Gladwell’s Pit Bulls
“TROUBLEMAKERS” by Malcolm Gladwell is an interesting read. If you’ve enjoyed Blink or The Tipping Point, then go read this New Yorker article. It delves into human psychology much like those two best-sellers do.
The tagline for Gladwell’s piece is “What pit bulls can teach us about profiling.” Dogs, pit bulls in this case, often get a very bad reputation through no fault of their own. In most cases it’s the negligence or purposeful intent of the owners that causes the dogs’ bad behavior.
The article explores the reasons behind aggressive dog behavior and why it has led to large-scale generalization and profiling of certain dog breeds. This in turn provides a great example of how we come to profile any manner of object, person, or animal.
Like I said, it’s a good read; it will make you think. I’ve already started to look at dogs in a different way.
[Tip: if you go to the Printable version of the article, it really helps with its readability.]
Very good article. As the proud mom of 4 pitbulls myself, I can really appreciate what you wrote. Yes, some pitbulls do bad things, that doesn’t make them bad dogs. Their owners, and lives they are forced into living make them act badly. One of mine in particular doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, she is truly a sweetheart.