You may have something here. I have less anecdotal evidence (though I have been shrrrrrredded by that back-leg kick in seemingly 'sweet housecat' play). The genome studies definitely don't show much drift or selection compared to wild cats, but the communication thing is interesting. As for Roy, I was of course just…

Tell it to Roy. There are ongoing arguments about whether cats are even domesticated yet, with the most 'pro' one being that of course they are, as they get us to do a ton of shit for them in exchange for all the cute play and restraint oh no wait there is no restraint they rip the shit out of your forearm with the…

No, I don't think that's all that matters. The animal deserves to be able to find a participatory balance with its human masters, one that understands and respects its nature, and in the case of almost all pets, that never happens, and might be impossible. Birds, rodents, pigs, reptiles, de-glanded skunks—I say fuck…

Because they're pack animals attuned to multi-tier social life and hungry to perform well in clear-cut jobs—and because they seem to have domesticated themselves to cooperate with humans about a zillion years ago. No other pet does this. Cats at least you could argue practice symbiosis, though I also believe they'd…

A beautiful restriction for contact with a 'pet.'

I will not consent to eating turtle until we return to eating horse. Seriously. How the fuck did cows get tossed to Hell but horses got a pass? Horse is much healthier, quite tasty, and easier to raise. The madness has to stop.

One really cute thing about them is that they brew salmonella on their skins and if you don't wash your hands with boiling lye immediately after handling them you're fucking dead. Adorbs!

The only way I see enjoying the finale of this show is if the wights win, Westeros is lost, and this entire pop culture event turns out to have been a prequel for Long Night of the Living Dead.

That's fair. Though I think in your just wariness of the piranhas you're walling out some worthwhile thought.

Dogpiled, sure. Challenged in ways you can't anticipate, which urges growth you don't personally curate—I mean, isn't that the point of exchanging ideas? I more or less agree with you in the conversation above, but dude, if you only want agreement, what's the point of coming here to express views? It seemed like some…

What further 'purpose' are you looking for in the speech of written narrative characters? Your assertion seems to be that viciousness in art should only be depicted when it yields multiple psychological dimensions—but your implication sure feels like those dimensions should also lament or satirize the viciousness…

I think an important thing to ask when weighing what 'traumatic' should mean is how fundamental a pillar of someone's reality is getting damaged. It's also important, though, to ask whether or not the person in question is someone whose pain we should be judging.

They are absolutely right about not looking at the sun being round-earther propaganda bullshit. Please, flat-earthers, go ahead and stare today. I hope you'll share your findings.

This sounds right on to me. 'Primitive racist' does something specific and helpful. It feels closer than 'casual racist;' the two ideas are the same in amplitude, but 'casual' suggests a level of blithe, let-em-blow-off-steam tolerance of other racist shit that I don't think he is even developed or self-examining…

Not giving him or anybody else an out. I think as soon as you truck with bigots you go on the same hook. Just looking for more exact terminology and diagnosis than 'casual racist,' which sounds roughly right but doesn't quite nail it for me. Certainly it's an ingredient in the Trump case, given his family history of…

I think it's probably inaccurate to call Trump a 'racist,' at least in the grand mal sense. Protecting groups that will support you doesn't automatically denote support for their causes, it's only evidence that you're willing to stomach them in exchange for votes, and politicians do it all the time. Trump strikes me…

Yeah. Nothing was gained from the brutal satire of The Handmaid's Tale.

Why is it such 'common sense' that a piece of art—which I'm pretty fucking confident won't come off as wishing the CSA had won the war—should be scratched before production? Can we not have politics from our art except the comfortable kind? Is horror-satire too much for the world's Barsantis? Was Handmaid's Tale a…

I had to google Galgamek Catholics, all excited to uncover some new ancient sect of pre-Coptics doing awesome social justice work that I could fantasize running off and joining. I hope you're happy.

Wasn't he…Catholic? I think Catholics, being 2000 years old and 1.1 billion people strong at present, with plenty of Dorothy Days and Elizabeth Johnstons to offer as counterbalance to its Mullers and Burkes, own plenty more sane turf on which to practice their faith than Scientologists.