New Year, fireworks and Arseholes

Arseholes frighten animals — Don’t Kill me

Where it began

Arseholes appear in great numbers. New Year’s eve and into New Year’s Day was like the proverbial “war zone”. Insanely loud explosions reigned around us for what was probably one hour but must have felt like five hours to animals. All animals. Domestic, domesticated and wild. All animals. Including birds. All animals except for the human “animals” who ignite these explosions.

What we found

Our early morning walk was horrific. Three dead tiny kittens in our road. Probably ferals which raced, distressed, from their nest when the mother fled in fear in a different direction. There was also a dead Plover. Tragic beyond words. Not far away eight rescue horses broke out of their paddock in panic and ran in a wild frenzy along the tar roads until they dropped from exhaustion. I understand that one horse died.

What I concluded

I posted on a group that “People who ignite loud explosive fireworks are arseholes”. One person reacted by asserting that I was insulting everyone – as if he was the spokesperson for, and knew everyone’s opinion on this matter, in the group. He is wrong because there are many who support the position against loud, noisy explosions from fireworks. fireworks. Another claimed, quite probably because of a guilty conscience, that my comments “targeted religious bodies/culture” and that I should not “generalise that an entire culture is wrong”. This by a man whose statements are not only patently false but who does not disclose his full name and hides behind a nom de plume. Not only an arsehole, but a coward to boot.

They expected me to apologise?

I ventured into my trusted dictionary which, apart from the obvious definition for Arsehole as 1. the anus, it shows 2. a stupid, irritating, or contemptible person.

I will write to the compilers of the dictionary and ask why they inserted the conjunction “or” into that definition. I opine that people who ignite loud banging explosive fireworks which frighten animals and have the potential to kill animals are stupid, irritating AND contemptible. They are clearly, as defined in the dictionary – – ARSEHOLES.

Perhaps I’ll expand on this subject next week and what actions I might take.

DISCLAIMER: This article reflects the views of the author and not of SAFREA or any of its members nor the Safrea Chronicle MediaHub. Here is the author’s website – Peter Ucko

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Safrea or its members.

Author

Peter Ucko

Peter's focus is on doing great work as a writer, editor, proofreader, actor, broadcaster, voice artist, trainer and speaker. His studies and work as a Production Engineer led him to be a Specialist Document Designer. Peter started writing humour columns for school, club and charity organisation publications. He became a motivational speaker while involved in charity work and holding public office. Writing speeches was a necessity. Audio journalism was the next step as a sports broadcaster and commentator. Peter’s love for language took root as a teenager by reading voraciously and following ‘The Idler’ column in a Durban newspaper. Writing and editing was a natural progression.

One Response

Delilah Nosworthy says:

28th January 2021 at 12:36 pm

Thanks for writing this article, Peter. I couldn’t agree more. Every year I block my diary on 5 November, 31 December, and 1 January to ensure that I’m home to calm my pet/s when some stupid humans start letting off their explosives. I cannot fathom how some people find such enjoyment in something which causes so much bewilderment, fear, and pain in animals. My faith in humanity gets chipped away every time I witness people recklessly setting off their fireworks without any consideration to the animals close by. How can that possibly be FUN?

Reply