Plaidophile

I find the responses I got to the recent entries about Jesse vs. my cat to be interesting, given that both people who responded fell into the exact same mindset as what I was complaining about.

It was never about me refusing to take responsibility for my cat. One of the very first things I said was that yes, I'm legally-responsible for anything my cat does, and that I wanted to resolve things amicably but also wanted to be sure that it really was my responsibility (i.e. not Jesse trying to take advantage of my legal responsibility to get a free paint job).

What I was complaining about was the way that Jesse handled the situation; he started out by making threats regarding my responsibility, creating an air of conflict where there didn't need to be one.

Both responses I got were from people who apparently assumed that I was going to be like a "typical cat owner." I realize that people, in general, are asses, and will lie and cheat in order to avoid taking responsibility for their problems. But even though I specifically said that I would take responsibility, and that I wanted to settle it amicably, and just wanted to be sure it was my cat (since it was largely cirucmstantial evidence to begin with), and I specifically said that the problem I had wasn't with taking responsibility but with how Jesse brought the issue to my attention, the people who responded went and just created another conflict over a nonexistent issue.

If you have had a vehicle damaged by a cat, then take it up with that cat's owner, not with me.

Also:

Posted by: synik on January 23, 2003 06:02 AM

If I saw some cat sitting on my car I'd kick the shit out of it. It's my car, mine mine mine!

Why should someone have to put up with someone elses mongrel cat scratching up their car?

Holy cow, I'm glad your attitude is so enlightened. Yeah, that's the answer to everything, kick the shit out of it. I just love how you think that a scratch in a paint job is worse than abusing/killing an animal.

So, like, what, you like to see debts paid in blood or something? I mean, that sort of retaliatory attitude just makes everyone worse off. It's like if he'd settled the issue by keying my car or something; then we'd have both had to get new paint jobs, and the only one who would win is the body shop.

It's like the proverb: An eye for an eye and everyone ends up blind.

Damage to property can be fixed. Damage to an animal can't. If he'd beaten the shit out of Toby, then he'd have had a hell of a lot more to answer for.