The Furor Surrounding One Dog's Sad Life

It is a picture that twists your heartstrings and brings a lump to your throat.  A dog, huddled into himself, emaciated, his ribs showing through his coat, nearly catatonic from starvation and neglect.  The name attached to the photo is a familiar one-Michelle DiGenarro, and her age is the same as mine, 44.

                 I may know this woman, although I can’t place her.  I might have worked with her at one of the retail jobs I was employed at in the nineties.  If she’s who I’m thinking of, she gave off massive crazy vibes.  But that may not have even been her.

                My boyfriend thinks he may have gone to school with her, but he’s not sure either.  If so, she would have been a year or so ahead of him.

                Right now, she’s been charged with misdemeanor animal neglect and cruelty.  I understand that people are outraged at what amounts to a slap on the wrist.  She won’t be doing jail time.  Fortunately, the dog is still alive and is being nursed back to health.  

                Michelle is due in Yorktown Town Court later this month.

                I am concerned about the community response.  The millennial version of a mob is forming, complete with cyber pitchforks and torches.  This kind of reaction has never sat well with me.  It’s the modern day equivalent of a lynch mob.  We’re an angry society right now, and we are seeking targets for our anger.  Our reactions are completely emotional, based on no logic whatsoever.  When we are driven by anger, we are nothing more than animals reacting to stimuli.  The ability to reason is supposed to be what separates us from apes.  Without it, we are nothing but a bunch of dogs tearing each other to pieces over a bone lying forgotten in the dust.

                Yesterday a post by a local citizen in Mohegan Lake was shared to my newsfeed by several well-meaning friends.  This post by Local Kevin Citizen informed the public that Michelle DiGenarro worked at the Mahopac National Bank, and ordered his followers to call and demand she get fired. 

                Kevin Citizen then followed up with a post targeting some nameless man stating he was not the owner of the dog, but was also responsible.  It was unclear why.  Is he Michelle’s boyfriend?  Her ex-husband, whom rumor has it left the dog with her?  Does he live with Michelle?  The local never explained his inclusion of the man.  Wanting to do my due diligence regarding this topic, I read several articles about the case, the most recent just published hours ago, and no man is mentioned anywhere.

                Kevin Citizen pulled several pictures off the man’s Facebook, including one of his workplace and its phone number.  “This is his business,” he stated, then posted the phone number.  He left the post up even after the owner came and said, “We’re animal lovers and we have nothing to do with this,” and several people said, “I know the owners, they’re wonderful people and are not involved in this.”  The local responded with some garbled response about someone posting bail for beating his girlfriend. What?  Who?  What does that have to do with anything?

                 I suppose that was a new justification for leaving up the post targeting this unrelated business for harassment.

                 I could be wrong, but it seems to me that Kevin Citizen jumped to conclusions about this man based on Michelle’s Facebook.  He even included a picture of a woman with the man.  When someone asked, “is this ugly bitch her?”  He didn’t answer, so one could only conclude he doesn’t know.

                I will note, however, that not on person said anything about the man's appearance.  Just the woman.

                Am I the only one who can see that Kevin Citizen is out of fucking control? 

                First, inciting people to harass the employees of Mahopac National Bank, who had nothing to do with the abuse of a dog.  Second, targeting a completely unrelated business for harassment due to some unclear connection with some man who is apparently involved with Michelle but has not been charged with anything.

                It gets better.  Kevin Citizen huffily reported that he had a conversation with the president of Mahopac National Bank who refused to tell him what her employment status was.  BECAUSE DUDE, IT’S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS.  AT ALL.  This woman is not your property because she committed a crime.  She didn’t forfeit all her rights because she committed a crime that twists the heart of people everywhere.  That's not how it works.

                The bank president did tell him the woman hadn’t been to work in days.  In other words, Stop fucking calling us and inciting equally crazy people to call us.

                Here’s the problem with Kevin Citizen and his followers.  Their response is an emotional one, not a logical one.  Their response is not about animal abuse.  It’s about their anger.  This isn’t about helping abused animals.  This is about venting their anger.

                It’s a narcissistic response that’s all about them.

                All those calls to Mahopac National Bank literally accomplish nothing but stress out a bunch of innocent people, and that’s okay, you also have people calling some unrelated business.  When confronted about this (not by me, as it happens) Crazy Kevin Citizen responded with, “This is what happens when you hire scum.”

                Um, okay.  I guess Kevin never held down a job then, because all employers hire for is ability to do the job and references, they don’t take creep factor into consideration.  And there is never telling what is happening behind closed doors.

                Now, I made the grave mistake (to crazy Kevin citizen) of suggesting that people do something productive, to help animals, you know, rescue an animal, donate to PawSafe or the ASPCA.  Predictably, I was attacked by the mob anxious to vent their fury on someone.  One woman said, “This is meant to send a message to all potential animal abusers.”

                Oh, okay, makes perfect sense.  Because someone may be like, “Oh, I’m thinking of abusing Fido, but since the Mahopac National Bank received ten thousand harassing calls about Michelle, I guess I’ll feed him and play with him instead.”  Sure.  Because, you know, people who abuse animals…or people, for that matter…always consider the consequences of getting caught. 

                Um, no.  People who commit crimes think they won’t get caught.

                This woman is really saying,  I’m angry and I need to vent my anger because the world revolves around my feelings.  How dare you tell me I should help an animal instead.  I need a target for my pent-up rage.

                Of course, then Local Citizen Kevin weighed in, stating that he’s rescued many abused animals over the years (so that now entitles him to target people and harass them, dig)? And he just checked out my photos and I’m fat and should stop going to the all you can eat buffet.  I should go to Jenny Craig.  Or Nutrisystem.

                Really.  That was his response.  To attack my appearance.  He feels he has the right to go through my photos and check out my body and comment on it publicly, like I’m his fucking property.  Like I should give a shit what some dirty old crazy man thinks about my body.  Well gee, this sixtyish man doesn’t want to fuck me.  I guess that’s an enormous insult in his world.  The worst.  I am worthless then.

                Like that’s the only thing that matters.  How he feels about my physical appearance.  

                Meanwhile, he’d had a heated discussion with a man on the same thread, and never once did he insult the man’s appearance.  It had no relevance whatsoever in the discussion.  But hey, a woman is disagreeing with him harassing people, and suddenly “you’re fat,” is a relevant response.

                I’m sorry.  This man’s post is not about animal abuse or helping animals that are being abused or sending a message about animal abuse.  This man’s post was about one thing, and one thing only : his hatred of women.

                He found a justifiable target for his hatred, anger, and rage, and went with it.  Which goes back to what I said at the very beginning-that post was ABOUT HIM, and him alone. This was not about helping animals, or stopping animal abuse, or making abusers pay the price for their actions.  This was about Angry Kevin Citizen being fed up with women and finding a justifiable target to vent his anger and rage.  Nothing more.  He is using the situation as an excuse to target and harass women. 

                How do I know this?  Because his knee jerk response to me disagreeing with him was to target and harass me with unwanted comments about my body.  Like my body belongs to him.  His behavior throughout the entire post supports this conclusion, to him calling the Mahopac National Bank and demanding to know Michelle’s employment status, to him posting a photo of an unknown woman that may possibly be Michelle.  I mean, what difference does it make if it’s not, women are public property anyway to this dillweed.

                At the end of the day, none of this bullshit helps anyone.  You want to stop animal abuse?  Then help an animal.  You want to be an asshole?  Use this as an excuse to harass the shit out of people.  The choice is yours. 

                The real heroes of this story?  Not Kevin Citizen, not his followers calling the bank, not me, but the people who called the police and told them a dog is being abused.  They’re the ones who put a stop to it and made a positive difference.  The focus should be on how to stop abusers, not who can you harass.   If you’re in the latter group, you’re not much better than the animal abuser.    Both of you are only seeking innocent targets for your rage. 

                Something to consider.