PC Pets

One day a few months ago, while washing my breakfast dishes, I was listening to a TV commercial for some product that files pets’ nails. What struck me was that at one point, where one would have expected to hear the term “Pet Owners”, the commercial mentioned “Pet Parents”.
Pet Parents???
Perhaps this should not come as a big surprise, not in a Politically Correct world in which Bums have disappeared, to be replaced by The Homeless; Janitors and Garbage Men have gone the way of the Dodo to be replaced by Maintenance Engineers and Sanitation Engineers, respectively.
Okay, I’ll admit that maybe some PC terminology is a little more sensitive than the terms previously used: Retarded people, once referred to as Retards, are now called Mentally Challenged; same goes for the Handicapped, who are now referred to as Physically Challenged.
But there’s nothing wrong with someone being a Garbage Man, or a Janitor; these are people who do important, if usually unappreciated, jobs, jobs most people would not want to do. Heck, I’m sure many of those people who do those jobs would rather be doing something else, but Life sometimes forces uncontrollable circumstances upon us, or maybe choices we make during the course of our lives lead us to have to take jobs we’d rather not have. Giving them fancy titles is a way of making them feel better about themselves. Which in itself is not a bad thing, but whatever happened to the concept of taking Pride in your work, no matter what that work might be?
This all brings to mind other PC demands on our language, such as people being upset at sports teams such as the Braves or the Redskins; but I have never felt these names were derogatory; on the contrary, they are the names of Teams, for crying out loud! Teams people root for, teams that many fans in fact (sadly) live for. Who in their right mind can find something wrong with that?
Only the humorless PC crowd that walks around with a stick up their collective rear end, and who try their best to avoid insulting everyone – except White Males, of course, who are the only Fair Game for the PCers. Oh, and Black Republicans, who are also seen as not worthy of any respect for their feelings and choices.
This thinking has led directly to the banning or at least attempted bans of certain mascots and fan favorite customs, like a man dressed as a Brave, or fans in Atlanta doing the Tomahawk chop. The PC crowd claims these things are demeaning to Indians – oops! I mean, of course, Native Americans…
I still think of Asians as Orientals – not because I am racist, but because they are from an area of the world known for may centuries as the Orient.
If truth be known, I admire many aspects of Oriental – or Asian – cultures, such as Zen and Tao Te Ching, Eastern Martial Arts, the fact that for thousands of years the Chinese have had Herbal Remedies that equal or surpass Western medicines, and so on; if I were racist, then I would have no admiration for anything originating from Asia.
I still think of Native Americans as Indians, again, not because I am racist or because I want to insult or put them down, but because a) that’s what they were referred to as for centuries; b) that’s how I was taught to call them when I was in school, and c) they are not the only Native Americans: I was born here, therefore I am also a Native American, as is EVERY person who was born in the Americas.
And if you want to get picky about it, let me digress for a moment and bring up Kennewick Man, whose remains were found on July 28, 1996. These remains seemed to be Caucasian rather than Asian or so-called Native American. Five tribes - the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Yakama, Wannapum, and Colville - tried to block any scientific investigation of the remains, claiming the remains should be buried according to their traditions (in a locale known only to themselves, and never to be disclosed to the White Man).
In 2004, the courts finally ruled that scientific study of the remains should be allowed. Subsequently, it was determined that the remains were indeed of Caucasoid origin, that they were the skeletal remains of a man who was about 50 years old when he died, and that these remains were about 9300 years old.
WOW! White man’s ancestors in the America’s long before Columbus, or even Leif Ericson and his Vikings, ever set foot here? THAT certainly blows a hole in the long-held theory that only Asiatic-descended Natives (a/k/a American Indians) are the only ones who can lay claim to being Native Americans, doesn’t it?
No wonder the Tribes wanted to keep the fellow under wraps, out of the lab, and bury him in some location where he’d never be found.
But back to the main point of this essay:
Unless you have had some kind of illegal sexual intercourse with an animal, and afterwards one of you gave birth, you CANNOT be a Pet Parent. You might have a pet, in which case you are considered to own that pet, thus making you a Pet Owner.
Especially in the case of dogs, which in most places must be registered with your city or town, so that a License may be issued (probably more for the city or town to make a little money rather than for any other reason). So by requiring that you get a license for your dog, government thus places you in the class of Pet Owner.
NOT Pet Parent.
Duh-uh. Whatever happened to Honesty?