We often condone cruelty to animals without even realizing it. Consider some of the dead metaphors we use, that is, expressions we use so often that eventually we no longer think about their origin or literal meaning. If we actually pictured the phrases in our minds, how comfortable would we be using them?
Here are some examples:
“Didn’t have a dog in that fight” and “Dog-eat-dog world” (legitimizing bloody dog fights and setting one dog on another)
“Kill two birds with one stone” (most likely sling-shot hunting of birds, for sport or “fun”)
“Cat’s out of the bag” (practice of putting cats or kittens into bags for drowning)
“A real cat fight” (joking description of two women fighting)
“Bull pen” (cramped space where bulls are held just before being released to be part of a bull fight that ends up with the death of the animal)
Maybe these are just words. On the other hand, maybe our unthinking words reflect our acceptance of the unacceptable–animal cruelty.