comment: >
  
  Tell me you don't respect people's boundaries without telling me you don't respect people's boundaries
context: There are plenty of people that like animals even more than humans with bland justifications like 'human bad, animal innocent and good'
  I'd say they're a worse type of person than those that don't like animals >
  
  First off sir, pie o my was a beautiful horse. >
  
  Thank you.  My mother and my husband did not like animals, so it bothers me to hear negative, offensive things about people who don't.
  Come to think of it, I might put myself in that category as well, because while I don't dislike animals, I don't actively like them either.  I'm indifferent to them. >
  
  You can measure a man more by how he treats his lessers than his equals. >
  
  Very true.
  What people can't seem to wrap their head around is that me not wanting to interact with an animal is not the same as me wanting it dead, hurt, sick or even unhappy.
  I'll watch a nature documentary and go to the zoo. I'll smile at you frolicking with your dog. I don't want to pet your dog, nor do I want to be licked by your dog. Somehow, that boundary is unacceptable in society nowadays lol. >
  
  I think as long as you treat them with respect it doesn’t matter if you like them or not. >
  
  Idk treatment and attitudes toward children and animals are frequently indicators of personality dysfunction in people. Not universally or without nuance but….yeah, I think it’s fair to proceed cautiously with people with your attitude until you get to know them. Sorry, satan. >
  
  Lol, so if I don't enjoy having an animal throw itself at me, I'm Satan?
  And I find it deeply concerning that two people have now bucketed treatment of human children and animals together. >
  
  Mostly because it's scientific. A cat's meow has adapted to mimic a human baby's cry as to illicit a protection response from humans. And there is evidence that when looking at animals (especially domesticated animals), the same parts of the brain light up as when looking at children. 
  Like you may not like it, but science does indicate that a person's response to animals is not all that far off from their feeling towards children or other humans. >
  
  Well, first if you read what my stance is, it's that I don't want to interact (as in physically touch) the animal. I don't want to kill a cat or dog the moment I see it lol. I'm indifferent.
  Kids? Love them. Get along great with them (kids of friends, cousins etc). Adult humans? Sure. Animals? Two feet away? Great. At my feet or licking me? No.
  I don't think my feelings contradict what the science is saying and no scientific experiment will yield a 100% success rate anyway so there can and will be exceptions. >
  
  Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you hated animals, only that the reason people have the feelings of unease around people who don't "like" animals is founded in science, and that lumping children and animals (particular animals traditionally considered pets) is not actually that weird scientifically speaking in this case. How you classify "liking" animals is definitely subjective. >
  
  Fair enough. I appreciate your clarification. I take issue with that unease even if it has a basis in logic simply because it's not a 100% empirical truth.
  Again, expressing the dislike should be a stronger basis than the existence of dislike itself. I'd be in the same camp as most animal lovers if I were to meet someone who kicked a cat or pushed them away roughly. I empathize with someone who just freezes when an animal is in close proximity.
  Both are dislike/unease/discomfort. The latter is judged more harshly than it should is my stance (merely reiterating this, not saying you were for or against it) >
  
  “Unhygienic, gross and potentially dangerous” is literally how i would describe humans lol >
  
  Except if a human were to throw themselves on you, you could press charges and they'd be arrested (hopefully) lol.
  (I am not saying animals should be arrested or punished for doing this) >
  
  Depending on severity and frequency, the animal would probably be put down. Many animals are when they haven’t done anything at all. Tbf. >
  
  The death of an innocent is always a tragedy. >
  
  I find people unhygienic, gross and potentially dangerous. >
  
  Someone already beat you to this insight >
  
  Okay. Well, my cat probably doesn’t want to be around you either. >
  
  One of the reasons I prefer them to dogs >
  
  Here's the thing, in today's society, there is no room to have indifferent opinions about something like that. No matter what, you will be pressured to love or hate something depending on what you say about it. If you say, 'I don't really like animals, but I can't say anything bad about them', you will have two armies at your poles. One will try to pull you in to make you truly hate them, the other side will think you're already there, and battle you too.
  I noticed this with kids and families, as well as animals. It's something I speak about a lot. I hear how many people don't 'like' but don't 'hate' them, but soon will someone fly past and polarize that thought. I had a discussion with two people once, where I expressed my affiliation with prominence of family. One of them said this; they never found themselves ready to have a family, but could not fault anyone else for feeling otherwise. The other, however, could not stand the fact. Somewhere in the middle where I spoke to both of them, they started fighting. The angry one tried to push the other out in front with the same angered motive.
  Simply put, there's a lot of hatred and fanaticism in this world today and it plagues the middle-ground people. It's the same as politics. Exactly. If you are neither a crazy liberal or a block-headed conservative, one of them is going to try and capture you like an HVT. In today's society, everyone is fighting a social war and blank assets are paramount.
  The best thing you can do, honestly, is to not act halfway one way or the other, if you show any sign of that, one of those sides is gonna get you. I won't condone just fleeing to either side, but the few things I feel null about I don't even speak about. It's not worth my effort because I don't give a shit about those topics, and it's a tactical move to avoid being sucked into a war. >
  
  I love animals. They’re delicious! >
  
  It is generally a good indicator that someone will be a bad person. Likewise, people who dislike children are usually not good people either. >
  
  This I believe is true. The specifics of human empathy apply here. Seeing people who will dislike at any rate, children or animals, it shows they have the capacity to wish harm upon people as a whole. Showing negativity to generally 'good' things or people, just like animals and children, can imply (but honestly not yet prove) a total negative personality.   
  It is common to feel negativity to other negative people, but because we are socially thriving beings, showing negativity to positive and enlightening beings is a sign of poor character. That's simply it. >
  
  It's like people can't or won't read. Not wanting to be around an animal is not the same as wanting to cause it harm. I have outlined it several times. Classifying all animals as "good" or "positive" is just bizarre.
  And again, Jesus, why are kids and animals being bucketed together?! They're completely different entities. >
  
  note my original comment and you will see why this is not applicable. >
  
  Your original comment is itself not applicable and inane. >
  
  I feel like it doesn’t matter either, I love animals because they are life separate to humans and to me it’s fascinating to have interactions with them despite how different they are to me. I see no reason to actively dislike something causing you no harm, though. >
  
  I don't want to be around one. I dislike it when an animal invades my space. And this is what the vast majority of society and these comments seem to take issue with.
  I will watch animals behind a glass cage or a TV screen with as much fascination and interest as the next guy. I don't want to touch one IRL. >
  
  Is it like a fear? Maybe some people have a natural feeling that animals will do something to harm them? Also to animals I think they don’t see personal space as the same as us, I assume you’re talking about dogs who like to get up close to people and all that lol. What is it about societies issue with this that bothers you? >
  
  I don't have a fear. I just don't like being close to an animal in general. Their smell puts me off and it's just meh. When I say close, I mean interacting with one. I don't care if a dog or cat is two feet away from me and doing it's own thing.
  I'm not expecting the animal to understand it. But if I express any reservations about the animal coming too close to me, I'm viewed as the asshole.
  To give you an example: my apartment complex had regular lifts and a service lift. Pets were meant to be taken in the service lift only but this rule was often flouted. Whatever, not my problem.
  Instance one, lady with a dog wanted to enter the regular lift. Asked if anyone had a problem, I said I did. Couple of other people in the lift gave me a dirty look and so did the dog owner. Instance two, dog owner wanted to enter the regular lift. Didn't ask this time. I figured why bother, and exited the lift. Again, dirty looks from all my lift buddies (it's a tiny lift, both times it was quite cramped, I could smell the dog and the dog wasn't tiny so it would only get more cramped). If any of these factors wasn't true, I'd have stood in that lift without a second thought.
  Like what am I supposed to do? If I point out the rule, I'm the asshole. If I go out of my way to let you do what you want with your dog, I'm still the asshole.
  These were all entirely different people. So it's not some bad luck or whatever. You can want to identify as a panda and people will accept it, but God forbid you don't want to French a dog the second you see it.
  My issue with society's view on this is how extreme it is. I have nothing against your pet. I want it to be happy and healthy. Just from a distance. Somehow this makes me evil. >
  
  I think to most people , and even to me to an extent our reaction is one of , “I don’t understand why” . And we want to figure out why obviously ,and when we look at animals we love it’s easy to view your pov as the opposite, aka hate. I’m not saying that’s how u see it but to me it’s one of those things that I wouldn’t really pay any mind to so when someone does at the least it would strike me as unusual, not necessarily bad. What was going through your head when they brought their dog in the elevator? I have things I dislike too but usually I tend to bear it if it means things go smoother that way. That’s why I initially thought it was a fear . >
  
  Replace dogs or pets with smoking in the 50s and 60s. Say they said there's one lift where you can smoke. Someone comes into the nonsmoking lift and lights up. You don't like smoking. For whatever reason, you don't like the smell, or you end up biting the filter off or it makes you cough. But because everyone's smoking all the time, nobody objects to this guy lighting up in the nonsmoking lift.
  You point out that there's a smoking lift, you're the asshole. You walk out the next time you see this happen and take the stairs, ding ding ding, you're the asshole again. "I just don't want to be around the cigarette" should be reason enough. No? >
  
  Tell me you're a monster without telling me you're a monster.