SAPS to kill 'Racist dogs'

[The Guvnor]

From today's Telegraph

EIGHTEEN dogs at a police unit involved in a videotaped attack on three
black men in South Africa are to be examined by animal psychologists to
decide whether they are racist.

If they are found to have been trained to respond to racist terms such as
"kaffir" and to behave differently towards black people, they will be
destroyed.

Officials investigating the incident, in which six policemen were shown on
television laughing and joking as they set four dogs on the men, said all the
animals at the North East Road dog unit in Johannesburg would be evaluated.

There is anecdotal evidence of dogs in South Africa growling and threatening
black people while ignoring whites. This will be put to the test in the dog unit.
In the video of the attack, which occurred in 1998, the officers jokingly
described the tape as a training video.

Karen McKenzie, director of the Independent Complaints Directorate, said:
"The possibility could exist that there were other sessions and that blacks
were used as live bait. If that turned out to be true, the dogs would have to be
put down. The psychological state of the dog is critical to our investigation."

The unit has 31 police officers and about 18 dogs. Only one of the officers is
black. Police dog units have been withdrawn from patrols of black townships
around Cape Town after death threats. There were tense scenes outside the
Pretoria magistrates' court where the six police officers, who were suspended
from duty and arrested hours before the video was broadcast, appeared
yesterday.

Police in riot gear watched as about 30 demonstrators marched outside the
court, chanting and displaying placards calling for life sentences for the
officers. They were not asked to plead on charges of assault and attempted
murder but were remanded for eight days. Bail was refused.

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:) Happiness is a warm L1011 :)

[The Unteleported Man]

The dogs probably are racist. This dog unit is based at FAPI; I've seen them in action. It's a dog's life I s'pose...


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The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.

[The Unteleported Man]

Correction: the FAPI unit is under investigation for similar brutality. The unit in question is on the East Rand.



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The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.

[The Guvnor]

Are dogs inherently racist, though? I had four Groenendael Belgian Shepherds (all black, by the way) when I lived in Fourways and whilst they got on fine with the maid, they hated her husband, the gardener, and any indigenous types that came to the house. There were a couple of whites they weren't too keen on either - and they also were fairly anti geese, chomping four of them! This despite the fact that they grew up from pups in the company of these people.

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:) Happiness is a warm L1011 :)

[The Unteleported Man]

The article mentions testing if the dogs respond to racist language like 'kaffir'. This is inherently flawed since the word's meaning has blurred over the years. Just the other day I watched as a (black) policeman, supervising the transfer of some prisoners, said to a prisoner 'Kom kaffirtjie...'.

I really hope that they consider retraining the dogs if they prove unfit. It seems terrible to destroy an animal that has merely accepted the doctrine to which it's been exposed.

On the subject of your dog's obvious dislike for members of your household I'd hazard a guess that the dogs identified you as the head of the 'pack' but did not translate that status to your gardener. Robert Ardrey's The Hunting Hypothesis, although dated, makes some useful observations on pack psychology. I think I'll go and reread it...



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The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.

[The Unteleported Man]

There is scarcely a zoo without some such record, as there is scarcely a zoo without a long history of chimps' hurling objects at visitors. That they will urinate on you with excellent aim, I can myself bear witness. That they will go to lengths both more creative and objectionable, was once the subject of a diplomatic incident at the London Zoo. The visitor was the head of an African state who habitually appeared in full dress uniform. Warned of his approach , the keepers panicked. I don't know whether their prize chimpanzee was a racist or whether he simply disliked medals, but they cleaned his cage of carrots and all other lose objects. When the visitor appeared to admire him, the chimp took one look, made a round of his cage, found nothing throwable, and quickly squeezed out some faeces and let go with unpardonable accuracy. It took all the apologies of the Foreign Ministry to convince the visitor that the chimp had not been trained to do it. Robert Ardrey The Hunting Hypothesis

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The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.