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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 23, 2024

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Practicality, I suppose. Can't leave the dog unattended, so it must come along. Few people will refrain from getting a dog for practical reasons like those.

Getting a dog seems like getting a tattoo or piercing. Some dumb lifestyle choice unjustified by reason, but felt to be entirely necessary and tolerable to inflict upon onlookers.

Inflicting a tattoo or piercing upon onlookers is, actually, completely fine. The aesthetic choice might be questionable, but I have no idea what consistently applied principle could reasonably be used to classify aesthetic choices as intolerable to inflict upon onlookers.

Sumptuary laws have existed forever, every society tells you what aesthetic standards are acceptable to some extent.

what consistently applied principle could reasonably be used to classify aesthetic choices as intolerable to inflict upon onlookers.

None I thought of. I thought we had moved past principles and had all accepted the maxim that every opinion is based on personal aesthetic preference.

I have no idea what consistently applied principle could reasonably be used to classify aesthetic choices as intolerable to inflict upon onlookers.

Anything illegal to display to children, for one.

You can leave your dog in a crate for a few hours, or in the backyard all day, what are you talking about?

You can totally leave a dog at home while you go out. People are just overly protective of their dogs and act like it'll be a problem for little Fido to be by himself for 3 whole hours. And they're antisocial enough to not care about the cost they are inflicting on everyone else.

Of course you can leave a dog unattended. I've never known an adult dog that couldn't go at least 8 hours unattended.