I found the blog posts of one student, Kassandra Desmarais, to be quite interesting and relatable. In one post, specifically, she tackles the topic of the Pit bull ban in Montreal. After the death of an elderly woman in June, the city of Montreal was considering passing a bylaw banning pit bulls from the city. She goes on to talk about how some people perceive animals as an “individual” with rights and others perceive Pit bulls as dangerous. Kassandra connects her observation back to the concept that the perceiver is influenced by personal characteristics, past experiences, and expectations as we learned in COMM 292.
I found this particularly interesting considering the recent deaths of the belugas at the Vancouver Aquarium. With all the following controversy on social media, I’ve noticed the conflicting perception of what people think is best for the animals. Some people believe that the whales are better off where they ca
n receive care and be researched for future understanding. Others believe that the whales need to be returned to the wild to live out their lives naturally. It is proposed that there be a referendum question on the 2018 municipal election ballot to decide whether the Vancouver Aquarium should be allowed to continue to keep whales in captivity.perceived perception
As a life-long resident of Vancouver, I have been to the aquarium countless times. When I was little, it was my favourite thing to sit in the danger zone and get pegged by a beluga splash that was aimed with almost intentional-like accuracy.
But as Kassandra said, based on my personal experiences and characteristics, I believe that in 2018 I would vote to keep the whales in captivity whereas someone who has seen the documentary “Black Fish”, for example, would most likely vote to free the whales.
Kassandra and I diverge in our opinions because she does not believe that the well-being of humans should come at a cost to Pit bulls whereas I feel like each person who takes a stand on this topic or the beluga dilemma, no matter what that stand is, is correct because ultimately, they are showing that they care about the well-being of the creatures on this earth.