Recently esteemed veteran Ethics Alarms commenter Michael West has been active in commenting again. For as long as it lasts this time, I am grateful. Under his initial handle texagg04, or “tex” for short, Michael elevated the level of discourse here, and notably vanquished Ethics Alarms’ most aggressive progressive/libertarian warrior among the commentariate, the legendary tgt. (Don’t get me wrong: I like and miss tgt, who was sharp, articulate and civil, but he fled the battlefield.)
One of Michael’s most interesting recent contribution is the one below, which examines exactly the issues I was hoping to have discussed when I composed the ethics quiz about the dogs on the Titanic. Before I turn the floor over to Michael, I want to emphasize a few points that have been obscured in the discussion:
- One reason I offered this quiz was because I am so sure that my late wife Grace would have wanted to stay with the sinking ship rather than let a beloved pet die alone. I would have had to put her in restraints and drag her into the lifeboat, and she would have divorced (or murdered) me for doing it if I somehow survived. I’m not kidding. And I would have been the one comforting the dog…
- Several commenters said that they would never take a dog on a ship because of the implied danger. Remember that there were no planes in 1912. For anyone leaving the US to stay overseas or vice-versa, the choice was to bring their non-human companions, not to go, or leave them behind.
- Passengers did and do take dogs on cruise-ships, and while Michael in other posts reminds us that the Titanic was never exactly marketed as unsinkable, it was marketed as the safest ship there was, which was translated in the minds of travelers as “virtually unsinkable.”
- I don’t want to contribute to false history. As I stated in the post, there is no evidence that Ann Elizabeth Isham chose to die with her dog, or even that she had a dog with her. She was one of the four First Class women who didn’t get into a lifeboat when the rule was “women and children first.” The others stayed with their husbands, so the story about her Great Dane was posited as an explanation. She could have saved herself and didn’t. Nobody knows why.
- The sinking of the Titanic is one of those historical events that is so studied and written about that new evidence and theories still keep, ah, surfacing. We may not have heard the last of Ann and her ghostly Great Dane.
Now here is Michael West’s Comment of the Day on the post, “Ethics Quiz: The Dogs of The Titanic”:
Ethics Alarms 
Hello Michael West … a very solid discussion, indeed. I’m wondering if this myth has arisen along with the rise of pet ownership in the US. And not just ownership – doting. Pets are literally replacing children as family (Boss Baby?), and pet owners spend lavishly in ways we wouldn’t dream of when we brought a puppy home from the pound in the 1960s – in the hundreds of billions. One might argue that pets replacing children is an alternative form of birth reduction, a boon to the planet. Or that taking such good care of pets is excellent stewardship. But to sacrifice your life for an animal, as noble as that sounds, deprives all the others in your life of your love, affection and companionship. We do understand the concept – I would lay down my life for most of my family members …. but to extend that impulse to an animal is contrary to the natural order.
Excellent COTD.
A while back the Animal Planet had a tale about a rat terrier owner as it discussed the breed. He was walking to the end of a dock when his dog (rat terriers are basically more pure versions of Jack Russell terriers, and maybe even crazier) saw a small bull shark (they are man-eaters) and leaped into the water to attack it. The man jumped in to save the dog from the shark, and the owner had bitten as well as the dog. Both ended up in the hospital, the terrier for a very long time.
1. Jumping into the ocean to fight a shark for your dog is almost as irrational as deliberately going down with a ship to keep it company, not quite as crazy, but close. But I once intervened when two loose dogs were in the process of trying to kill my wife’s cat…that was, now that I think of it, irrational.
2.The rest of the story: the dog healed, and when they were walking to the end of the dock, saw another bull shark, and jumped in AGAIN!
Thanks!
Without going into a great deal of exposition, in summary, I think our modern fixation on pets and its attendant hyper-elevation of their status is indicative of deeper psychological woes.
That was a very interesting discussion. Jack, I’m glad you started it, though I have to admit that not only did it bring up a lot of memories about our now-departed dog, it also sparked an interesting conversation with my wife, both about the Titanic and about Bailey.
Michael, your thoughts were great. Congratulations on the COTD. It was well-deserved.