Eight Stages of Genocide Compared to Dog Breed Bans

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First is classification, meaning people or animals are categorized and then put into an us versus them situation. In people, a good example of this would be the Jewish people during Hitler’s reign. They were considered to be less than human, and perfectly fine to destroy, just because they were different. In comparison to BSL laws, we say that “ pit bulls”, rottweilers, and other so called aggressive breed dogs are dangerous compared to “regular” dogs who are not dangerous. The media makes this worse because they are constantly classifying these dogs as being nasty fighting dogs that are owned by gang members, drug dealers, dog fighters, thugs, and other persona non grata.

The second stage that we can compare to genocide in the human world is symbolization. This means giving the targeted group a name or symbol that creates negative impressions on the group. One of the ways we do this as it regards to dogs is use of the term “ pit bull”. There is actually no such thing as the breed pit bull, that is a slang term given by the media that actually covers many different breeds of dog such as the staffordshire terrier and the cairn terrier.

The third stage is Dehumanization or in dogs you could call it decaninization. This means taking the target group, whether it be people or animals and comparing them to “wild beasts”. This helps to remove any compassion the general public might have toward the selected group. When talking about this in regard to BSL laws, the dogs get classified as being more like wild animals that could turn at any time than other dogs. This targets the owners as well, making them “the kind of people who would own a dog like that”. This breeds vigilantism and hatred, that is then encouraged by the media....

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...d Dog Breeds." PawNat

ion. 7 Dec. 2012. 16 Feb. 2014

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Picture Citations:

Fig 1. "Ban on Pit Bulls." Ban on Pit Bulls. 04 May 2014 .

Fig 2. "Many shelter dogs mislabeled 'pit bulls'" Toledo Blade. 04 May 2014. 04 May 2014 .

Fig 3. "Steven Morrissey (stevenmorrissey)." Pinterest. 04 May 2014 .

Fig 4. "Badass of the Week: Sergeant Stubby the War Dog." Badass of the Week: Sergeant Stubby the War Dog. 04 May 2014 .

Fig 5. "The BrikWars Forum:." • View topic. 04 May 2014 .

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