Since you asked nicely: downvoted for using a specific type of language.
It’s the first part in the HN guidelines for comments:
“Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.”
Thank you. Yeah, I kind of misunderstood GGP as a deliberate misinterpretation of my usage of the countable noun "litter". And it ticked me off. Having grown up on 4chan and IRC, I'm often a bit surprised by what's considered snark on HN vs other parts of the internet. I'll try to adjust my weights in future.
I think that animal abuse is not the same thing as littering but that the type of people who litter are also the same type on irresponsible people who will think that leaving a rabbit to fend for themselves is no big deal. Either they are clueless and think that rabbits can fend for themselves or they do not care about the consequences of their actions as proven by littering.
Sure. But there is something very different about the animal case because most normal people make emotional connections with their pets.
I own a Norwegian forest cat he was a stray and then found and neutered as an adult. I pretty much know that he could survive just fine on his own by hunting rodents, which he sometimes does anyway. But I still wouldn't leave him to fend for himself because I know he's much happier as a pet and I also just don't want him to leave. That's the part I don't really get. And I'm not some bleeding heart animals should have human rights type person either. Even though squirrels are cute, I'm not shedding tears while cleaning one up that the cat brought in. It's a wild animal that got killed by a predator. That's just nature.
I don't understand the emotional calculus of doing thing to an animal you've lived with and taken care of for months. And I really don't think that is normal at all.
I'm really glad people don't leave comments for downvoting. Then this forum would be littered (heh) with completely useless 3-word comments "downvoted for x".
It's not that I'm so conserned with my points really. Just sometimes it sucks if people disapprove of what you said and you're not sure why. It's usually enough if just one person leaves a comment. Sometimes these things are just hard for me to interpret and it frustrates me a bit.
I'm really not sure what is so objectionable about asserting that animal abuse is not the same thing as littering.