I remember once, many years ago being appalled to silence by a middle school student who for no apparent reason approached me claiming to be a new born puppy and then proceeded to make puppy noises. At the time I was amazed by the students awkward and frankly creepy immaturity. But at least she was in middle school. While perusing the news this week I came across a couple of stories about a new documentary being produced by British television.
The show documents the lives of “human puppies” (or some such nonsense). That is, a group of people (I refuse to call them a community), who live and act like dogs. They get up in the morning, after passing the night sleeping in their kennels, (I know that sounds like a joke but it’s not), they go to work in normal human garb, (assuming they have jobs, I can’t imagine many do.) and return home to their spouses (assuming they have spouses, I can’t imagine many do) or their roommates and get into their puppy costumes for the evening’s routine. Dinner is taken on the floor in a bowl, while the other members sit at the table and hopefully roll their eyes and make disparaging comments about the household pet.
Now most of the articles I read were adamant that the practice is not a sexual one but I definitely have my doubts. Participants all agreed that the activity was a form of escapism. And rather than find a comparatively healthy way of dealing with life’s challenges and disappointments, like drinking, these losers… sorry, individuals have chosen to level down to a life without cognizance.
A few months ago I wrote a similar article about the Aristotelian implications of adult preschool. The upshot was that according to Aristotle an action is shameful to the degree that the person performing the act is aware that they are behaving inappropriately to their age and station. Thus Adult Pre-school would sadden, grieve and embarrass the great philosopher were he alive to witness it. “Puppy-play” may have driven him to violence.
It seems like every day I read new stories or see new evidence of the abject immaturity of our society and culture. Modern adults, on the whole, deal with far less grief and stress then their ancient parents and continue to seek out even dumber retreats from responsible life. Ultimately here’s the thing to remember: there are moments in life when we all feel genuine shame. That shame we feel is probably not society’s fault. It’s probably not because our actions have been unfairly stigmatized. It’s probably because what we are doing is stupid. And stupidity is its own reward.