Eh, I don't entirely agree. Even on the "classic farmer" archetype, just casually shooting a dog is pretty crazy. Lots of farmers have a dog roaming around on their property that may not be materially benefitting them. Even if it's not treated like a child, that doesn't mean it's not an emotional connection for a lot of people.
Plenty of people far removed from a context where they regularly kill animals will hurt pets who anger them. "This dog pissed me off and is useless, I'll shoot it with this gun I have already in my hand" is not that big of a step from there.
Well yeah, that's why it was a bad idea to tell this story!
All I'm saying is you can see where she got the idea. There are still some places where this might be frowned upon but wouldn't be outrageous, and it wasn't too long ago that much more of the country was like that. A slightly different story would have likely had the intended effect.
Eh, I don't entirely agree. Even on the "classic farmer" archetype, just casually shooting a dog is pretty crazy. Lots of farmers have a dog roaming around on their property that may not be materially benefitting them. Even if it's not treated like a child, that doesn't mean it's not an emotional connection for a lot of people.
Plenty of people far removed from a context where they regularly kill animals will hurt pets who anger them. "This dog pissed me off and is useless, I'll shoot it with this gun I have already in my hand" is not that big of a step from there.
A farmer being willing to kill a cow or a chicken does not translate to them flippantly shooting their dog, not on average.
There are some animal abusers that would kill a dog without caring yeah, but that's not a sizable voting constituency lol.
Well yeah, that's why it was a bad idea to tell this story!
All I'm saying is you can see where she got the idea. There are still some places where this might be frowned upon but wouldn't be outrageous, and it wasn't too long ago that much more of the country was like that. A slightly different story would have likely had the intended effect.