A callous act

mrk said:
Hmm?
It was someone's pet, have you ever had a pet? They're members of the family in all degrees.

Nobody is saying putting the cat to one side was wrong, nobody is saying he should have given it mouth to mouth or nursed it until it stopped breathing just to give it a bit more comfort.

The problem with what he did has already been told in the article and what people are upset about.

The man flung the cat swinging it by its tail.

He then proceeded to mouth off to other members of the public before driving off aggressively.

The man has issues that need seeing to because normal people who can control themselves don't do things like that.
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I was talking in a broad sense, and trying to highlight that people can be under stress or in emotional turmoil that we don't know about. This can cause their behaviour to be out of character, and dare I say it callous.

I did say I was playing devils advocate, but I think it is a point worth bearing in mind. Sometimes good decent people can do terrible things because they are not in control of their emotions.

This guy might have just been a pillock. But, he may have problems with family or life in general and at that moment it all came to a head and he snapped.

If anything I am trying to highlight the general outrage and judgement of this individual is based on information that does not give all of the facts (as always). He may well be at home right now feeling shamed of himself. Maybe not, but we don't know do we?

Just like we don't know what his mental and emotional state was at the time.

I agree it is not normal behaviour. But then, have you never done anything really out of character before in your life?

Oh and yes, I have pets. Two cats in fact.

By the way - general road courtesy would have been to pull the car off the road and allow the traffic to flow past. That road is quite busy, and there are ample side roads to move into, or they could have pulled on to the pavement.

Likewise, the concerned onlookers could have moved the cat out of the way themselves, but they didn't.

Having had cats killed by cars myself I know it is heart breaking. But it is hardly the same as a child being hit by a car is it? I can understand how road users might be grieved by someone blocking the road to stand around looking at a dying cat when they could have moved out the way and let the traffic past.

It is akin to rubber necking on the motorway, and frankly something to be avoided.
 
BuffetSlayer said:
But then, have you never done anything really out of character before in your life?.
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I know what you're trying to say but nothing in this incident points to any of those things to bear in mind. The guy was a bit of a tool, acted a tool and showed everyone at the scene he was a tool accordingly.

To answer the quote above, no not really. Everyone does silly things every once in a while but but we control ourselves before things get out of hand and I'd like to think if someone does do something out of character that they will later make it right in one way or another anyway.

From the news article about this story from what people have been quoted in it saying the guy just sounded like your everyday tool on the road. There are plenty of them about!
 
If I was tending to one of my cats in the road and some douche tried what he did I wouldn't be held responsible for my reaction.

Some people have zero compassion/respect for anyone else around them.
 
BunnyKillBot said:
Some very typical GD posts here, from the testosterone filled baby men keyboard warriors, who are well 'ard brah. :p Have a nice life

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I'm "well 'ard" because I wouldn't have fannied around wringing my hands like the people who were putting their school blazers over it?

Or heavens above citing savage retributions against the chap that did the action?

I'd comment more negatively on your potential in life, but equal opportunities and all that jazz.
 
neil_g said:
If I was tending to one of my cats in the road and some douche tried what he did I wouldn't be held responsible for my reaction.

Some people have zero compassion/respect for anyone else around them.
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You'd be held responsible in court :) and rightfully so.
 
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I honestly don't understand why none of the "crowd of onlookers" took it upon themselves to just cradle the poor thing and take it to the pavement/verge, lie it there and stroke it while it passed (assuming it was placid and not going into wild cat-must-shred-everything-in-reach-before-death's-grip mode).

The bloke acted like a complete tool in doing what he did. Not sure he deserves serious retribution, but he's clearly not somebody I'd ever want to be associated with.
 
I find it utterly bizarre that no one wrapped it up and took it to a vet, instead just stood around it in awe. I know I certainly would have tried to help the poor little sod.
 
Pestilence said:
I honestly don't understand why none of the "crowd of onlookers" took it upon themselves to just cradle the poor thing and take it to the pavement/verge, lie it there and stroke it while it passed (assuming it was placid and not going into wild cat-must-shred-everything-in-reach-before-death's-grip mode).

The bloke acted like a complete tool in doing what he did. Not sure he deserves serious retribution, but he's clearly not somebody I'd ever want to be associated with.
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I don't know. The piece led me to believe that no one moved the cat. At the same time Mr do it right now at any cost comes along. It's all a bit silly after that and the cat definately died when it definately could have lived. Some pants bizarrely in right knots second guessing whether or not the throwing was a contributing factor to the cats death. After the alleged existing head wound to the cat from the accident, I'd say without any doubt!
 
Cosimo said:
The only punishment for this scum is to re-enact this dastardly dead on him.
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I really don't understand this attitude, it's hypocritical.

Condeming someone for harming an animal, an act that is characteristic of a poorly developed society. Then, as retribution, approving corporal punishment, an act that is characteristic of a poorly developed society.

The thing is, it seems all too common in these types of threads.
 
bitslice said:
Along with autistic levels of incomprehension at what people feel about having pets and the possibility of the same happening to them :)
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Indeed.

Which is why in my view a balanced perspective between the two is optimal.

A stance in which you can appreciate how lacking of compassion & possibly resulting in the death of somebody's pet the behaviour was (nobody here was there or a vet to say it was 100% certainty going to die, or died as a result of being lobbed) - with a desire to see repercussions (at least to determine if the person is mentally unstable) - without also wishing further violence.

Why on earth would people feel the need to sit at either extreme - either "IT'S JUST A CAT LOL" or "KILL HIM WITH FIRE LOL".
 
I work in a hospital and it is common practice to grab injured patients by the leg and throw them out the door.

It's weird how a new report about a cat dying is worse to me than a news report about a human dying.
 
Fido McNasty said:
I think at the time of the scene the woman had witnessed the cat being hit by a car, then stopped to maybe try and help comfort the cat along with others. Clearing the road is a matter for highways and the waste management departments but at this point, prior to the cat being flung it was alive.

And, like humans, we are encouraged not to move the body of a trauma victim until professional help arrives (if it is, or is not on it's way).

The man in this case was to me clearly callous and totally unsympathetic to the cat, to the people and to life. It isn't a case of call the highways or council to move a cat, that I think is taking the scenario out of context and supplanting a new context to justify act/do/say something relatively inhumane and again, unsympathetic.

That quote is a good reminder to us all. A nation, or a person can indeed be reliably judged by the way in which they treat or regard animals.

Fear can be experience based and sometimes perfectly justified. A act that is clearly callous can to me, never be justified and definately warrants penalty.
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Whilst flinging it by its tail is terrible, I don't think I'd have waited for local authorities to come clear just a dead cat! I would have also moved it (respectfully) to the side of the road so I could drive on.
 
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