The Art of Complaining

One thing that I see all the time over social media that makes me beyond irritated is animal brutality. Animal brutality is common in society and is something that appears all over social media. As an animal lover, it breaks my heart to see animals being mistreated, especially when they have such innocent souls. Why does animal brutality happen in the first place? To answer this question, some people are cold-hearted and don’t care for all forms of life. Instead, these heartless individuals target innocent animals who have done nothing wrong to deserve such treatment. While so many cases of animal brutality are reported, most cases are never reported. The most common animal abuse reports involve cats, dogs, horses, and livestock. This upsets me so much because animals cannot speak up for themselves and rely on humans to be loving and kind. Because animals do not have a voice, humans must be their voice. More needs to be done to bring awareness to the inhumane brutality that innocent animals across the U.S. face. To do this, actions need to be organized, and attention must be advertised.

Since most people nowadays are on their phones or are utilizing some screen as their source of entertainment, putting the information about animal abuse on these platforms is an excellent way to raise awareness. What upsets me the most about this issue is that there is evidence of a connection between animal cruelty and human violence. Those who abuse people in their homes are also more likely to target their pets. They may also harm an animal to get revenge on someone who does care about the animal. Regardless of the situation, this shouldn’t be happening. Since I feel so strongly about advocating for animal rights, I need to use my voice to speak out for the helpless animals who can’t do it themselves.

From what we learned from Reyes, creating change requires sustained effort across time with many different people. To bring about change to end animal brutality, more laws need to be put into place that makes it a crime for someone to harm an animal in any way. Some questions to think about while pushing for these laws include: If there are consequences for hurting an animal, will people stop doing it? How might laws protect animals and make their abusers pay the price? Also, the abuse stories that I see on social media are an excellent way to bring attention to the inhumane practices in our country. When I read the stories or watch clips that depict an animal’s neglect/abuse story, my senses are activated. I can’t help but feel a heavy heart and want to do more to end this ongoing cycle of careless abuse. To bring about change, people need to create campaigns and charity foundations to raise money to help those animals affected by abuse. As we have learned from “Moments and Movements,” organizing is the essential work that will turn these stories of animal abuse into movements to bring about positive change and awareness.

Just like humans, animals matter too. They are our companions, not our enemies.