Boredom: The New Justification for Animal Cruelty

I was listening to the radio yesterday morning, tired and groggy, when I heard this startling story.  A 22 year old man and a 13 year boy from the far west side Austin neighborhood of Chicago were arrested for animal abuse on Friday. These two individuals recorded videos of torturing 5 adult dogs and 5 puppies and posted their videos on YouTube. These movies contained horrific, violent acts towards the dogs, ranging from flinging them around in the air to putting duct tape on a dog's testicles, ripping it off, and pouring alcohol onto his genitalia. To read more about these gruesome acts, you can read an article from the Chicago Sun Times by clicking here.

Immediately after I heard this disturbing story, I wanted to hear what the two men had to say. How could they justify acts as heinous as these? The 22 year old man, Joshua Moore, described it as "not a big deal" and that they were "bored". Forcing animals to eat their own fecal matter? Pouring lemon juice down dogs' throats? Is this what we are naturally inclined to do for entertainment? Violence has become such a norm in American society today. We see murder and bloodshed daily on the news--whether on the radio or the t.v. or the internet. When we are not hearing about violent things happening in the world around us, we immerse ourselves into video games and t.v. shows that encourage kids to punch, shoot, and kill. Are acts such as Moore's due to the overwhelming amount of violence American society has exposed to its people? Are we now finding violent acts such as these "not a big deal"? What are the other factors that are prompting people to do these horrific things?