This is where we are. Lady Gaga’s dogs were ‘dog-napped.’ Their dog-walker, Mr. Ryan Fischer, was shot and taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Her immediate response was to offer $500,000 for….
Return of the dogs. No questions asked. This, of course, includes those who actually took the dogs. Wait, I mean those who actually shot an individual. ‘Just bring my dogs back and here’s some money.’
What could go wrong? Oh, I know. If you’re a thug plying your trade in an affluent area, why wouldn’t you kidnap a dog and demand ransom? And after all, it was a mere human being who was shot. They’re a dollar a dozen. But a good dog? A beloved dog? Wow. (Imagine the outcry if the dogs had been shot!)
So rather than offer half a million dollars for ‘information leading to the arrest and conviction of the assailants,’ she just wants her dogs back. Magnificent. And indeed, now her dogs are home. Safe and sound. A human being is still recovering from a gunshot wound.
This is reprehensible. I have dogs. I love those dogs. But I would never value them above a human being. Which is, of course, what Lady Gaga has done. And news outlets, incapable of seeing anything wrong with this order of values, report that trauma and now report the joy that 1) the dogs are home and 2) the human being who was shot is recovering. In that order.
Of course, they have been careful to report that the individual who did the shooting used a ‘semi-automatic handgun.’ That’s super important. The human being who was shot merits minimal attention.
Dog worship continues apace and the value of human life declines steadily.
Hi Doc, I saw this and, like you my first thought was about the dog walker. Unfortunately our world has the priorities skewed a bit out of order. I hope your family is doing well and recovering from the virus. Since reading your last report, I’ve been praying for them. I met another of your readers a couple of weeks ago. We were going to Louisville to visit our younger son for the day. My wife got out of the car, slipped on ice and broker her hip. We got wonderful care from the Norton Brownsboro Hospital ER (I’m still… Read more »
Rob Burnside
3 years ago
I’ve been a long-time reader of Doc’s essays too, and couldn’t agree more.
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Hi Doc, I saw this and, like you my first thought was about the dog walker. Unfortunately our world has the priorities skewed a bit out of order. I hope your family is doing well and recovering from the virus. Since reading your last report, I’ve been praying for them. I met another of your readers a couple of weeks ago. We were going to Louisville to visit our younger son for the day. My wife got out of the car, slipped on ice and broker her hip. We got wonderful care from the Norton Brownsboro Hospital ER (I’m still… Read more »
I’ve been a long-time reader of Doc’s essays too, and couldn’t agree more.