Iran confiscates pets.

[Catherine]

This is a terrible thing. Iran is cracking down on pets because they think it is a Western thing.  People's pets are confiscated for "vaccination", but are actually being killed.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0


This is a shameful abuse of power and is not actually legal.  As one person put it, are all the other problems solved that there are resources to go after people's pets.

I can't imagine why they would do this. It is as if they don't want people to have anything good in their lives. Everything should be miserable. The little bit of happiness a dog brings is too threatening for  some people.

[Tobi]

This is unbelievable!
Of course it isn't legal. Technically it is theft of a person's property.

Those poor dogs, and those poor families who love them.

What an outright evil place!

[Catherine]

There are so many stupid evils in the world. What harm does someone's pet dog cause anyone else. Certainly their society is not harmed by the presence of a few dogs.

How insecure they must be if a few dogs make them feel threatened.

[LPC]

Views within Islam vary. Some schools of thought have called for the destruction of all dogs. This would seem to be behind this latest cull, which is being done by stealth: taking people's dogs away under pretence of veterinary treatment, then killing them. Religious scholars in Iran are mostly in favour of getting rid of all dogs, but at a popular level many ordinary people like having a dog as a pet. To kill all dogs in the country would cause such an uproar that religious leaders have chosen a more cunning method to get rid of dogs - by stealth, and in one area at a time.

There is an excellent review of the issue of dogs in Islam here:
http://www.scholarofthehouse.org/dinistrandna.html

The Maliki school of Islam disputes that dogs are unclean (see article), but sadly most of the other schools in general regard dogs as unclean. Some allow dogs to be kept for guarding or hunting. Others urge the destruction of dogs generally (such as the latest surreptitious campaign in Iran).

This phenomenon is not restricted to Muslim countries. Muslims in various western countries have been pushing for dogs to be banned in public, or for the possession of dogs to be criminalised. See https://www.sott.net/article/240934-Stir...-in-Europe

Members may remember that some while ago I mentioned the case of a blind person with a guide dog being refused access to a public bus. There are more examples here: https://www.sott.net/article/240934-Stir...-in-Europe

Sorry, Catherine! My post goes beyond the article you cited about Iran. But the issue of dogs being banned or even killed is an issue which is very worrying, and it is spreading worldwide.

[Tobi]

It is all utter superstitious nonsense under the guise of 'religion'.
Those things have done human Souls nothing but harm from the year dot.

Not only that, but to invade the belief systems of other cultures, in other countries? That is the greatest audacity.
Those people are entitled to their beliefs, however erroneous, but they have no right, legally or morally, to lay down twisted psychotic ways of behaviour among those in other countries whose belief systems do not support such atrocities.

This is just as bad as the Nazis hating and eliminating Jews (for their own twisted psychotic reasons.)

Any non-compassionate religious beliefs do us no good. We would be better off listening to our own Souls.

The people who love dogs ought to get together and fight back. With whatever means at their disposal. I would have bashed anyone who even thought of hurting my Misty. Right royally, and into next week at least.

[Catherine]

Quote:Sorry, Catherine! My post goes beyond the article you cited about Iran. But the issue of dogs being banned or even killed is an issue which is very worrying, and it is spreading worldwide.

Thank-you for expanding the issue. It clearly is part of a bigger problem.

For some reason human beings create religions that ban things. It is terrible when it is dogs because there are lives at stake. Sometimes it has been alcohol or dancing that is condemned. Gambling is often banned because of religion. There is a religion that bans tea and coffee, but does drink hot chocolate. There is no logic to these things, but people feel righteous if they follow some random rule.
Declaring dogs unclean and getting rid of them gives them a sense of being right and somehow better than the rest of us.

To be better they should act better. They could be really good people who do good things for others. That would take work and a person would actually need to be a better person. It is much easier to denounce dogs and dog owners. You don't have to be a good person to do that and it takes no personal effort.

We just have to keep fighting this narrow thinking. It isn't just Iran and it isn't just dogs. Right now one religion tends to be the focus of this, but it isn't one particular religion. All religions go through phases like this and they need to grow up and be more mature in their actions and beliefs.

For now we can feel for the pain of Iranian pet owners and if we can help we will.

[Tobi]

I don't know what is supposed to be so unclean about dogs.
Okay they lick their behinds, and sometimes roll in things. But an average non-rolling dog who hasn't had a bath for 6 months doesn't smell anything LIKE as bad as a human who hasn't had a shower for 2 weeks!
But then, cats lick their behinds as well, and more frequently than dogs. And so do other creatures.

I have smelled worse smells in the library (populated by non-rolling humans who think they are a super-species) than I have ever smelled with a pack of dogs.

Our dear friend Jet is an exception....

[Catherine]

I agree. most dogs smell fine unless they have been rolling something bad. Try riding a crowded bus on a hot day and you will wish it was full of dogs.
Usually when something gets labeled as unclean The problem is with the labeller and not the creature being labeled.

Even a dirty dog will wash up and smell clean. Dirty people takes a bit more work.

Nasty evil people don't clean up at all. They are dirty on the inside and that doesn't wash off.

I am sure Jet was just fine no matter what he had been rolling in.

[LPC]

(06-29-2016, 02:21 PM)Catherine Wrote: Nasty evil people don't clean up at all. They are dirty on the inside and that doesn't wash off.

Very well put, Catherine! It is who and what we are that matters, not superstitions about dogs being unclean.

[Catherine]

I can't imagine where people got the idea that we should call some things unclean.

It rates up there with superstitions and they don't make sense either.