More on the Politics of Cats and Dogs
A while back, Greg at Begging to Differ offered a working theory that liberals blog about their cats and conservatives blog about their dogs. He cited an exception that pretty well proves the rule: conservatives occasionally do blog about their cats, in order to make a snarky point about the French.
Since the time of Greg’s posting, I provided a similar non-exception exception myself, and Kelley has provided a more conventional example of the basic rule. Dean is taking the idea even further and threatening to leave the country to avoid someone else’s cats. So I think it’s safe to say that there is something to the cat/dog rule. The question is what?
Dogs are obsessed with pleasing their masters. Most domestic dogs don’t do any real work, but if put on a farm and ordered to work, they will. If you are attacked, your pit bull or Rottweiler may well save your life. Your Chihuaha or miniature Dachshund won’t, but it won’t be for a lack of trying. Their whole lives revolve around their efforts to please you. Conservatives see a hard-working soul. Liberals see a four-legged, co-dependent Uncle Tom and June Cleaver rolled into one.
Cats, by contrast, don’t come when you call them, watch the house for burglars, or do just about anything else except eat the food you serve them, crap in the litter box you clean for them, and otherwise basically ignore you. Everything you do for them is an entitlement. As with career welfare recipients, this attitude rubs conservatives the wrong way, while liberals accept it as normal. Some even romanticize cats’ untrainability as a sign that they are independent, liberated even. Sure they’ll “snuggle” with you occasionally to stabilize their body temperature or “kiss” you if their food is low on salt, but nothing like a dog’s devotion there, nor even close.
The downside to owning a dog is that it can be a real commitment. If you have cats, you can go away for months at a time, have somebody come by to change the food dispensers and litter boxes twice a week, and voil
November 6th, 2003 at 3:23 pm
I just hate dogs.
However, I miss my cat, and was pleased to discover that my building allows them.
November 6th, 2003 at 4:10 pm
Dogs are much smarter than cats. I’m not sure it would be possible to train my cats to hate Hillary Clinton. My pit bull, however, figured that out on her own.
November 6th, 2003 at 5:12 pm
I think your trackbacks are broken. I tried to trackback this post three times, but it won’t show up.
Oh well. ;-)
November 6th, 2003 at 6:11 pm
I am going to disagree with Xrlq a little bit, conservatives can love cats too under certain circumstances.
Cats require feeding and litter cleaning – entitlements. That I agree with.
If our cats relied on Dean for that, they be dead and our house would smell like shit.
I love my dog.
My dog love = conservative, agreed. I also clean after and feed those little prima donna cats that Dean had to have… Like any good conservative – I am constantly fixing/cleaning up after liberals.
My point is conservatives can own and love cats too – if they are married to liberals.
November 6th, 2003 at 6:19 pm
I absolutely love cats.
Dogs, well, if my wife didn’t love ‘em, I wouldn’t have one. But my son loves our dog, so….
November 6th, 2003 at 7:42 pm
The Calblog house is a cat home. The cats are very loyal but secretive about it. It is only “coincidence” that they try to be in the same room as us as often as possible. Madeleine’s cat comes when called and guards Madeleine when she sleeps and smacks whoever dares to wake her majesty.
November 6th, 2003 at 7:57 pm
Cats totally and completely suck and it’s not just because I’m deathly allergic to them, but that their personalities totally and completely suck. And PUH-LEASE don’t give me the, “But my cat is different” speech as I’ve heard it a million times. I swear to God each and every cat knows I hate it and that I’m allergic to it so they all come up to me just to make me have an attack. The beasts!
Now another species I’ve grown to hate are birds. I am convinced that they are rats with wings and suck as pets. I don’t care if some of them can talk or live for ages — they suck too.
I love my dog and love almost all dogs, except those rat bastard ankle-biter, old man dogs that weight less than an ounce and get dressed up for the holidays. It’s like why bother?
So yes, I’m passionate about this, and agree with your assesments, my dear.
November 6th, 2003 at 9:46 pm
Me? Another strong conservative, another ardent catlover.
Dogs can be good, providing they aren’t vicious [vicious dogs have no place in my world]; but cats rule.
Regarding Rosemary’s uncharitable assertion that cats require the “entitlements” of feeding and litter–quite the contrary, it is dogs that are high maintenance. Dogs require walking; cats entertain themselves. Dogs require their foul poop to be scooped; cats tidily bury it themselves. Dogs must be bathed; cats bathe themselves. The defense (of cats) rests. :-)
Those who I feel most sorry for are felinophobes like Molly, they don’t know what the heck they’re talking about.
November 6th, 2003 at 9:47 pm
I named my last cat “Bonior” because every time she opened her mouth she whined.
That fact might test your rule somewhat but the truth is, while I like cats, I prefer dogs.
November 6th, 2003 at 9:58 pm
Clark:
If you have a backyard the dog doesn’t need walking… and I mulch that poop right into the lawn! Keeps it really green.
If the cats cleaned their own litter boxes perhaps I’d be a bit more charitable.
Ah well,I must admit against my will I still love those prissy prima donnas.
November 6th, 2003 at 10:45 pm
Clark: I think you are confusing the commitment issues with entitlement issues. Dogs certainly require more work than cats, but they also seem to appreciate your efforts more. Whenever we return home after being gone for even a day or two, our dogs get so excited they can’t contain themselves. The cats? One tries to use our entry as an opportunity to sneak out the front door and get eaten by a coyote. The rest simply ignore us.
November 6th, 2003 at 11:12 pm
The rest ignore you because they’re so traumatized by your abandonment that they’re afraid to trust again. The dogs probably think you’re an hour late.
November 6th, 2003 at 11:28 pm
Rosemary,
Thanks for your response.
If you’re agaisnt “entitlements,” get yourself a Littermaid litterbox–closest thing to a self-cleaning litterbox you can get. :-)
November 6th, 2003 at 11:30 pm
I’m a dog person for life. I like my dogs big, obedient, family freindly, outdoorsy and capable of scaring the piss out of bad guys. I think you’re on to something here.
November 7th, 2003 at 1:25 am
Good post, Xrlq,
As regarding commitment, Dogs are like cacti–stickers and all, they’ll be there for you whether you tend them or not.
Cats are like exquisite orchids–rarer beauty, offering itself only to more responsive owners. No one can tell me cats don’t return affection, but then you can’t just plunk an orchid down on the countertop and expect it to thrive.
I have an indoor-outdoor cat, and he loves me so much. I walk down my street, swinging my jangling keys, and he comes from wherever he is, running after me like a sugar-deprived kid chasing after an ice-cream truck.
He likes to rub against me. He often flops against me to assume sleeping position. He likes to nuzzle me, and when he finishes bathing himself, he tries sneak some licks on me. I nuzzle him and cuddle him back. I always scrunch his fur, just the way he likes it. We talk with each other through sundry meows and chirps, and you can be sure I carry on my half of the conversation.
You can’t say there’s no affection there from my cat, but at the same time I can truly say I earn my loving kitty’s affection.
When I first found him over a year ago, he was a street cat without a home, and timid and skittish as you might imagine. His busted up dental work told of a good share of hard knocks. Today the two of us are like family.
No one can tell me that a cat showered with love can’t come to return love with an effusion that those who dislike cats will swear cannot be expected in a cat. But to those who find cats to be cold and aloof, I would suggest that the cat is but half the equation, the owner is the other.
Perhaps cats are with us to teach us that love begets love. From my own experience, I know it to be true: Love does beget love.
November 7th, 2003 at 7:24 pm
Cats? Dogs? No thank you.
November 14th, 2003 at 12:32 pm
Very interesting idea.
My wife and I are very liberal and very catty (X3). And hey – Bush has a dog and Clinton had a cat and dog. Which sorta makes sense, Dubya is Conservative and Clinton was middle-of-the-road (really more like a liberal Republican than much of a Dem, when you get right down to it.)
And yes – most of the conservatives I know have and love dogs. The comment on apartments vs. the suburbs or rural areas with houses does make some sense. Also, Conservatives are more likely to be family-oriented – so they have the kids, go to church, drive the SUV, buy the suburban house, and . . .get the dog. Most Conservatives are obsessed with being perceived as “normal” and “doing the right thing” and are desperate to “fit in” and not risk individuality in any way. Their neighbours have dogs, so they get dogs.
Also, dogs are reliable – they never change. They give their owners blind allegiance and affection, “my owner, right or wrong!” Much like how they can wake up on a Saturday and wear the same Polo shirt or Madras button-down camp shirt and khakis to the golf course that they have worn since 1983, I imagine knowing that dogs never change gives them comfort. Cats are affectionate but complex. One cannot depend on getting their attention at any given time. You may want your cat to come lay on your lap as you’re watching the DVD of “Bowling for Columbine” or the Arianna Huffington special on PBS – but she may be busy tracking down the fake mouse stuffed with certified organic medicinal catnip to give you the time of day.
Personally, I view dogs as filthy animals that have no place inside a house.Their owners turn a blind eye (and a blind nose) to their “accidents”, the hair everywhere, their house being filled with that “doggy smell” – and they have no problem with their animals jumping all over visitors. They generally couldn’t care less that their animals are loud and obnoxious – this is seen as “spunk and personality.” So their neighbours are inconvenienced by the occasional midnight howling – hey they are just looking out for themselves. Screw other people and screw polite society, if they can’t deal with your dog it is THEIR problem. Anyway, you’re not going to stop watching the South Will Rise Again Annual Tractor Pull Championships just because that dog is barking!
November 14th, 2003 at 12:50 pm
Being the proud owner of both species, I have to tell you that you have it completely backwards. Dogs are second only to humans as being the most successful mammal on the planet. But they are successful in the same way a remora is successful because of the shark; i.e their relationship with a dominant species. Hence the apt title of man’s best friend. Without that relationship, both on a macro and micro level, dogs would probably have as tenous a hold on their future as wolves.
Cats are a bit different in that they tend to survive without humans. Not as well, but better than dogs in the same situation. If I had to sum it up, dogs are republicans who disavow the fact that they need the hand that feeds them. Cats are libertarians who do the same.
Not sure who the democrats are. Besides people like me.
November 14th, 2003 at 2:17 pm
Molly, your problem is caused by eye contact, or lack thereof. Cats (and dogs) tend to find eye contact from strange humans frightening, but humans who like them will tend to look at them a lot. So in a crowd of people of varying tendencies, cats will often gravitate to the only people who are trying to ignore them. You want to transfix them with a steely gaze.
November 14th, 2003 at 2:53 pm
I have to second what ccobb said. Dogs have literally evolved–and given that it only took 10,000 years, amazingly successfully so–to live off of human largess. It’s really quite incredible, when you think about it: In less than 5000 generations, dogs have gone from a marginally friendly wolf to animals that look and act in a manner pleasing to humans, and who are much better than any other species (including humans, at least the male ones) at observing and understanding human behavior. Sure, in the process they’ve had to sacrifice intelligence and physical abilities, but they’ve also increased their infant “survivability” from roughly 10% to roughly 75%.
They are the quintessential “welfare queens” of nature.
(By the way, I’m a dogless liberal. Well, unless you count the border collie my wife treats like a child as a “dog.” Then I have one.)
November 14th, 2003 at 5:21 pm
Thanks, Matt. I was just going to point that out.
What I like about cats, especially indoor-outdoor ones, is that you can have intelligent arguements with them.
November 14th, 2003 at 5:39 pm
Geez, Squire, I had no idea cats had that capability. Maybe we should put their argumentation skills to a more productive use:
November 14th, 2003 at 7:33 pm
I’m a hardcore Liberal and a major Dog Lover. So are at least 5 of my friends. Environmentalists, Feminists, eqalitarians, what have you, we love our noble and caring dogs. I DO think conservatives tend to prefer Pit Bull and Rotwieler type dogs, whereas I prefer a dog whose instints lead it to love strangers, but I wouldn’t conclude that conservatives secretly want to rip people’s faces off. I think they’re pretty open about it.
November 14th, 2003 at 7:57 pm
Most of the pit bulls and Rottweilers I know are pretty friendly toward people, though pits can be problematic around other dogs. Now that you mention it, though, it occurred to me that my pit bull and my Rottweiler mix got all sorts of undeserved flak from neighbors when I lived in liberal Culver City, and none since we moved to Rancho Santa Margarita. Perhaps the liberal tendency to discriminate according to race applies to dogs, as well as people.
November 14th, 2003 at 8:09 pm
I’m going to have to go with your thesis. I’m a conservative married to a liberal. We have one dog and four cats. Fortunately, the dog is a Jack Russell, no liberal little kitty is going to screw with him.
November 14th, 2003 at 8:33 pm
Heh. That’s more than I can say for my pit bull. One of my cats can be a real bastard to her.
November 18th, 2003 at 2:17 pm
If you were going to make a snarky comment about Greens, why didn’t you link to some story about snake owners? Get it? Green…snake…yuks aplenty!
November 7th, 2003 at 6:03 am
EGADS
The extremely elegant kate has once again eclipsed herself with the letter e. We do have to take exception to her electing to elevate our egregious excrement episode to elephantine status. We thought that it would be eliminated, extinguished even…
November 8th, 2003 at 7:48 am
Sex, Dogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll
Ok, that title was just Googlebait. Tonight Xrlq asks the musical question, “What is a Metaphor?” [he's hot this week!]…
November 8th, 2003 at 7:35 pm
CATS AND DOGS, DEMS AND REPS
I’m not officially back from paternity leave yet. (Though I’m proud to announce the birth of my first son — all ten pounds, five ounces of him! More on that later, no doubt.) But I will take the opportunity to…
November 11th, 2003 at 8:04 pm
Submitted for Your Approval
Here all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote
November 13th, 2003 at 7:46 pm
The Council Has Spoken
Here are the full tallies of all votes cast
November 14th, 2003 at 11:46 am
Friday Cat Blogging
November 14th, 2003 at 2:44 pm
Friday Cat Blogging
November 22nd, 2003 at 9:10 am
Submitted for Your Approval
First off…  any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here.  Die spambots, die!  And now…  here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote…  thankfully, Blo…
November 22nd, 2003 at 9:27 am
The Council Has Spoken!
First off…  any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here.  Die spambots, die!  And now…  the winning entries in the Watcher’s Council vote for this week are Generosity in Red and Blue by Aaron’s Rantblo…
February 12th, 2004 at 3:58 pm
Only a dog person…
Only a dog person would come up with this event: Dan Cohen went to a local “dog happy hour” and was “floored by the way people were connecting through their pets.” “They probably would not otherwise be talking were it…
March 9th, 2004 at 6:10 am
Weasel Winners
A belated post linking to the November 6th results will be accepted if it also links to all entries…
March 9th, 2004 at 6:15 am
Weasel Winners
A belated post linking to the November 6th results will be accepted if it also links to all entries…
March 9th, 2004 at 6:20 am
Weasel Winners
A belated post linking to the November 6th results will be accepted if it also links to all entries…
March 9th, 2004 at 6:24 am
Weasel Winners
A belated post linking to the November 6th results will be accepted if it also links to all entries…
March 9th, 2004 at 6:29 am
Weasel Winners
A belated post linking to the November 6th results will be accepted if it also links to all entries…