Vox Noxi

Bounty out on Marine puppy killer

If you haven’t already seen the video of a US Marine throwing a puppy off a cliff, do yourself a favour and avoid it.  Suffice it to say, it made me simultaneously nauseous and homicidal.

Evidently I wasn’t the only one whose immediate response was a passionate desire to see the culprit beaten senseless (or, ideally, lobbed off the very same cliff). The Internet is many things: matchmaker, pornographer, soapbox, … “Wanted” poster.

The people behind TossPuppy.com are offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who sends them a video of the Marine in question being savagely beaten. For efficiency’s sake, they’ve also posted a clear photo, his full name, and his home address.

I’m torn on this one. In the abstract they’ve clearly gone too far. But situate their response not as a morality question but as the very human reply to seeing the gross abuse of a helpless animal (and perhaps some telling insight into US military culture, although I’m not going to get started on that because I know and respect some soldiers and hope this douchebag was an anomaly) and suddenly it seems perfectly rational.