Politically permissible proxy?

Anti-pit bull bigotry both irritates and intrigues me. As a longtime pit bull owner, it pisses me off, and that’s not merely because I am biased. I actually worry. Once bigotry reaches the hysteria stage, it can have a way of invading the lives of people who try to ignore it. There are a number of cities (including much of Colorado and until recently, much of Ohio) where Coco would be at risk of being seized and put to death, simply because of the canine equivalent of race laws written by bigoted and fearful humans. Why people are so willing to willing to condemn to death an entire breed because of incidents involving a tiny minority of these dogs (generally resulting from irresponsible or criminal conduct by their owners), I do not know, but I suspect that the hysteria is triggered by their popularity in ghetto culture, and as the drug dealers’ watchdog of choice. Over the past four decades, I have watched the breed’s stereotype evolve from a rural rednecky sort of image, to a gangster rapper one. Thus, the dog has come to be seen by many people more as a trapping than as a dog.  I have to watch where I go, because I get very hostile looks from some people when they see I have a pit bull. I’m largely safe here in kooky, politically correct Ann Arbor (which lacks the fearful siege mentality characterizing some suburban communities closer to Detroit), but I have to be careful in other places. Not long ago, it was late at night and I was out of town visiting friends, and a cop driving down the street behind me saw what appeared to be a man walking a pit bull in a heavily patrolled area. I was wearing a stocking cap and a cheap puffy winter ski jacket, and must have fit some stereotype or other, for the patrol car suddenly just lurched over to the curb near where I was walking. I turned and looked at the officer, and almost immediately I saw his facial expression shift from “Predator” mode to “Whoops!” and he lurched away from me as fast as he had lurched towards me. He looked almost sheepish, because clearly, he was not expecting that “ghetto dog” to be strutting in front of an older white man.

What saved me from being formally stopped (and this will sound politically correct) was what is termed by many my “white privilege.”

Now, my pro-pit bull bias may be getting the better of my ability to think clearly, but I sometimes worry that at least some of the anti-pit bull hysteria is grounded in dissembled racism, and that these dogs have become an opportunity for unacknowledged racism by proxy. A scapegoat, if you will. Nothing new about that sort of thing, but I wish people didn’t take their anger out by passing laws against dogs who cannot organize, lack 14th Amendment protection and have no way of knowing what is being done to them or why.

I wouldn’t have bothered with this post except I was annoyed by yet another Drudge headline:

COPS: Man Left Pit Bull To Babysit Infant While He Went Drinking...

According to the story, it’s a simple case of child neglect.

PALM COAST, Fla. (CBS Tampa) – A local man is facing child neglect charges after he reportedly left an infant in the care of a pit bull while he went out to drink.

The mother of the 10-month old left her child in the care of 41-year-old James Irvine, WESH is reporting. However, Irvine soon abandoned the child to go out drinking.

The station learned that when the mother arrived home, she discovered Irvine trying to get back into the house through the garage door.

He allegedly told her that, though he had been at a bar, he did not leave the child alone – rather, it was in the care of a pit bull.

According to reports, the dog was seated outside the room where the child was left. The door was shut, and the child was allegedly crying, WESH additionally learned.

There are two culprits here: the irresponsible mom who left her infant in the hands of an irresponsible drunk, and the irresponsible drunk who left the kid alone. There is absolutely no showing that the alleged pit bull did anything more than sit there. Yet the “pit bull” gets in the headline, and the story gets nationally linked. Simply because of the breed of the dog. Can anyone imagine this headline?

Man Left Bichon Frise To Babysit Infant While He Went Drinking

I can’t. Even though the human culpability is the same.

Although a pit bull might do a better job of guarding the baby against a possible home invasion. I don’t have any children (much less infants) but if I did, you can be damn sure that just as she wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt me, Coco would never allow an intruder to hurt a child in her house.

UPDATE: That Coco is in fact extremely dangerous has been noticed with a damning picture showing Coco being bad for the environment.

Thanks!