Controversial Topic Proposal

The controversial topic I found for the species I study is the issues of pit bulls, which include the controversies around dog fighting, breed discriminatory laws, vicious dogs and so on. The controversy around pit bulls mainly focuses on whether pit bulls have so-called vicious genes and are naturally “killing machines”, if breed-specific laws make any sense, and if pit bulls spontaneously engage in dog fighting or people force them to do so.

Here are some pictures of how pit bulls are badly hurt in dog fighting.

Just for comparisons, here are some pictures of healthy, cute pit bulls.

For this issue, I would argue that the miserable living conditions of pit bulls nowadays have nothing to do with the dogs themselves. Rather, it is resulted by behaviors of reckless/irresponsible owners and popular culture that send negative images of pit bulls. Pit bulls are actually friendly and passionate creatures that love human beings a lot. The images of pit bulls are socially constructed and have nothing to do with the nature or the personalities of this specific breed. Furthermore, although dog fighting has been banned, it needs to be controlled more strictly because it is still happening. Finally, breed discriminatory laws do not make any sense, since bad genes do not exist—the simplest but strongest evidence is that people identify pit bulls based on how they look instead of their biological makeup, and the dogs that look like pit bulls may not have the genes of pit bulls at all.

Here is a short video showing that pit bulls can be wonderful family pets—see how a pit bull interacts with a child:

Sources Used:

http://doginstructions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cute-pit-bullsreputations-on-pitbulls-ryak3wjo.jpg

http://cdn.cutestpaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/l-Just-baby-pit-bulls.jpg

http://z.about.com/d/dogs/1/0/b/8/goliath_apbt_3w.jpg

https://americandogblog.wordpress.com/category/dog-controversial-issues/

http://doginstructions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pitbull-dogs-fightingmichael-vick-dog-fighting---6-popular-michael-vick-dog-fighting-n7udbiig.jpg

http://www.animalrecoverymission.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/dog_fighting1.jpg

http://www.pbrc.net/

http://www.sitemason.com/files/lwNv8I/Honor.jpg/main.jpg

http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/407/895/407895990_640.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBcAICAD9iItOlSXsdnUIkCKUpCZaWerw_cRoVi4NzehcYecYqBgf2vkDySsyQo6eaF78uaaZIalc4TxssBW1xa0IsMH-dnmkmCvUyDKIDxMfqUJn_N6FToNP0qXAtiRIwumdI-0VaGo/s1600/cute+pit+bull+puppy+loves+kitten+friend+play+dog+cat+animal+adorable+fluffy+chick+baby.jpg

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/3b/5d/14/3b5d1446eb136362cd7b0c058a43e170.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok6XGohwmpk