Cruelty to Animals = Cruelty to Human Beings

This wasn't the post I was intending to make today, but due to things I learned yesterday, I felt like sharing my feelings on the matter of how we treat animals and how that reflects upon us as human beings.  I suppose I should give it a Trigger warning.

Yesterday, from a random Facebook post petitioning against Ashley Nicole Richards*, I learned about 'Crush' videos or animal crushing.  Apparently its been around for a while, but being the naive individual I am, I hadn't heard about it before.  If you don't know what it is, its videos that depict animals being tortured to death by humans. What's worse is that the videos are apparently produced to satisfy the sexual fetishes of those who watch them.  In the case of Ms. Richards, she dressed in dominatrix gear.  I have never seen one of these videos but on a search through the webverse (because I wasn't sure this was a real thing or not) there were plenty of descriptions of what went on in these videos to make me sick to my stomach: some descriptions in regards to the court case involved Ashley Nicole Richards and videos featuring her.  A run down of the situation can be seen here: http://www.houstonpress.com/2013-05-16/news/ashley-nicole-richards/  (It can be pretty graphic in the depictions of the videos and what goes on).

Basically Richards and Brent Wayne Justice (who filmed Richards) were charged after a video in which Richards tortured and killed a cat made its way to PETA. In it, Richards is dressed in few clothes and heels, first immobilizes, then tortures and eventually kills a cat.  You'd think that would be the end of it as justice was finally being served, but that isn't the case.  A federal judge determined that the videos contained no obscenities and that the charges actually violated their First Amendment rights.  The judge in this case determined that “the acts depicted in animal crush videos may be ‘patently offensive’ under community standards, but under no set of community standards does violence toward animals constitute ‘sexual conduct.’” While Richards and Justice are still in custody for animal cruelty, I am left still feeling sick over this.

I was told when I posted about this to Facebook that yes, these 'Crush' videos exist and that like 'snuff' films, there are a lot of fakes.  But, that means there are still real ones, as in the case of Richards and Justice.  Sometimes there are people that send their animals to the people who make these videos and pay to have the animal tortured and killed.  People make a living doing this.

In another case, a man tied explosives to the family dog and blew it up.  Horrific, yes, but he won't be facing charges of animal cruelty.  Why?  Because according to the authorities, the animal didn't suffer.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/06/christopher-dillingham-blows-up-dog_n_3713681.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

These are just a few situations in which the treatment of animals is unnecessarily cruel - where people go out of their way to torture or kill an animal which, for all intents and purposes, has done nothing to warrant it.  Yet we, as a civilized Western culture (as we like to claim) see nothing wrong with it and do not consider it to be that much of a crime.  Certainly I would not expect the same uproar over the death of a dog as that to a child.  I'm not a crazy animal lover shouting that we should kill all the people so animals can live free.  I'm not saying don't hunt animals or eat them.  But there is something inherently wrong with a society that doesn't put any weight upon the torture and death of animals.  Because, in my opinion, it reflects on underlying issue in that society. 

I have always been sensitive to the treatment of animals.  When I was little, I'd watch the news and apparently it affected me deeply as my Mother noticed I was drawing animals being hurt and hunted by people.  I had whole little books on the subject.  My Mother didn't allow me to watch the news any more after seeing what I'd drawn but I do specifically recall a story on men beating baby seals with clubs that haunted me.  So, I'm aware I'm coming from a place of emotion in a lot of ways.  When I got older I watched Animal Cops for a bit, but found that the sense of justice I longed for against those that harmed animals was not really there and seeing those poor creatures suffer was still hard for me.  In the end, the people charged never really understood what the big deal was.  They didn't get that what they had done was wrong.  They were only angry that they'd gotten caught and because of the dog or cat or horse, they now had to pay a fine or spend a few nights in jail.  Chances were, it only created animosity towards animals because to them, it was just a stupid animal.  Who cares?

I am Jewish and Judaism places great stress on proper treatment of animals. Unnecessary cruelty to animals is strictly forbidden, and in many cases, animals are accorded the same sensitivity as human beings.  For a full reading on it, you can look here: http://www.jewfaq.org/animals.htm  (its actually very interesting!) Part of the reason for this thinking is that a person who is cruel to a defenseless animal will undoubtedly be cruel to defenseless people.  Judaism doesn't say whether or not animals have physical or psychological pain as humans do, or if they have feelings like humans do - but it recognizes that it doesn't matter, you don't have the right to unduly cause an animal suffering.  Yes, the Lord gave man dominion over the earth and that includes animals, but it does not give man the right to cause pain and destruction.
Speaking up on the treatment of animals previously has gotten me a response of "Well if people worried more about children and other human beings as much as you do animals..." As if to say, I should worry more about my species than another.  Please don't think I don't care about children or adults or the suffering of other human beings.  I do.  Very deeply.  The point here is that, if we can be casual about how animals are treated, then it isn't a long step to be casual about how people are treated.  Its pretty well known that serial killers or people with severe cruel aspects will start on animals before moving on to people.  Harming animals is their testing ground, their first steps before moving on to something bigger.  How much do we let slide in the way we deal with things like animal torture or killing? 

I'm sickened by the idea of the 'Crush' videos as much as by any snuff video or even a cell phone video taken while a person is tortured, raped, abused and killed (which sadly, there are in existence).  My point here is that it is a true reflection of our mentality if we don't consider such things as torturing animals an issue.  It IS an issue.  It says something about us as human beings, put on this earth, as a society in a 'modern' culture.  What is our worth if we cannot treat animals with some sense of respect?  Even if you don't believe they have emotions and are just 'some dumb animal', what does it say about you if you can't manage to treat that defenseless creature well?  To me, it says a lot.  We are the caretakers of the earth and we need to teach that to our children even as they innocently pull a dog's tail, that there is a living creature beside them and it deserves to live its life without the pain of torture for the sake of torture just as much as he or she does.  If we can't manage that, how can we manage it in regards to our fellow man?


*While there are many images of Ashley Nicole Richards and pictures of animals, I have chosen not to post any here.  I know pictures make blog posts more interesting, but considering the sensitivity of what I'm talking about, I didn't want to use any.  This is my opinion and not just a fun posting for the sake of it.  Richards and Justice are people you can look up on the internet as well as 'Crush' videos if you want to learn more.