Why do people hurt cats?

Why do people hurt cats? This is a big question. There are no clean, simple, straightforward answers to this sort of question. I would welcome opinions in comments. In the meantime I will provide my opinion for what it is worth.

Perpetuation

We should recognize the way animal abuse is perpetuated by generations of people in the same family. Children learn by observation from fathers and mothers. Children and their children are likely to perpetuate animal abuse.

Anger

Angry people might express and direct their anger at animals. A lot of us are angry about society at some time or another. Some people are more angry than others and possibly angry all the time. This may be borne out of abuse against them. Or neglect from parents. That sort of thing. A child or young adult might wish to express that anger verbally (short temper) and in actions that are violent. One such action might be a form of retaliation against society. A vulnerable target will be a companion animal. The domestic cat is particularly susceptible to attack by a violent individual. In hurting a cat, the angry person dissipates some anger and as a consequence feels happier. This is why they like hurting cats.

Disconnect

People are becoming increasingly disconnected from nature. This engenders a lack of respect for animals.  It is the "it's only a cat" mentality. That mentality makes it easier to abuse a cat because disconnected people don't have empathy for the cat's emotions and senses.

Superiority

A lot of cultures either western or Asian consider animals as lesser creatures whose sole purpose is to serve the superior human. The world is for the use of humans. Use it as you will. This culture leads to an abuse of the world's natural resources, nature, the environment and cats. It supports animal abuse in an indirect way.

Fetish

Crush videos are a cult fetish that is a controlled expression of a desire to hurt cats and cute animals. Hurting cute animals is more potent than hurting other animals because cuteness is a human and superficial concept. It represents the human condition and the perpetrator wants to hit out at society.

Associated Pages

Selected pages (there are hundreds more on PoC - please search - go to home page)

• Cat abuse - contains links to more as well.
• Pictures of animal abuse
• Declawing - for me this is cat abuse.