Puppy Torture
When I saw the puppy torture video this morning, I had to consciously not link to it. The "this is going viral" bells went off immediately, and through some twisted sense of ethics, I decided (for two hours!) that I wasn't participating. What makes the video so effective (i.e., so linkable) is its interplay between logic and emotion. Logically, we know this soldier has possibly killed people in Iraq, so it feels misplaced to vent about a puppy in a war zone; emotionally, we deem hurting a helpless puppy as reprehensible. If the video weren't shot in Iraq (if it were, say, some tweens torturing a dog in a backyard -- you'll find plenty of this on YouTube), the tension wouldn't be there, and it wouldn't be today's viral hit. The contradiction -- people vs. puppies; war vs. peace-keeping -- will probably catapult this thing to network nightly news. By the end of the week, this video could paradoxically become the symbol of what's wrong with the war in Iraq. Poor puppy. (UPDATE: Lindsay, who says she watched it 10 times, thereby proving she's a sicko, is convinced this is fake.)