Gene Lyons on dogs, cats and fads

[mooseandsquirrel]

Every generation seems to need its own universal Theory of Everything, reducing all human experience to a handful of easily memorized slogans. What with astrology, Marxism and Freudian psychoanalysis in eclipse and Rush Limbaugh on drugs, the latest pseudoscientific fad to capture the attention of deep thinkers appears to be evolutionary psychology. I’ve omitted the Bible beaters, who, like the poor, are always with us. Most don’t claim the authority of science. Active opposition to the visible world is more their style. Anyhow, here’s the latest pronouncement from an official-looking Web site called neuropolitics. org: Liberals like cats, while conservatives prefer dogs. (I’m indebted to Kevin Drum at washingtonmonthly.com for bringing it to my attention. ) Accompanied by lots of bar graphs, statistical summaries, brain-scan photos and portentous, rhetorical questions suggesting further research, this would come as an unpleasant surprise to the three dogs snoring on my office couch as I write, since I lean Democratic.

snip

http://moose-and-squirrel.com/gene/gene.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Loved it! Thanks for posting.

[Warpy]

2. Didn't Hitler have a cat?

Honestly, stuff like this always makes me a little crazy. It's like phrenology, that wonderful Victorian pseudoscience that said you could determine the existence of criminal impulses by feeling the bumps on someone's head! Who knows how many innocent working men were sent up because they'd banged their heads on the kitchen shelves before heading out to work!

I'm a cat person. It has nothing to do with politics, and I find I like dogs the same way I like people: some are great, some are nasty, and most are in between. Cats provide company while largely caring for themselves, so I prefer them. I know howling lefties who feel compelled to be caretakers, and they prefer dogs. Big woop.

I really hope offshoring is reduced soon and that US industry is rebuilt. There are too many people out there with far too much time on their hands writing too many silly articles about nonsense like this that appeals to weak minds.

[meow2u3]

3. Hitler hated cats

Ever heard of a dictator who liked cats? Nothing bothers a conqueror than someone who refuses to be conqured.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. What about those of us who have cats and dogs? They are so

different it's hard for me to make a fair comparison. My cat is good company and requires less care, but that cat will never let me know when a stranger has come in the yard. My dog is also good company and requires more care but she likes to go for walks and can travel with me. However, she is never going to catch that pesky mouse that tries to take up residence in the house.

[tenshi816]

4. I like ponies. n/t