Yes, I’ve got a Saul Bellow text for everything.
Anyway, this Daily Beast article on the danger of pit bulls is obviously right. What’s frightening is the irrational and confused responses posted by scores of people who are stupid and/or nuts.
Bellow picked up on Americans’ bizarre love for these dangerous animals more than 20 years ago in “Him With His Foot in His Mouth.” And the obviously Bellovian narrator considers what it all means.
“But as a reverberator, which it is my nature to be, I tried to connect the breeding of these terrible dogs with the mood of the country. The pros and cons of the matter add some curious lines to the spiritual profile of the U.S.A. . . . The first connection to come to mind was that egalitarianism was now being extended to cats and dogs. But it’s not simple egalitarianism, it’s a merging of different species: the line between man and other animals is becoming blurred. . . . At this rate, a dog in the White House becomes a real possibility. Not a pit bulldog, certainly, but a nice golden retriever whose veterinarian would become Secretary of State.”
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