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https://theconversation.com/pit-bulls-went-from-americas-best-friend-to-public-enemy-now-theyre-slowly-coming-full-circle-192483>
"As recently as 50 years ago, the pit bull was America’s favorite dog. Pit
bulls were everywhere. They were popular in advertising and used to promote the
joys of pet-and-human friendship. Nipper on the RCA Victor label, Pete the Pup
in the “Our Gang” comedy short films, and the flag-wrapped dog on a classic
World War I poster all were pit bulls.
With National Pit Bull Awareness Day celebrated on Oct. 26, it’s a fitting time
to ask how these dogs came to be seen as a dangerous threat.
Starting around 1990, multiple features of American life converged to inspire
widespread bans that made pit bulls outlaws, called “four-legged guns” or
“lethal weapons.” The drivers included some dog attacks, excessive parental
caution, fearful insurance companies and a tie to the sport of dog fighting.
As a professor of humanities and law, I have studied the legal history of
slaves, vagrants, criminals, terror suspects and others deemed threats to
civilized society. For my books “The Law is a White Dog” and “With Dogs at the
Edge of Life,” I explored human-dog relationships and how laws and regulations
can deny equal protection to entire classes of beings."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
