Indignation against Trump and animal cruelty

CAPILLAS

Last Sunday’s march rally by women in the US and other parts of the world in response to the inauguration of US President Donald Trump may have made headlines; but sustaining that indignation, that anger towards the erstwhile political outsider-turned-decision maker needs a base of support beyond their usual circle of political liberals, Hollywood stars, the political elite and even liberal US media.

It’s also no small coincidence that Trump’s inauguration and the resulting protest rallies led by American women also coincided with the slew of events leading up to next Monday’s 65th Miss Universe pageant in Manila.

Included in the Miss Universe pageant calendar was a quick stopover and photo op with President Rodrigo Duterte, who’s only too willing to make a quip or two when it comes to beautiful women.

Again it’s no small coincidence that both Trump and Duterte are self-confessed men of the world with a common interest in women and both have been publicly chastised for their crude remarks on women; Duterte on his “rape remark” on a murdered Australian missionary and Trump on his crude remarks on Miss Universe contestants and so on.

At least when it came to the Miss Universe 2017 candidates, President Duterte was on his best (for him) behavior and even complimented the ladies, saying he wished the day that the candidates paid a courtesy call on him “would never end.”

I wonder if the panel of judges would ask the American candidate for the pageant about Trump should she make it to the semis and the finals and what her answer would be like. That would cast the US under the global microscope/spotlight like few other events.

* * *

Speaking of spotlight, last Monday’s incident involving 22 residents of two barangays in Mandaue City who were bitten by a rabid stray dog highlighted anew the apparent disregard and insensitivity of some Filipinos towards dogs and other domesticated animals.

The dog in question named Bruno died after being caught by personnel of the Mandaue City Veterinary Office, and its severed head is being examined by veterinary personnel in Tacloban, Leyte, to determine if is indeed rabid.

If anything, responsibility for Bruno getting infected and biting 22 people lies squarely on its owner who neglected to take care of the dog and allowed it to fend for itself, then renounced any claim to owning the canine after learning about the incident.

Bruno’s fate dovetails into two incidents involving animal abuse allegedly committed by the crews of two films, one domestic and another foreign.

The producers of the film “Oro” lost their award at the recently concluded Metro Manila Film Festival after it was learned that they filmed a scene showing a dog actually being butchered.

This was a lot more cruel that the incident involving a German Shepherd named Hercules, who resisted a film crew’s efforts to drag and submerge it in water in one scene for the Universal Pictures movie “A Dog’s Purpose.”

In both instances, animal rights advocates didn’t drop the ball and took the producers of both films to task for their cruel and cavalier treatment of dogs. And based on the multitude of scathing comments in social media, they were not alone in roundly condemning them.

Whenever I learn of cases of animal cruelty, I am reminded of a scene in the 1992 action film “Lethal Weapon 3” in which one of the two lead characters, a cop named Martin Riggs (portrayed by a pre-racist scandal Mel Gibson), convinced a fellow female cop not to shoot down a Doberman pinscher that was guarding a house occupied by one of their targets.

“You shoot and kill bad guys, you don’t shoot and kill dogs,” Riggs told her, before he approached the dog, aping its mannerisms before rolling on the floor and sealing his friendship with the canine by offering it a dog biscuit.

Human rights advocates may disagree vehemently with Riggs’ point of view but how many people do you know would be easily persuaded to drop an argument for a biscuit?

In any case, as stewards of the earth, people should also do their fair share in caring for God’s creation which includes animals that have been domesticated for companionship like dogs and cats.