Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/08/teacher-who-fed-puppy-to-snapp.html
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Cruelty to animals is a precursor to murdering humans.
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My guess is that we’re eventually all going to be hearing the media telling us Robert Crosland’s middle name, and neighbors explain how he was such a “nice, quiet young man.”
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But, I like animals. Can’t I skip that first step?
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Keep in mind, though,‘Not Guilty’ does not equal ‘Free of Consequence’.
The fact that you’re reading about this online means Crosland’s teaching career is toast. What school board is going to want this psychopath anywhere near their students?
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I know we like to blame everything bad on Trump, but this is not a new thing.
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Not for a second.
“Crosland continues to teach for the Preston School District and he feels “a lot of relief” with the not guilty verdict.”
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So I have to ask the teacher why? I get the point of “Hey its a sickly animal and it can become part of the food chain” (Fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat view)…its a rather bleak and dispassionate viewpoint I do not entirely buy into in this case, but I at least understand that rationale. I still ask why? Why have a snapping turtle in your classroom? Why feed the puppy to it? Why do it in front of the students?
In the end there were a lot of unnecessary conditions in the chain of events. I do not think he should be charged with animal cruelty, but I also do not think what he did was right/ok. And I for one would not want him teaching my kids.
As for the other video…yeah…as someone with a real issue with German Shepards I can understand being in fear or feeling super defensive about a dog…but a Chihuahua? And shooting one on top of that?!? Come on that is absolutely reprehensible.
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Well OK, as long as the consequence is that the snapping turtle gets unfettered access to some of Mr. Crosland’s sensitive fleshy bits.
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Seeing these two stories back to back reminded me that the worst thing about the age of Trump is that it makes a virtue of cruelty.
That right there is the Republican mindset in a nutshell. The only real purpose of religion and morality is to justify their own cruelty. And believe me, many will be crying for all sorts of cruelty being inflicted upon those who were cruel to the puppers, as now they can be justified in their cruelty.
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The Trump part is the freeing of sadists from shame and guilt. He is the flowering that follows "not to restrain cruelty but to free it and make clear the absense of consequences. "
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I hope there is some kind of professional conduct rule tied to his employment that he’s in violation of. I wouldn’t want this psycho teaching my kid.
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I hope they checked his basement out.
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But I can see another charge being brought: child abuse, or some analogous charge. It seems to me the primary problem here isn’t the death of the puppy (though that’s bad enough), but the doing-it-in-front-of-children.
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I can’t help feeling like the article linked in the post has a much less sensational tone and makes it pretty clear that the turtle feeding wasn’t some cruel act perpetrated by a monster, and the county even seized and killed his turtle as a result of the story’s virulence. https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/01/science-teacher-who-fed-sick-puppy-to-turtle-feels-a-lot-of-relief-after-not-guilty-verdict/
That said, the cop who shot the dog is a huge piece of shit. Worlds of difference. One sounds bad as a headline, but the other is overtly cruel and wildly dangerous.
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And no veterinarian was ever consulted, as far as I can tell. But of course, why would they? If it had been sick, they wouldn’t have gotten it back.
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I just want to barf.
What about the kids who had to watch that? What did it do to them?
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What if the truth is worse than your assumpton?
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There is an argument I’ve heard over and over again recently as the foundation of people’s outlook and it scares me because the idea goes like this: It’s what’s natural. As if the optimal state for a human is feral.
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Lack of empathy for anyone who seems different (gender, skin colour, religion, economic class, species, etc.) seems to be the hallmark of the modern American movement conservatism, as well one defining factor of another condition afflicting some humans. [Obligatory reminder that correlation != causation.]
Lack of remorse, you say? That seems familiar, too.
That’s the mind-boggling part for me. The law is sometimes an ass, but the school board and administrators have their own rules. Teachers have been sacked for inappropriate behaviour that didn’t have the potential to traumatise a whole classroom of teenagers* with an animal snuff show.
[* ETA: the assent of the students aside, I doubt they were truly prepared for the spectacle]
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