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News & ArtsThursday, July 16, 2009
Science News from the Animal Kingdom
Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 10:07 AM
The philosopher on barking:
When asked about feelings toward animals, Deleuze is rather slow to respond, stating that it's not so much about cats and dogs, or animals as such. He indicates that he is sensitive to something in animals, but what bothers him are familial and familiar, domestic animals. He recalls the "fatal moment" when a child brings a stray cat home with the result that there was always an animal in his house. What he finds displeasing is that he doesn't like "things that rub" (les frotteurs); and he particularly reproaches dogs for barking, what he calls the very stupidest cry, the shame of the animal kingdom. He says he can better stand (although not for too long) the wolf howling at the moon than barking.
The scientist on barking:
The reason [for barking] traces back to the first dogs that started hanging around human food dumps about 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. They would have experienced a serious disadvantage if they had run a mile away every time a human or other animal approached. As [Kathryn Lord at the University of Massachusetts Amherst] explains, “In evolutionary terms, dogs self-selected the behavior of sticking around, overcoming their fear and being rewarded by getting to eat that meal before some other dog got it. Thus these animals allow people to get unusually close. The scared ones die while those less scared stay, eat, survive and reproduce. So they inherit the tendency.”She adds, “By contrast, wild animals like wolves have a very long flight distance. They hear something and they run before you’d ever see them. Dogs hang around, but now they have committed to holding their ground and the closer an ‘intruder’ gets, the more likely mobbing is to occur rather than running away.”
The conclusion: It is impossible to disagree with Deleuze; few sounds are more horrible than barking. But this stupid sound might have a human rather than canine origin. We might be the cause of all this bad barking. If we started it, how do we get it to stop?
Image by Sylvar.
2
Barking "might" be a human-bred behavior? I don't think there is any doubt. How about some earplugs?
3
Charles this article makes me think the most horrible sound in the world would be the clacking of your keyboard as you wrote this.
4
[for barking] Not sure if that is a fair addition. I think that paragraph is more about the reason dogs are in conflicting situation, not why they bark per se. Lots of animals, including wild dogs, bark or vocalize. Domestic dogs may bark more because of their stand their ground response, but is not the origin of barking.
5
"The conclusion: It is impossible to disagree with Deleuze"
It is impossible for YOU, Charles.
Like most of your conclusions, you fail to acknowledge the depth and breadth of human experience and the possibility of viewpoints other than yours.
Maybe that's just your literary styling, but it comes across as pompous, unyielding, and, in some cases, offensive.
It is impossible for YOU, Charles.
Like most of your conclusions, you fail to acknowledge the depth and breadth of human experience and the possibility of viewpoints other than yours.
Maybe that's just your literary styling, but it comes across as pompous, unyielding, and, in some cases, offensive.
8
What do philosophers have to say about writers basically just repeating themselves over and over, back and forth, forever?
9
Ah, rhetorical fatuousness presented as a revelatory, universal truth. THAT is the shame of philosophers.
10
A goddamn stupid dog barking all goddamn day is, in fact, the most horrible sound. Except for one: soft music playing in the background in public places.
11
Dogs barking could be telling you of intruders, danger. Once a dog has saved you from harm, I bet a bark is the sweetest of sounds.
12
"Few sounds are more horrible than barking"
Really?? You need to get out more and experience life.
Annoying is not the same thing as horrible.
Really?? You need to get out more and experience life.
Annoying is not the same thing as horrible.
13
Correction: The stupidest cry in the animal kingdom is an overated philosophe bitching about barking.
14
"If we started it, how do we get it to stop?"
I think within the context of that post, it's clear and simple: stop feeding them.
I think within the context of that post, it's clear and simple: stop feeding them.
16
@11. Absolutely correct. A barking Shetland Sheepdog (in case you've never seen one, they look like little Collies) saved me from harm more than once. I have 4 Shelties now, and while I would prefer that they shut up sometimes (and I don't leave them outside to bark and annoy the neighbors) I am comforted by their vigilance. Nobody approaches my house unnoticed.
17
My dog only barks when a tall white man with glasses and a hat comes to the door. As he should, cause that hat certainly means 'danger approaches'.
18
My mother in law had her sheltie surgically de-barked. Which didn't take. And now the poor animal sounds like a two-pack-a-day Lucky Strike smoker.
19
Imagine for a moment, that your family has locked you in the backyard for six hours. They gave you no explanation. It's hot, and you have no food or water. There are plenty of people around, but nobody will pay any attention to you. How long do you think it would take before you were running around the yard screaming? Now you know why dogs bark.
20
If you think barking is horrible you should hear my idiot neighbor attempt to sing at the top of his lungs while doing an even worse job on his cheesy synthesizer. And you know what is worse than that? When he had a friend over this past weekend with a harmonica!
21
"The conclusion: It is impossible to disagree with Deleuze"
You are not a philosopher. You don't even proofread your crap posts to check if they make sense.
The latest explanation for dog/human co-evolution doesn't explain barking at all, and you present it here as though it does. Reread what you posted. Check again. Where is barking mentioned in relation to that? Nowhere.
Beyond that, barking is only annoying if (like any sound) it repeats over and over. Some dogs do, some dogs don't. My dog doesn't bark at all. In this respect he has one trait you ought to strive for: Silence.
Not liking dogs is one thing, but quoting REAL philosophers and half-assedly citing evolutionary theory doesn't justify your distaste for a species.
Beyond that, dogs and humans evolved together and have at times in our evolution become practically symbiotic. If you're incapable of respect for an animal that has likely had more effect on human development than any other, I'd suggest you're missing part of your humanity.
You are not a philosopher. You don't even proofread your crap posts to check if they make sense.
The latest explanation for dog/human co-evolution doesn't explain barking at all, and you present it here as though it does. Reread what you posted. Check again. Where is barking mentioned in relation to that? Nowhere.
Beyond that, barking is only annoying if (like any sound) it repeats over and over. Some dogs do, some dogs don't. My dog doesn't bark at all. In this respect he has one trait you ought to strive for: Silence.
Not liking dogs is one thing, but quoting REAL philosophers and half-assedly citing evolutionary theory doesn't justify your distaste for a species.
Beyond that, dogs and humans evolved together and have at times in our evolution become practically symbiotic. If you're incapable of respect for an animal that has likely had more effect on human development than any other, I'd suggest you're missing part of your humanity.
22
I looooooove Greasemonkey.
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