-
Not Ready for Primetime Players
May 17, 2013 | 116 comments
-
Manny Pacquiao vs. The IRS
May 10, 2013 | 25 comments
-
Salt of the Earth?
May 3, 2013 | 44 comments
-
The Death of an Artist in Everybody’s Collection
April 26, 2013 | 6 comments
-
The Meaning of Patriots’ Day
April 19, 2013 | 88 comments
Special Report
Ooh Baby It’s a Wild World
It’s a jungle out there for transanimals.
The humans called Dennis Avner “Stalking Cat.” His kind referred to him as “meow.”
The cat-like Avner, who held the Guinness Book of World Records mark for body modifications — including a bifurcated lip, extensive tiger-stripe facial tattooing, surgically pointed ears, and silicone injections in the cheeks, chin, and forehead — died earlier this month.
The human authorities suspect he killed himself. I suspect humans, threatened that one of their own had defected to the cat community, killed him.
Human nature, alien to Stalking Cat, remains quite familiar with suicide. The dearth of documented cases of self-inflicted felicide raises suspicions. Only an Ace Ventura could definitively answer this whodunit. The one certainty here is that it’s a jungle out there for a person who realizes he, she, or it is an animal trapped in a human’s body.
Dennis Avner never found acceptance among mankind as a felid despite the plastic surgeries, the tattoos, and the silicone injections. He was, in a loose sense, a real-life Philip Nolan — a manimal without a species.
Biology is the new racism. The phobia against transanimals recalls the societal obstinacy regarding transgenders. We exiled them to the “third bathroom,” inscribed pesky reminders of their physiology on their driver’s licenses, and imprisoned them with criminals of the opposite gender. Some men still won’t consider dating a woman who was born a “man” — whatever that antiquated designation means. One surmises that Stalking Cat encountered similar prejudices among potential dating partners of all sexes and species.
Society’s rejection of transanimals results in their rejection of themselves. When a man splits his tongue, amputates his arms, and fuses his legs together to realize his inner serpent, society calls him crazy, a freak, and troubled — instead of what he is: a snake. We will become as sane as they are only when we finally see transanimals as they see themselves.
All this recalls the dark ages when we denied that one biologically born a male who surgically remade herself as female was as much a woman as your mother. Dennis Avner was as much a cat as Chastity Bono is a man.
Yet, many landlords won’t rent to transanimals. Their contracts stipulate “no pets.” Restaurants still post “no dogs allowed” signs. Public parks demand that you keep animals on a leash. Dennis Avner served in the Navy. But he did so in the form of a human being. The ban on transspecies soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines persists despite the obvious intimidation factor that a battalion of tiger-men would impose on the enemy.
What was Stalking Cat supposed to make of the many restrictions, formal and informal, that civilization imposed upon his wild spirit?
Transanimals face a gross double standard vis-à-vis transgenders. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decrees that the Affordable Care Act forbids discrimination against transgendered patients within federally funded programs. U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf, a Reagan appointee, has ordered Massachusetts taxpayers to fund gender reassignment surgery for Michelle Kosilek, an inmate convicted of murdering his wife after she caught him in her clothes. Sixteen state governments find a compelling interest in forbidding employers from taking into account a man’s metamorphosis into a woman, or vice versa, when hiring and firing.
By what logic do these states, the federal judge, and HHS, which prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, then permit discrimination based on animal identity?
In fits of self-absolution, tormentors conveniently maintain that the extinction of Stalking Cat, along with a transgender suicide rate 25 times the general population’s, proves that self-mutilation begins a slow self-destruction that ends in one’s ultimate destruction. Society has dysphoria over sexual, and species, dysphoria. We lose some of our humanity when we don’t extend it to gharials, capybaras, and narwhals. Cats are people too.
Mourn Dennis Avner’s tragic demise. But celebrate the miracle of his longevity. While most house cats survive to about 15, Stalking Cat lived to 54. If you last that many years more, you will surely meet others of his kind.
It’s a bestial domain we inhabit. Or, as Cat Stevens — no relation to Stalking Cat — told us, “Ooh baby, baby it’s a wild world.” It’s getting wilder.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 6:54AM
Contest at Wednesday's - "The Honourable Backup".
Read the New Rules.
It would seem, by the look of Today's Menu, that The Contest is sorely needed.
Seriously............What the Hell was that?
Joellen| 11.30.12 @ 8:47AM
TLP, it's just another example of the BIZARO world we live in.
I know, I know, contest, "The Honourable Backup".
Jujitsu Oop| 11.30.12 @ 9:00AM
And with this sophomoric article, Mr. Flynn, you have shown how lowbrow AmSpec can sink.
Since you have nothing to say, you should keep your mouth shut. Attempting to show parallels between "transanimals" and transgenders is dumber than dirt. Your humor is lost on me.
Perhaps you need to do a little research on the psychology of Transgenders. And remember--from now on when you have nothing interesting to say, just keep your mouth shut.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 9:45AM
Actually, I don't see any difference, either.
This poor bastard was born a Boy, and tried to make himself in to a Tiger.
Michael Jackson was Born a Black Boy, and tried to make himself in to a White Girl.
Transgender is just another name for a kind of Creature that one might expect to find on The Island of Doctor Moreau, or tied up on Purp's Kitchen Table.
There's nothing to research.
They are the Living Embodiment of the Square Peg and the Round Hole.
That you seem to be so Upset, speaks volumes.
KyMouse| 11.30.12 @ 1:56PM
Until the DNA within each cell matches the new "gender" of the transgender person, the claim to have joined the opposite sex will be based merely on cosmetic changes.
For example, Chastity Bono did not become a man, she became a mutilated woman.
Psychiatrists used to offer help for such problems, but now that's politically incorrect and "judgmental."
It is all very, very sad.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 3:21PM
Most of these "People" end up at the end of a rope, that they tied there, themselves.
fmm| 12.2.12 @ 8:47AM
Excellent comment. Problems are always much deeper than what meets the eye. Those who only see the surface turn small individual problems into much larger ones for our entire society.
Tom Kyba| 11.30.12 @ 10:54AM
In light of your righteous indignation and in light of this new more equitable world that your dear leader(I'm making an assumption here as to your ideological bent) is in the process of creating(evidenced by your friends who post here telling conservatives to shut up and get used to the new way of things) the Obama Ministry of Transgendered Animals has decreed that the next such case will be ensconced in your place of residence and you will be responsible for he/she/its welfare in perpetuity. Please be aware that the Ministry considers this to be an honor bestowed to you personally and since you have no say in the matter, keep your mouth shut. Now get busy preparing your spare bedroom for Mr. Hippapotamus.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 3:21PM
Contest at Wednesday's Story - "The Honourable Backstop".
Butch| 11.30.12 @ 2:25PM
You guys make really pig chicks. Nobody wants a six-foot chick with an Adam's apple and big hands and feet.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 4:18PM
Are you talking about Michelle Obama?
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 9:36AM
Yeah.
Okay.
But did you know that The Contest is at Wednesday's "The Honourable Backup"?
Occam's Tool| 11.30.12 @ 5:06PM
Cat Stevens=Yusuf Islam= Terrorist supporting Dirtbag. Much more problematic a human being than the unfortunate Dennis Avner.
MelvinNC| 11.30.12 @ 7:21AM
Let me guess, Dennis Avener was a cat trapped in a humans body. The man was a crackpot, a circus act, no more no less.
Stephie| 11.30.12 @ 11:46AM
This article made me sick. Why is A.S. putting such trash on their website?
Good God.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.30.12 @ 7:38AM
"Or, as Cat Stevens -- no relation to Stalking Cat -- told us, "Ooh baby, baby it's a wild world." It's getting wilder."
I am disappointed that Mr. Stevens could only milk two jokes out of the reference to Cat Stevens. That Mr. Stevens went through his own transformation, leaving his earlier pacifism and converting to the muslim religion where he is now known as Yusef Islam is worthy of note.
Likewise, the Cat Stevens hit "Moon Shadow" features tracking skills that Stalking Cat would have to admire, and also detailed the singer's optimistic adaptability in the face of transformation (albeit not necessarily voluntary surgical alteration.)
Clearly, Mr. Flynn does not have the level of obsessiveness about this subject that Mr. Avner displayed with his own avocation.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 10:06AM
I don't know what the Hell you just said.
But I did catch the "Milk" reference.
I didn't really put that much effort in, when I was reading this "Story"(?) but, I did catch that he Killed himself, or some such thing.
Curious.
Did they bury him, right away? Or did they wait to see if he had any of his 9 Lives left?
Befuddled| 11.30.12 @ 7:53AM
not deeply religious but did Sodom and Gomorrah have anything on us!
Rhoetus| 11.30.12 @ 8:04AM
King of weird.
JimH| 11.30.12 @ 8:07AM
Did Mr. Avner have kill himself nine times?
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 10:08AM
Crap!
I wish I had read that before I wrote mine.
PJ| 11.30.12 @ 8:55AM
Excellent article.
These persons described in this article have self-esteem problems & their "re-interpretation" of themselves will not eliminate their mental problems. Instead of physical changes, these individuals need to get out & be with other people. They need to volunteer at soup kitchens or hospitals. They need to see that other people suffer too & some even manage to survive while maintaining a positive attitude. They need to get out of their "pity party" & join the rest of the human race.
I'm glad the article points out that transgender suicide rate 25 times the general population's. There is nothing mentally healthy about being a trans anything.
Dodd2| 11.30.12 @ 9:15AM
Back before the 1970s when the country was still somewhat sane, such people as Stalking Cat would be safely ensconced in the county nut house.
Now, we let them run loose, often times paying for their perversions like gender change operations and the like.
JimH| 11.30.12 @ 9:16AM
Or in the sideshow.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.30.12 @ 9:29AM
Its not on the side anymore; now it is front and center (and by the way, the nine times line above had me laughing out loud).
Anthony| 11.30.12 @ 9:38AM
Dare I ask how Mr. Avner supported himself? Was he an executive at Purina? I suspect this cat was on federal assistance, so which federal agency deals with disabled Transanimals?
Frankly, I think he would have made a great mayor of San Fransisco. Prowling around on all fours would be an instant hit in the city by the bay.
I bet his first decree would have dealt a death blow to leash laws, well, except in certain districts.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 10:10AM
All I know was that he was Fired from every Fish Market that he ever worked at.
And, on the first day.
Every time.
Rhoetus| 12.1.12 @ 8:35PM
Purina? We have a winner! :-)
Louis Jenkins| 11.30.12 @ 10:09AM
I'm sorry, but the subject of this article appears to be a side show to a side show. I would vomit, but thankfully, didn't eat breakfast this morning. Can't wait until the Democratic convention includes these types in their procedings.
Simon Templar| 11.30.12 @ 10:12AM
You joke about it, but it really is not a joke.
The author has accurately and comprehensively outlined exactly the political process and social manipulation that the Left has used in normalizing every single deviant social and behavioral condition that exist to the status of victim hood and normalcy.
The overarching question is why and to what end?
Anthony| 11.30.12 @ 10:20AM
In order to create a more purrrrfect society.
Sorry Simon, I could't resist, however, your point is spot on.
Stephie| 11.30.12 @ 11:50AM
STOP IT ANTHONY! This is disturbing!!!
Anthony| 11.30.12 @ 12:07PM
I didn't mean to upset you Stephie, this is truly disturbing, however, literature is full of examples of humor in situations of sheer insanity within the human condition.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.30.12 @ 12:48PM
I think Doctor Right alludes to that point below. Ultimately, that there are professionals who will indulge this behavior (I speak less of the tattoo artists, and more to the doctors and dentists involved) gives credence to the point that the early communist leadership was credited with making that the capitalists would sell them the rope that they would use to hang the capitalists in the end (and I'm sure at Sodom, the guy with the olive oil concession probably was really happy with his sales numbers right up until the pillar of fire hit).
Occam's Tool| 11.30.12 @ 5:09PM
A catastrophic concatenation of otherwise felicitous feline musings.
Stan Redmond| 11.30.12 @ 4:35PM
You're going to hurt someone's felines saying stuff like that.
LarryK| 11.30.12 @ 11:17AM
Idiots!
Doctor Right| 11.30.12 @ 11:54AM
This article isn't really all that funny.
Basically, a deeply disturbed and likely very depressed individual wanted so much to be someone else that he settled on an animal...and when that did not yield the happiness he so desperately sought after much bodily mutilation and alteration, he took his own life.
This type of behavior is a direct result of the loss of standards in our society, where we are afraid to tell people "Stop. That behavior is wrong. Seek help."
I once read a story in England about a woman who wanted to be an Androgyne - someone with no phenotypical attachment to either gender. To that end, she had two radical mastectomies performed, as well as a hysterectomy, when what she really needed was serious psychiatric counseling.
In that instance, I wanted to know exactly WHO was willing to perform such radical surgery on someone who was quite obviously mentally ill. Were I a surgeon, I would refuse.
In the same vein, did this Mr. Avner have NO ONE in his life who was willing to tell him that he is NOT a cat, and that he should stop mutilating his body and seek help for his mental illness?
Like I said...not funny. Very sad, on many levels.
Anthony| 11.30.12 @ 1:35PM
Yes, DR, one of the truly lethal cancers of leftism is its Moral Equivalence, on which you opined so eloquently.
KyMouse| 11.30.12 @ 2:08PM
I seem to remember that when three young Girl Scouts were murdered in Oklahoma in 1977, one of the counselors remembered hearing what sounded like a wolf or coyote howling, although the thunderstorm made it hard to identify.
The early speculation was that someone high on drugs thought he was that kind of animal, or was pretending to be, in order to unleash his violent desires.
The case was never officially solved, I think.
Butch| 11.30.12 @ 2:36PM
DR, as a result of a lawsuit the taxpayer/citizens of the State of Louisiana had to pay for transgender surgery for a convict in prison. And that was back in the late 80s/early 90s.
Occam's Tool| 11.30.12 @ 5:11PM
You know, Dr. R, I have actually treated 4 transgenders in my practice. In all but one case, the severe transgender desires were actually the most superficial portion of the overall pathological state. In only one case would I have recommended transgender surgery.
CGP| 11.30.12 @ 12:23PM
Thanks, Doctor Right, for raising the issue that occurred to me as I was reading the article. What would possess a surgeon to do such ghastly things to another human being? If there is insanity involved in this sad affair, surely the plastic surgeons who participate in it must also be seriously mentally disturbed.
PJ| 11.30.12 @ 2:01PM
"What would possess a surgeon to do such ghastly things to another human being? "
Doctors like Mengele who have bizarre curiosities & probably have some kind of God-complex.
Stan Redmond| 11.30.12 @ 3:09PM
He didn't go to a surgeon actually. There is a grey market "body modification" market pioneered in Las Vegas that do this stuff all the time. Sadly Avner had an addiction that is suicidal as almost other addictions. There are some web documentaries on him and he's truly a sad person to behold.
On another note I am with "Simon Templar" on this. Now that the foot is in the door for "transanimals" and they now have a martyr the left will start slowly and surely normalizing and protecting this behaviour. Soon transanimals will be a protected class.
TLP| 11.30.12 @ 3:22PM
Contest at Wednesday's Story - "The Honourable Backstop".
Doctor Right| 11.30.12 @ 4:41PM
Or seriously greedy...
Ronsch| 11.30.12 @ 3:54PM
Wasn't there some yahoo (or maybe jehu since that is more historically fun) that did himself up as a snake and was frontpage news on MSLSD a few years ago?
I could never figure any of this out...What would possess a seemingly mature individual to chop his or herself up.
I would tell you what I would pay to see...A midget/dwarf (or is that "little person" in PC speak) have themselves altered to look like a hobbit...
Buck Ofama| 11.30.12 @ 4:13PM
More fvcking morons with nothing productive to do.
Stan Redmond| 11.30.12 @ 4:37PM
He actually made a living and paid for his "transformation" as a computer programmer.
Buck Ofama| 11.30.12 @ 4:15PM
>Mourn Dennis Avner's tragic demise.
No one cares.
Doctor Right| 11.30.12 @ 4:45PM
Not true.
He was obviously a disturbed and lonely soul who, for reasons known only to himself (I'm guessing a SEVERE childhood trauma) wanted to become another species, as opposed to simply another person.
And when he finally realized that he could never fully disappear into his desired physical form, he took his own life.
Suicide is an act of desperation. And the real tragedy is that most of them could be avoided. Had Mr. Avner been surrounded by friends and family who cared for his welfare, he might never have chosen this bizarre, lonely path.
Biff| 11.30.12 @ 5:01PM
Oh, stop it. This guy was just plain nuts, and there is nothing else to say about him. FYI, you nut job, "Chaz" Bono is no more a man than this moron was a cat. And I don't know about your mother, but simply whacking off (no pun intended) one's genitalia in no way "transforms" a person into something he/she is not. Get a grip, man.
The sad truth is that these societal misfits are terrible examples of what happens when the mind snaps and reality takes a permanent vacation. In other words, these cats are just f*****g insane. Had this man been given real help, instead of the encouragement to pursue his insanity, he might well be alive today. Then again, maybe he choked on a hair ball...
Ted R.| 12.1.12 @ 12:28AM
Abusively mean-spirited, Flynn. Beneath contempt - but not beneath a conservative.
Mnestheus| 12.1.12 @ 2:51AM
Dan should enhance his inner neanderthal with a sequel to this article explaing how much his DIY frontal lobotomy hs increased his enjoyment of the rosary , and celebrating the carpal extension prostheses that allow him to drag his knuckles up the down escalator to amuse the children at CPAC conferences.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.1.12 @ 4:26PM
This is a sick country. Reagan should have never shut down the insane asylums.
Stan Redmond| 12.1.12 @ 5:05PM
I am glad you come here to be educated because you really need it. The Deinstitutionalizing movement started way back in the 50's and 60's.
In 1975 THE US SUPREME COURT ruled a person can not be put in a mental institution against their will. O'Connor X Donaldson. From then on people were released all over the country. Look it up. And am I to believe you would approve this man be locked up against his will because you don't like his CHOICE to make himself look this way, when in fact, he was self employed?
AKraver| 12.2.12 @ 10:05AM
1 down, many more to go.
People who believe they are part animal have voided their own right to exist. I don't advocate harming anyone in anyway, because that in itself is immoral; none-the-less "Transpecies" people deserve death.
What IS really telling, is that most of the people who read what I just wrote will think what I said is harsh, or even wrong. But looking at the best generations of people (the most productive, the empire building generations) you see a group of people who wouldn't have put up with that sort of shit. They'd have recognize the "transpecies" people as a societal-liability, and they'd have hung him high---reminding others that we have a justice system authorized by God to 'handle' the aberrant, perverted, the corrupt.
But the fact that most people will judge what I just wrote to be immoral shows why our society is going to go through a major upheaval and reset. We permit the disrespect of nature, and when that happens, societies crumble.
Stan Redmond| 12.4.12 @ 5:43PM
So you're saying you would have hung him high to deliver him to God on your terms? He should be murdered for his appearance? Who are the other undesireable "many more" who need to go? You don't advocate harmind anyone in any way yet you say he deserves death? I hear the Taliban is hiring.
Regardless. I smell troll
Jardino| 12.2.12 @ 10:27AM
This article shows the true nature of conservatives. They hate "otherness." Their perfect world has "authority" that tells everyone how to live.
Stan Redmond| 12.4.12 @ 5:44PM
Definately trolls
wombat1| 12.3.12 @ 10:37AM
Mr. Flynn,
I know you are going to receive many catcalls in response to this groundhogging- er, groundbreaking article, but it is important to show that you are not just horsing around in pursuit of sheep thrills.
So now that you have made this first, important step, don't dog it. We should all get together and form an NGO for trans animal, trans-human, no matter how squirrely it may seem. We should be real eager beavers and sue everything and everybody in sight, most diligently on behalf of those who don't even know they need our representation.
After all, it's the early bird gets the worm.