What Would YOU Do?

 

So I rarely comment anywhere anymore, unless it's to leave a positive review. 

I do have a Reddit account, but I mostly just read about local things going on, when they come to my email.

However, today, a lady in my area said she witnessed a guy slap the crap out of his dog, while walking her dog.

She reflexively said "Please don't hit your dog."

The white guy in his 50s, wearing a blue SEC ball cap, then went off on her, name-calling, etc.

She just walked away. 

Then he came up behind her again, starting it up again, threatening her.

She just took a picture ... then ran away.

She was asking Reddit which agency to call on the dog's behalf for sure, wondering if the police was also appropriate for her as well. 

Honestly, other large cities have the ASPCA and actual officers, but we have only the Humane Society and I'm not sure what they do.

If I witnessed that, I would likely call my vet and ask, which is what I recommended.

I also might consider calling the non-emergency line of the police if he was truly threatening towards me, but likely not (as long as he didn't actually follow me home).

I started reading through the comments for other suggestions, not knowing for sure myself.

Of course, some misogynistic A-hole had to start trouble and tell her the "rational" thing to do would be to call the police rather than ask a bunch of strangers on the internet, and spent several paragraphs mansplaining that in snark.

Then of course a couple of other dudes piled on, talking about how stupid she was to say anything - both to the dog-slapper and on Reddit - you know, the usual misogynistic shit.

So I'm thinking to myself ...

Nice. 

You know what? You don't know how long she's lived here or how many people she knows here in town yet, what a welcome, "Southern Gentlemen?"

(More proof that "Southern charm" is an illusion myth.)

The truth is, I've lived here for years and even I don't know which agency to call.

And yes - though they're right that saying anything to him at all to a guy like that was NOT wise - when something like that happens right in front of you, harming a smaller innocent - it's just a reflex, especially as women, to say "Please don't" - and sometimes it's putting yourself in harm's way to save them!

Thus, not being in the best mood due to a couple of things - not school or work, somebody frustrating from the past - I decided to do something unwise myself - almost as unwise as the OP telling the guy not to hit his dog, I admit.

Not because they have any idea who I am or would come after me in real life -  but because I should have learned, by now, that standing up for other people being piled on or bullied (online OR real life) only makes YOU their new target - best to approach the victim instead (which I did).

And twice, decades ago, I've actually seen the initial pile-on/cyberbullying victim hop on later against YOU after you became the new target for standing up for them -  so happy the heat's off them now, and that they now fit in with a bunch misogynistic bully losers and their immature, enabling cackling hens.

Congratulations! What a prize!😂

At that point, you're thinking "Why the hell did I waste my time and stand up for you, then, when you're clearly just as character-deficient and completely lacking in any discernable integrity as they are?" 😂

So you just never know who you're defending anyway, unless you know them in real life.

However, this situation was pretty clear - and what is also true is that back in the day, I sometimes had the ability to legitimately put a stop to trolls attacking/piling on people, by just making them look incredibly stupid, because they're usually not very bright. 😂

I stopped doing that many years ago,  because ... it's the internet, and that's what people do on the internet. 

It's apparently how people prefer to behavior on the internet when they're anonymous, act like a bunch of unevolved chimps, rather than exhibit basic human decency.

It has truly become the bathroom stall wall of the world! 😂

I really can't stand pile-ups on people, or people just attacking someone who simply asked a question. I admit, it's a flaw of mine  - it's hard for me to walk away, but I have learned to. My mom said I've been like that since I was a child, stand up for the underdog (but when it's happening to ME, I never know when or how to lol).

But like I said, I was in no mood for it today - so I pulled out and dusted off the old fighter-for-the-underdog within me and wrote this ... 

Dude - are you the guy? lol

I think you missed the part where she didn't know the correct agency/agencies to call in Lexington in this case - which in this case, I don't know either (I'm sorry, OP).

In other larger cities, the ASPCA has actual animal officers that check on the welfare of pets, but I'm not sure the Lexington Humane Society has that?

You also forgot the part where she sounds like a woman.

Not only do we often doubt ourselves when we witness or experience something genuinely disturbing and don't report it because of people immediately calling us "irrational," such as you did, when we report anything, anywhere - but also because we don't want to overreact and be a Karen.

Because contrary to popular belief, not all women are Karens who call the police immediately - we ask the appropriate route first. In other words, we check ourselves before we wreck ourselves (you should try it).

And lastly ... so you took the time to answer someone asking asking a question on the internet with several paragraphs of snark about people who ask questions on the internet.

Which of your presented categories of wrongful, inappropriate internet usage does THAT fall in?

Gee, it's a mystery why truly non-Karenish women who see or experience something genuinely disturbing and/or illegal don't automatically call the police and ask others what the best route is first, , isn't it? 

Certainly NOT because they know they'd be told told they're "irrational" or dismissed as a Karen or anything! 😂

Not going back, I said my piece and that's it.

I know, stupid idea - but I felt better?  😂