Wednesday, August 02, 2006

The Callousness of the Blogosphere

In the wake of tragedy, many are choosing inappropriately to make light of the situation.

A woman named "Florida Cracker" flippantly comments that "[t]he problem with antique stuffed animals is they always have some loose thread or button that needs to be pulled" and concludes "Barney announced he'd be checking into rehab." While it is probable that Barney sufferes from a chemical imbalance (most likely the problem is genetic since dobermans are a particularly vicious breed and a scourge to teddy bears everywhere), I would hardly describe being torn apart by vice-like jaws as "loose thread."

A blogger writing under the psuedonym "Lord Monsoon" makes a nearly identical joke regarding Barney's mental health:
[T]he dog has long struggled with an anger management problem. Part of West's duties at the museum is to take Barney to an animal psychiatrist once a week to work through his issues. Said West of Barney the dog's treatment:

"The dog's shrink thinks he's figured right out Barney's problem. He hates cats you see. Gives them the evil eye he does, like he's saying 'you f**king cats' and all. Barney tends to tie up with other dogs, and the shrink says that Barney must blame cats for all the dogfights in the world. Hells bells, the bloody mutt cast an eye on me when I finally took him down last night as if to say, 'Are you a cat?' Bloody hell that look it was, I tell you."

Barney the dog's psychiatrist was not immediately available for comment, but left a phone message with CM later saying he's seen Barney since his "episode" and can tell the dog is most apologetic, and is embarassed and deeply regrets his despicable act. But the dog himself has declined to comment.

The whole post strikes an inappropriately jocular tone and makes light of the death and mayhem. However, I did appreciate Lord Monsoon's observation that "the dog managed to destroy about 100 bears, evidently eluding the agility-impaired West." At the very least the security guard is inept; criminally negligent is more likely.

Generally, people on the web find the situation to be great fodder for juvenile comedy. The comments on this news site demonstrate a distinct lack of moral uneasiness as they share stories of calamity that has befallen teddy bears. I fail to see why the story is humorous much less "Hilarious!!" justifying a double exclamation point.

I have often read news accounts of depravity on the web. Little did I know it extends to a moral obtuseness regarding teddy bears.

3 Comments:

Blogger Conservative Monsoon ... And the rains came said...

Pudgy -- If my comedic treatment of the teddy bears destroyed at Wookey offends, my apologies. As I consider myself a historian of sorts, I feel the loss was tragic as irreplaceable antiquity. But I've always been of the mind that humor can sometimes make things better in the face of irreversible calamity. My sincere condolences.

Monsoon

8:34 AM  
Blogger The Teddy Bear Family said...

Bad, doggy!!! Bad, bad!!! We sure hope all those poor teddy bears, even if they're sadly stuck on shelves, instead of being hugged by their Peoples, can be repaired! Makes the fur on our spines raise up, and we don't even have spines! You go, Pudgy, and keep speaking the truth for all of us bears!

Regards from Your Fellow Teddy Bloggers,
Spaulding and Teddy

2:25 PM  
Blogger Gage the Bunny said...

Hello Pudgie. If I may offer a different view on the Wookey Hole massacre. I got this e-mail from my friend, Ash, who was in England at the time.

http://gagethebunny.blogspot.com/2006/08/email-from-england-warning-kinda-sad.html

It also explains why, in fact, Mabel WAS a very important part of the massacre.

I agree that the human media has made light of a terrible tragedy, but perhaps Barney is a hero to stuffie kind, and not a muderous villan.

There is some quesiton as to what happened to Barney after the massacre. Last report I read said that he'd been "sent to a farm where he can chase chickens". It is my sincere hope this is not a clever human euphimism for "killed".

Thank you for publicly speaking about this horrible event. It has been a great disaster for all of stuffie kind.

All the best, Gage the Bunny

8:31 PM  

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