Pet Tweeters

22 February 2012

Why would people tweet their pets?

There are a great number of animals tweeting on the Internet; or shall I say pet owners hiding behind the photographs of their pets.

I remember years ago I was very shocked when a “pommie” (English friend) referred to someone as having a puss-face.   In those days I only knew the South African interpretation of the word. 
Today there are many cat- and dog-faced identities on Facebook and Twitter.
It is in Twitter that one can get behind the psychology of these pet-faced identities.

For what reason would someone choose to use a photograph other then their own as an avatar?
Some of the reasons may be:
1.    The person fear identification for some reason.
2.    The person does not have the courage to make his comments face to face.
3.    The person does not like the way they look.
4.    People with poor self-esteems.
5.    The person does not want to reveal their age, gender or race.
6.    Just for fun.
7.    Want to communicate as sequels among all gender, racial or age groups – brain-to-brain rather than face-to-face.

 Why use the identity of an animal friend or pet?
1.    All the above reasons.
2.    Someone who loves animals more than people.
3.    Someone who make money from the upkeep of animals.
4.    Animal charity organizations.
5.    Someone who wants to meet other animal lovers.
6.    Someone who wants to try and experience the world through the senses of their animal.
Above are a few possible reasons for not using ones own ID photograph or using that of a most loved pet as a photograph.
I am sure there must be some professional scientific psychological profile for people using pseudo identities on the Internet.   Above is my own unprofessional summery.

If we are one of those un- or other-human profile people we can use the above lists to do some self-examination.   We may just find out something about ourselves that we were not aware of before.

For an example you may want to follow Onesock Dog on Twitter who is the mascot for the Blaauwberg Animal Trust.

It may be a good exercise for any psychologist or anyone working in a field where communication with public or with a patients are required, to look at the world through the eyes of an animal.   We are often so caught up in our own importance that we fail to recognize the true need of other.

DA for women power.

Lindi  should be given as high a position in the DA as possible.   Africa needs female role models for all women in South Africa and the world.    With a white, colored and black femle on the helm, the DA will prove that she is trying to colour the rainbow nation.

The problem is that men do not like to serve under a “*pantoffel regering.”     Remember what a fantastic leader Maggi Thatcher was; even the working class liked her,  but the toffee nose Brits could not tolerate her strength so they got rid of her and the Tories starting sliding down the hill ever since.   We do not want that to happen to the DA so just make sure that you balance your top posts out between male and female positions.  

Anyway with three ladies in the driving seat, you can vote each other in.     Just make sure the female votes will outweigh the male votes, every the time, unless there is one jealous bitch in the hen-hock. 

Men like to feel they are in charge, even if they are clearly out numbered.    Perhaps you can throw a gay into your leadership-position-pot, give it a few stirs and put him in charge of a position as the “Minister for Animal welfare”.    You will then appeal to all animal lovers also, not to mention the group of people with a different sexual orientation.

We, animal lovers are fed up about seeing how humans behave like animals and animal representation is grouped with  “mining and global warming”.

 The above suggestions will put a big feather in the DA cap.

I think there are a few Saudi’s that will want to lash you all for being “*te voor op die wa” but then they have not wangled voting rights for them to inflate the opposition numbers yet.

Of wat praat ek alles.

*pantoffel regering -  Slipper government.   (In this case referring to women laying down the law)
“*te voor op die wa” - Too much at the front of the wagon.

Doggy poop - what to do with it.

My dog made a soft poop on someone's lawn the other day. I did not know what to do because I forgot the plastic bag at home. Even if I had a plastic bag, how does one scrape a soft poop from the grass? It will take forever. We shouted at the dog but it was a matter of “If you got to go, you got to go".
So I walked on pretending I did not see it and hoped no-one was looking through the window and spotted me as the culprit. The right thing would have been, possibly to write a note of apology and leave it in the letter box, but that will only cause a temporary irritation to turn into a longtime memory. Once you put a face to a poop it burns into your memory bank.
What to do with the poop once you collected it is the next problem. We have no doggy poop bins on our doggy trail. Some people just dump the plastic bags on the field and other throw it into the storm water drain to clog up our beaches and wetlands.
I was thinking of getting one of those plastic, washable gift bags especially to be used as a dog poop bag.

Photograph: Storm-water draining into Rietvlei. Feb 2010

I was reading somewhere that someone suggested we make electricity with it.

Of wat praat ek alles

Perhaps I should start a ‘what to do with dog poop' forum; but then again, it is only me and Bible and the occasional visitor using the forum.

Cyber space killing

Last night I dozed off in front of the TV, in the back ground, on the screen, a gang-rape was playing out.
I saw the end of it but thought nothing much about it at the time. It is our norm. The rubbish that enters our private spaces through TV screens and video games is part of life. It is fantasy - not real. Our brains can distinguish from what is real and what is not.
Or can it?

From time to time mediate to clear conflict and disharmony within my mind. Images that comes up in my mind during this process is often “not real”
It may be something I saw on television, in a soapy by accidental viewing or what I read in the newspaper. My brain recorded it as conflict within me.

This morning I picked up a magazine “PC Format” in which a video game was reviewed. The author wrote: “...... I am going to track down and take out another wolf in Obivion. And a bear. And a mountain lion - just because I can.” (Page 8 / June 2006)

Perhaps more studies are needed to determine what effect this loose morality, cruelty and violence are having on humanity as a whole. Or perhaps we should just take note of studies that was already done.
We can not just ignore this type of “Freedom of expression”
If “freedom of speech and expression harms innocent minds, it is no longer freedom of speech - it is corruption!”

Perhaps that type of material should be recognized or what it is and not be forced into public viewing spaces. People who want to view that stuff should specifically subscribe to it.

Then the rest of us can start to create in our minds a world of healing, joy, bliss and peace.

That is if bliss and peace can ride on the same donkey - of wat praat ek alles.

See "The joy of killing"

Are we eating Africa?

It is a scorcher today, here in Cape Town.

When I suggested to my husband that the least the conservationists in the area could do was to put monitors on duty to keep people and dogs away from the Oystercatchers, that are in their breeding season, here on our beaches. His reply was: "Wat jy waar gaan kry? "(*1) He said that the conservationists are spread too thinly and the other workers would not work over the weekends.

Perhaps we should be grateful that this is Blaauwberg and not Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe those little Oystercatcher eggies and chicks would have looked very inviting on the breakfast frying pan, especially if the Oystercatcher was lying next to it. People would kill for such a feast. When one's own life is endangered by starvation; Who cares about the life of a bird?

Could you imaging what would happen if the resource mismanagement strategies from Zimbabwe has a domino effect in other African nations?

If the Armageddon and a global meltdown is not upon us, could you imagine a "heaven on earth" in first world countries with the balancing factor of "hell on earth" in Africa?

Could "Die geween en die kners van tande(*2)" that the Bible predicts, run concurrently with the "Heaven on earth" which is also mentioned in the same scripture?

If we eat, tread on, and build on everything that makes Africa unique, is it possible that Africa will in the, not so distant, future, become a cesspool of disease, crime and dust with no clean water or food?

Already the symbol of the "African lion" and "the wildlife paradise in Africa" is being replaced by the image of dying babies suckling from empty breasts with flies looking for a bit of moisture in their eyes and on their dry, cracking lips.

All African leaders should study what is happening in Zimbabwe and what was the turning point for this prosperous country, and then make sure it does not happen on their own turf.

One cannot blame the first world and past inhumanities any more. We need to look at recent history and blame ourselves. The first world countries poured multi-billions into Africa and created quite a number of billionaires, but how much of that money filtered down to the people it was intended for?

The African leaders have never been so rich and the people never so poor.

Even during the days of slavery, most people had food on the table and many more ate very well.

Translation: Afrikaans to English.

*¹(Wat jy waar kry? - where would they come from?)

*²(Geween en kners van tande - Weeping and grinding of the teeth)

Most people in South Africa are bilingual and mix expressions from two or three languages in one sentence. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new South African language. A rainbow nation lingo.

National eat a dead animal day

24-Sept 2008

With the changes happening in South Africa, there is a suggestion that “National Heritage day” be changed to “National Braai day” which is “Eat an animal day”.

We are celebrating the burning of animals that have previously been killed and chopped up prior to eating them.

It is a great day for celebrations because 99.85% of all Africans have evolved beyond cannibalism.

A staggering 20% of South Africans have evolved even further because they have by choice given up the barbaric practice of eating animal flesh.

Another 30% had to evolve to that stage due to the price of meat.

While killing of animals for pleasure, is still a widespread human indulgence here at the southern point of Africa; We no longer kill people with weapons of war and leaving them on the streets to rot.

I must go now, Hubby just called, my ^* “choppy” and “wors” is on the braai.

· ^* Choppy and wors = lamb chop and beef sausage (also called “boerewors”)

· ^* Braai = BBQ = a method of cooking meat outside on hot coals or on a portable gas cooker