Corolinth wrote:
Second point - and I'm going to be more honest about this than anyone else wants to be - nobody wants to actually ban pit bulls because they're pit bulls, they want to ban them because they are "nigger dogs." That statement is not limited in scope to the Glade, but rather a blanket statement about banning a particular breed of dog. We're being racist against a breed of dog because of the color of its owner's skin, or more accurately, because of the behavior and attitude of the owner. Now, because of our modern sensibilities we can't just come out and say we want to keep niggers from going out and getting dogs, so we think it's a good idea to just ban the breed instead. The problem here is that if we ban a breed of dog, then the ignorant thugs will just pick a different breed of dog to put in dogfighting rings.
No, what we really want is to ban
ignorant thug dogs. It's got nothing to do with black people; it's got to do with people's state of being appalled at dogs ripping each other to pieces, not to mention the occasional killing of somene else's dog, horse, or child by aggressive thug dogs. It may seem like Blacks are getting excessive attention in this regard, but that's really a matter of Michael Vick being a poster boy for this asshattery and happening to be black.
The fact is that it is true that any breed can be vicious if it is raised that way. It is definitely true that a child has little chance of fending off a vicious dog of any breed.
However, if you make a daschund vicious and a pit bull vicious and put them in a dog fit, the daschund is not going to win and probably is not going to survive. In fact, a viscious German Shephard would be hard-pressed to win. Pit Bulls (meaning , primarily, bull terriers) have significant phsyical advantages that RD discussed already. A viscious pit bull is a lot more dangerous than a viscious dog of most other breeds; that's why they're chosen so often for dog fighting. If they didn't have a reputation for winning, the bad guys wouldn't want them.
As to the wolverine.. bears avoid them because there's no point in attacking a critter like that when there's a lot less chance of injury from other prey.