My older dawg is a better person than you.

[Wyldkat]

Definitely agree with the OP.  I have three dogs and they are amazing creatures.

I've had many rats and they are nifty little things.  One of my best pets ever was a rat.  I'd disagree about the male/female thing though.  I've always had girls (with one exception) and I didn't see much difference, other than the smell, between the one boy I had and other people's males.  I've kept them alone and in groups of two to three and the loners never had any problems.  Of course they had tons of human contact also.

OK, but you're wrong. Or, at least, every single book or website I've ever read on the subject says you are. They could all be wrong, though.

I've never read anything about male rats making better pets than female rats.  I have read suggestions for choosing females over males for the smell.  Most of the books I've read do suggest keeping more than one rat at a time (the only gender differentiation I remember reading was that males would be more likely to fight), but I was simply stating that in my personal experience it has never been an issue.

I also have many friends who raised rats for years who have noticed the same things I have as well as a friend who worked selling rats at a pet store for close to ten years I believe. 

I'm guessing it totally depends on the individual rats and who you talk to/what you read since you've had the opposite experience.

I would avoid female rats just because they have an amazing ability to get pregnant. 

I've never ended up with a pregnant rat because I never had both genders at once.  I had no desire to breed them, adorable though they may be.

Funniest thing is, this thread wasn't actually about dogs.

It was about the banality of evil.

I think the problem is that humans have the concept of good and evil, dogs (and other animals) don't.  Humans go beyond the moment, the experience, and have an awareness of the concept of power.  From there it just becomes a temptation to use it because you can, not because you should (your cop example).  There is also the desire to uphold the status quo.  Accountability helps, but in many cases not enough to prevent it.  So much of it comes down the perception of power, or lack there of, and the fear of change.

[Jasper]

Evil is banal.  I don't think I was an adult until I understood that. 

It's boring and easy, and can be hard to notice.  Uniforms, Chain of Command, Authoritarian Rule, Suppression of Dissent, Boredom, Power Without Oversight, Mindlessly Taking the First Step, Diffused Responsibility, the Norm of Obedience,  Compulsory Haircuts, Masks-  Because when you're not who you are, and you're not responsible for what happens, and there'll be trouble if you don't do it, well....  Let's just say anything could happen.  We all have good imaginations.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Evil is banal.  I don't think I was an adult until I understood that. 

It's boring and easy, and can be hard to notice.  Uniforms, Chain of Command, Authoritarian Rule, Suppression of Dissent, Boredom, Power Without Oversight, Mindlessly Taking the First Step, Diffused Responsibility, the Norm of Obedience,  Compulsory Haircuts, Masks-  Because when you're not who you are, and you're not responsible for what happens, and there'll be trouble if you don't do it, well....  Let's just say anything could happen.  We all have good imaginations.

Thread is now about rats.   

[East Coast Hustle]

Sorry about that. I started with a point to add to your piece and ended up being unable to listen to Wyldkat flap her gums without responding.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Sorry about that. I started with a point to add to your piece and ended up being unable to listen to Wyldkat flap her gums without responding.

Naw, it's cool.   

I am beginning to think of studying thread drift.  Maybe I can squeeze a grant out of it.

[LMNO]

You could call Drift (1), "When a pleasant and an unpleasant thing are brought up in the OP, people will naturally gravitate towards talking about the pleasant thing, even if it was only there to underscore the unpleasant thing."

Or "WAPPAUTABUITOPPWNGTTATPTEIIWOTTUTUT" for short.

[Jenne]

Evil's not boring when you're the target, Sig, though I know what you're saying.  When you can't get out from a constant barrage of everyday evil, it's an insidious sickness that creeps in and around that part you think you might call a soul one day if it wasn't always stuck on the bottom of your shoe.

[Jasper]

Not what I meant;  Having evil done to you isn't boring, whatever else it may be, but all evil has boring causes. 

It's never grandiose, well-funded misanthropy.  It's never the fact that a person has sold their soul to a god of bloodshed.  It's never the kind of evil you can really feel great about fighting against.  It's just lazy, stupid, or greedy people.

[Jenne]

Oh no, that fanstastical kind of evil is still around.  I think you just haven't had to witness it firsthand yet.

[Jasper]

It would be a pleasing change of pace.

[Jenne]

It would be a pleasing change of pace.

[Jasper]

I wasn't being funny, but if laughing gets you by...

[Jenne]

I wasn't being funny, but if laughing gets you by...

NO, but your remark is funny.  You truly think that outright evil you have no choice but to be victimized by would be a better change of pace?

The essential element, EVIL, is to be hated, feared and not looked forward to, no matter where it comes from or what manifestation it takes on.  I do find it comical that you suppose it'd be "welcome" or "pleasing" to experience it.  Especially firsthand.

Though personally, I think I sometimes find watching others near to me experience it is almost more of a special kind of torture because I hate feeling helpless.  At least when it happened to me, I could get a handle on my own experiences...eventually, anyway.