When my youngest child was younger, she wanted a pet snake. I told her "grandma won't visit you anymore and you won't get any presents because she hates snakes". Cheap carnival trick of parenting? Absolutely! What should have said was" pet snakes aren't really pets and are a waste of money". We compromised and got a lizard instead. The lizard hid under a rock for two years then died. And then, we rescued a cat. The cat pretends to like me whenever she's hungry. The cat hasn't died yet.
As a human, I find the allegations in this column deeply upsetting. What about the other mamals who do not contribute to society? Mr Maurer should educate himself about gerbils who spend all day spinning their wheels just as unproductively as I do.
>> I would say that no woman should ever sleep with a guy who owns an exotic pet, but I’m pretty sure that’s already the rule.
I still remember, back in the early days of Match.com when only the nerdy and vaguely computer literate were online dating, the guy who felt the need to include his *giant, shoulder-perching lizard* in his profile picture (not even tucked into slot #5! the main one!). Definitely made a great conversation starter with the handful of other people I ended up meeting, but even as a clueless twenty-something dumbass I knew enough to steer clear of that nonsense.
There's a related topic I would like for Jeff and my other favorite writers to explore: How does intentional social pressure work in practice? Of course we could confront exotic pet owners (or anyone behaving badly) or we could talk about them behind their backs, but everyone can do this with people they don't like. What if we're the ones getting picked on instead? It seems like social pressure has to be coordinated in some way, and it has to account for the relevant power dynamics and practical implications of different courses of action.
When my youngest child was younger, she wanted a pet snake. I told her "grandma won't visit you anymore and you won't get any presents because she hates snakes". Cheap carnival trick of parenting? Absolutely! What should have said was" pet snakes aren't really pets and are a waste of money". We compromised and got a lizard instead. The lizard hid under a rock for two years then died. And then, we rescued a cat. The cat pretends to like me whenever she's hungry. The cat hasn't died yet.
As a human, I find the allegations in this column deeply upsetting. What about the other mamals who do not contribute to society? Mr Maurer should educate himself about gerbils who spend all day spinning their wheels just as unproductively as I do.
>> I would say that no woman should ever sleep with a guy who owns an exotic pet, but I’m pretty sure that’s already the rule.
I still remember, back in the early days of Match.com when only the nerdy and vaguely computer literate were online dating, the guy who felt the need to include his *giant, shoulder-perching lizard* in his profile picture (not even tucked into slot #5! the main one!). Definitely made a great conversation starter with the handful of other people I ended up meeting, but even as a clueless twenty-something dumbass I knew enough to steer clear of that nonsense.
There's a related topic I would like for Jeff and my other favorite writers to explore: How does intentional social pressure work in practice? Of course we could confront exotic pet owners (or anyone behaving badly) or we could talk about them behind their backs, but everyone can do this with people they don't like. What if we're the ones getting picked on instead? It seems like social pressure has to be coordinated in some way, and it has to account for the relevant power dynamics and practical implications of different courses of action.