an insult, it is directed at those "ungracious old men", not directed at every member of society, so why are so many netizens offended?
I'm not American; but I assume that most of you here are Americans. I've heard that in the US, there is the First Amendment that protects the freedom of speech. If so, won't laws against hate speech violate the First Amendment? |
 You read my mind.
I consider actual dogs (not the insult version) to be part of society, dogs have been an extra member of the family or workforce for thousands of years.
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Brodi56
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Feb 28, 2012
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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Reminds me of another quote.
"The more I know about people, the better I like my dog."
-- Mark Twain
I wasn't the least bit offended by the FB post. |
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