reasonandempathy

Our system is broken.  It is cruel.  It is dehumanizing, degrading, and it’s vile nature is so, so unnecessary.

We need universal healthcare today in America.  We needed it 40 years ago.  It’s cheaper, it’s simpler, it’s more efficient, it’s more effective and it is so, so, so much less cruel than what we have.

Additional sources/references:

Universal Healthcare Cost in America would be cheaper by trillions of dollars

The US has worse life expectancies than socialized healthcare countries

We have worse generalized healthcare results

We have the most expensive care

Our system is so cruel and unique that doctors from other countries literally can’t believe what happens here

I can’t tell you where or how to activate to help solve this.  There are politicians, groups, and activists pushing for this in so many ways.  I can tell you when, though.

Now.

  cafeinevitable

Turtle Quilt by Laurraine Yuyama

Tokyo Quilt Festival

  themotherfuckingclickerkid

Comparison gifpost.

First row shows shut down dogs, trained to heel using aversive methods. Tucked tails, hunched posture, low energy, low heads, think you can see some lip licking in that 2nd one.

Second row show a dog trained by Jenny Gould with positive reinforcement. Very energetic, pricked ears, wagging tail, head up and focused on the handler.

Third row is Clinton Anderson (who trains exclusively using aversive methods) working with his horse Mindy. You can see pinned ears, lip licking, clamped tail. There is irritable, anxious and passive body language depending on the point in the video.

Fourth row is Mint, trained by Shawna Karrasch with positive reinforcement. Note the presence of real positive body language. Pricked ears, head toss, relaxed tail.

Obviously I have an agenda re: encouraging the use of positive reinforcement, and discouraging the use of negative reinforcement and punishment, but mostly this gifset is intended to make it obvious that what we think of as ‘relaxed’ or ‘submissive’ body language can actually be a sign of a shut down animal that has learned not to react, or react only when made to. A horse is not relaxed just because they aren’t reacting. A horse is not happy just because they aren’t actively fighting. Horses can be taught to shut down just as easily as dogs, and typically, they are. The next time you watch a training video, watch for the quiet signs of stress (tight mouth, whale eye, clamped or thrashing tail, pinned ears, lip licking). You’ll be surprised how many ‘calm’ or ‘relaxed’ horses are exactly the opposite.

  rottnweiler

I don’t know much about horses but holy shit those dogs in the first gifset look terrified and miserable

  wolverinequeen

The GSDs in the first gifset belong to that horrible trainer/breeder Augusto DeOliveira - news sites like Buzzfeed and whatnot made him an internet sensation a couple years back - he keeps his dogs in stacked up kennels without water as punishment and breeds out parvo + and genetically defected puppies for thousands of dollars (also paper hangs constantly). He’s got a lot of publicity as one of the best trainers out there because he trains dogs for a living, but if you watch his videos his dogs are super stressed out and there used to be a whole facebook community of puppy people who bought pups from him that ended up dying or needing immense vet care from his horrible husbandry. He continuously tries to lay the blame on everyone but himself. 

Here’s a whole page about him 

And the Facebook Page that archives his every move/has owner testimonies, etc