Can I be REALLY insensitive for a second, here?
Ok. Barbaro was euthanized. My family only had a dog growing up and a string of Ascension/Immaculate Festival goldfish that lived limited lives. Loosing Bandit was difficult but he lived a long happy life so I feel like those things are somewhat easier to get over.
As I was reading the msn.com report on Barbaro…. I went right to “Post your comments”….I was curious to see if anyone had the same feelings as I did, and I found that, at least the limited responses I could see, no one did.
Am I crazy to think the obsession with this horse is a little bit over the top? When Barbaro first went down, his stable had a mountain of “Princess Di/JFK Junior-esqe” posters and shrines out side in his honor. Here are a few, albeit, insensitive facts:
1 – Barbaro will not read your card. Unlike Mr. Ed, Barbaro cannot speak nor can he read your posters. If you feel the need to use up a marker or pen, redirect that message to an anonymous solder in Iraq, or a Veteran in a nursing home, or a Young Child in a Burn Unit. These creatures are able to read English and therefore, may be a little more receptive to your well-wishes. If you wish to send anything to Barbaro, send positive energy. Animals can feel that. Even more than humans can.
2 – Why is it that Barbaro was spared where as most horses down in Junior Varsity would have been shot on site? Could it be that from this “stud”, more of his prize winning sperm could have been extracted from him? We will never know how much he suffered post-injury. Could it be that his owners put up a front of “Barbaro is such a fighter” to give the impression that this horse was really was fighting? Its crushing to think that this poor horse lived a miserable 8 months so the owners could try and salvage a few more drops of that profitable horse goo.
3 – Barbaro has probably consumed more (and better quality) food than you will in your entire life. Take that apple and various other fruit products down to your local homeless shelter. Don’t lay it by the fence for Barbaro.
4 - I let John read this and his response was, "Yeah, and half the people making these posts were probably sitting in front of a steak"....
Im not trying to be some nasty, pet/animal hater, but the scores and scores of people posting are just DISTRAUGHT!!! When all the while there are children and adults who are living in poverty and would have loved to have eaten that apple, sad & lonely veterans who would have loved and appreciated that card, and MILLIONS of UNINSURED Americans waiting on a fraction of the medical care that this horse received.
How can we be so selective about the direction of our sympathy and aid???
Im sure that Barbaro was a charismatic, loving animal and well loved by his riders, his caregivers and fans, and its sad that he had to endure pain of ANY KIND at anytime, but where is the emotional passion for every other race horse that had to be shot? Perhaps if thier genetics were worth more they too, would have been deemed a "fighter"...
Feel free to blast me on this...I understand most people dont share my sentiments.
7 comments:
AGREED...on all comments. Its a HORSE that none of these people ever met or spent time with. Get over it and focus on something more constructive that might actually benefit a human being in need. Fort if you are insensitive then I am even more of a biatch than I thought
It's a fecking horse people! yea,it made people a ton of money but how did it effect anyones life?
Maybe if the bombs were dropping here and not in Iraq people would give a shit about human life and not a fecking horse! Let's spend time on the sons and fathers lost to the idiot Bush and not so much on a horse.
Amen sister! Getting emotionally attached to a tv horse is about as sad as getting a subscription to US Weekly.
First, Fort, do you need a hand down from your soapbox? :)
I will admit that when I heard the news on Sunday that I actually felt sad that the horse was put down. When I read an article interviewing the people who took care of him, I'll even go as far as saying I felt choked up as I thought of losing my own pets. Then I thought to myself, it's just a horse! And one that I never even met!
Who didn't want Barbaro to pull through? Everyone likes a happy ending and it would have been the feel-good story of the year (as far as animals go). And while animals represent the last bit of innocence we seem to have left so on this earth and we get these peculiar attachments to them, I have to agree that the sympathy would be better spent on people who would recognize it.
Honestly though, I never understood the people that were devastated over losing Princess Di or JFK. It was a one-sided relationship -- we knew who they were and they didn't have a clue who we were. If I can't understand that, I definitely can't understand being devasted over a horse.
Looking at the business side of it, wouldn’t you do everything you could to save your zillion-dollar investment? Sometimes it's hard for people to get the dollar signs out of their eyes.
Fort,
You are one insensitive bastard. I hope PETA comes to your house and throws red paint all over your fur coats.
Ha ha. Just kidding. You know, yesterday (or maybe Monday) they had a big thing on Larry King about just this and whether or not it was cruel to even have 2yr old horses run, etc, etc, etc.
F them in the A, I say!! That bastard lost me money. If I could have, I would have pulled the trigger myself...now see, that is insensitive! HA HA!
Don't get me started on loosing Princess Di and JFK JR. I am a basket case when it comes to those subjects. What the hell is wrong with me? Jami??
What's more disgusting is that this story just won't die--I guess out of the shadows comes Barbaro's little brother: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/sports/othersports/01barbaro.html?ref=sports
"This horse was a hero," said David Switzer, executive director of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association.
I just don't understand...I mean, he's not Lassie. He's not out there saving people's lives from burning motels or anything.
Post a Comment