Dog Burger/ Plauge of the Dog people.

The word narcissist is thrown around allot these days. According to oxford dictionary the use of the word narcissist has skyrocketed since the 1990’s. No doubt an accordant increase with the use of private therapy to treat all sorts of spiritual disorders as opposed to the confessional.

Narcissist:“An individual showing symptoms of or affected by narcissism: such asa: an extremely self-centered person who has an exaggerated sense of self-importance”

I often hear this word used by women in the context of their romantic partners or in friendships when they do not get exactly the emotional response from that person that they want. Which maybe its use is sometimes justified. The media is often quick to label someone a narcissist or psychopath rather then using more discrete subjective terms such as someone who lacks empathy or does not see that the course of their actions will lead to the sufferings of another.

I am often shocked how many times I might hear this word used in a day from both men and women to slander, shame, or reduce to a simple equation the complex spectrum of human emotion, action and concupiscence. Would it have been easier to sum up Genesis by saying, “Oh well, Adam was a narcissist. He only thought of himself in his course of action that led up to the fall of humanity”?

Well of course that is the case, obviously for anyone with the most basic story comprehension level. The whole story of the human race is that we are incredibly self-centered and thoughtless of others. Anyone who might seek to label someone else a narcissist might take a good hard look about how often they are using their tongue and how much time they are spending in meditative silence, but it doesn’t change the fact that yes, most people are indeed textbook narcissists.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in pet culture and especially dog culture. Walk around any major American city and you will see a superfluous parade of dog parks, dog groomers, couples walking their dogs, dogs in strollers, dogs on leashes, dogs with service dog harnesses—dogs, dogs, dogs everywhere you look!

In fact, dog ownership and care has become a massive part of our economy:“According to the Pet Advocacy Network, the U.S. pet sector, including dogs, contributed a total of $260.5 billion directly and indirectly to the U.S. economy in 2021.”

An absolutely staggering number.

So what does this have to do with behavioral narcissism and concupiscence? It is no more apparent that people are certainly worshiping false idols than in dog ownership, and this isn’t to speak to those with families, whose dogs serve as beneficial companions to their children, or those who own legitimate working dogs such as ranch dogs, guard dogs, or dogs that detect cancer.

God was truly brilliant when he designed man’s best friend. Think about the amount of care, energy, and time that must be spent on taking care of one of these animals. We must train it, raise it, feed it, take it to the veterinarian when it is ill (which is not cheap, btw). It is no wonder why so many people become so emotionally invested into these animals.

Some are often with us for massive chunks of our lives, but my question to you is: do these silly little creatures even feel the same way about us? How quickly would a starving dog in an apartment turn on its owner after its owner has passed away, unknown to his or her neighbors, to consume the dead corpse of some deceased elderly person?

It actually happens more than you might think.

Wild dogs, which are not far off from our domesticated allies, are skittish and frightfully vicious. So is it safe to say that dogs, while they might have some sort of primal understanding of the human-dog emotional relationship, are not capable of understanding love and human emotion nearly on the same level?

You can leave a dog in the small cooped-up cell of your apartment all day, where it has to hold its pee, smell all types of things that overwhelm its senses, and be deprived of everything a wild animal needs such as space and sunlight. Then, when you come home, it will still prance right up to you with the look of a beautiful idiot on its face, ready to receive admiration from its owner.

It’s not so much that childless dog owners don’t feel anything for their dogs, but it is apparent that most dog-human relationships are a one-way street where the animal actually provides the owner with a sense of companionship and love that he or she is not getting somewhere else. Otherwise, why go through all the trouble to care for such a dumb primordial beast?

But this is where the concupiscence of human nature and the divorce from the most basic understanding of human psychology comes into play. Many of those same women who will gladly chuck the label of narcissist onto anyone who dare not reflect the same senseless projection of loyalty and endless love as their dogs are these very same dog owners (men as well).

If the divorce numbers are skyrocketing, then the divorces from reality are as well. These childless adults gladly go about completely unaware of the mass of human suffering that surrounds them in their home cities and even their own lives. So wrapped up in the futile existence of their own self-narcissism and abuse, they can’t even for one second think to themselves of the sacrifice of marriage and children.

Since they cannot get exactly what they want out of a relationship from a human being, they get it from a dog.

Nothing speaks worse to female incompetence and selfishness than a mid-20’s, 30’s, or 40’s childless dog woman. Then these same women will go on to project every aspect of their own selfishness upon the world—to politics, against the church, and even with their own families. So lost in the fear and gross negligence of social ineptness that they refuse to fix are these women (and men too).

They will neglect the responsibility of children or Christian charity to their brothers and sisters in Christ and take all of this repressed social frustration that lies deep inside their consciousness and place it inside one stupid, silly, furry, cute ball of dumbness.

Now this isn’t to say that animals and pets do not have roles in human existence or life at all. In fact dogs play amazing roles as work companions, But when these relationships become skewed to where thousands of dog owners pass the mass of human suffering on their way to drop off their perceived fur children off at daycare something has gone drastically wrong with the human soul. I will even speak to young single Catholics both men and women. If you are one of these people, and you are living on your own and not in community, it is desperately necessary to take a good hard look at your relationship with God, your family, and your community and ask yourself where things have gone astray.

In the modern desperate search for endless and pleasure certainly the most irony I can see is this current disordered dynamic that exists. It is apparent and right in front of our face. I often wonder what Jung, Dostoevsky, Niche, and the great psychological greats would have thought about this dynamic. Would they just laugh and shake their heads in cynicism? Perhaps the greatest irony of all would be the amount of dog burger stands that would pop up overnight if there were to be a mass animal protein shortage all at once in the US.

If you are one of these people I do not mean to criticize you too harshly, God loves you deeply and there is a great humanity waiting for you on the other side of what is being sold to you now. I only wish to point out the cognitive dissonance between the societal narrative and the overwhelming need for a return to that very humanity. Maybe it is time to take a good hard look at your furry friend and maybe drive him out to the woods somewhere and let him out of the car for good. He will be much happier and finally free of the expectations that have been placed upon his tiny little brain.Then drive back to your home, walk up to a man and say yes to that date. Or maybe walk into an old folks home and spend some time with Mrs. Withers who hasn’t had any human contact or conversation in 3 days. Is it hard, yes? Will you get everything you want right away and an immediate sense of validation and worth, probably not, but towards digging that deep mine that is the human social consciousness and sacrifice you might just find something else. An actual sense of satisfaction, self worth and happiness.