Hoarders (on A&E)

[chonies]

Jan 23, 2011 1:59:20 GMT -4 @dwanollah said:

I shouldn't be watching this. Hanna is a disgusting, evil, foul, trashy, dirty piece of shit. Chalk that up for the whole family. Add that brat Gary to the pile. It would be an American Comedy with these selfish, disgusting people surrounded by their own filth shrilling about the gummint interferin' in them'ses bidness, if it wasn't for those poor, poor animals

Pass the the transcontinental popcorn, because I'm watching this...again.

ETA: and I thank you for adding some Sinclair Lewis motifs to the evening. I feel smarter than I did before I turned the teevee on.

[captain]

Jan 11, 2011 12:49:28 GMT -4 Inkyblott said:

I didn't think it was really necessary for him to witness the euthanasia of the one rat with the bite. That just seemed cruel since it placed a lot of pressure on Glen when he was already struggling.

That's what I thought. If they did it off camera and never mentioned it, how would he have known? And I didn't think that he was really a hoarder, because he didn't keep bringing in new rats, they just multiplied.

[chonies]

Jan 23, 2011 12:52:54 GMT -4 captain said:

Jan 11, 2011 12:49:28 GMT -4 Inkyblott said:

I didn't think it was really necessary for him to witness the euthanasia of the one rat with the bite. That just seemed cruel since it placed a lot of pressure on Glen when he was already struggling.

That's what I thought. If they did it off camera and never mentioned it, how would he have known? And I didn't think that he was really a hoarder, because he didn't keep bringing in new rats, they just multiplied.

I disagree, somewhat. I thought that it was an important point to make--being a responsible, non-hoarding pet owner has sad and horrible moments. He probably knew this academically, but sometimes seeing a very real situation can clear things up. I liked Glen and I had a lot of empathy for him, but I didn't think this was especially cruel to him. In a way, the euthanasia moment might have been an act of grace--they were allowing Glen to exercise kindness and judgment to put the rat out of its misery, rather than letting it suffer for a longer period of time. If that makes sense. I think the key is knowing what Glen might have done if he'd found the injured rat if there weren't cameras around--ignore it? care for it? euthanize it in his own way?

Since hoarding is affected by control issues, allowing Glen to choose euthanasia would present a situation where he could a) take control and make a decision, or b) let his lack of control over the situation take over and continue to let the rat suffer out of his own helplessness. A small situation, but it could be a story-changer.

Of course, this would not have worked with Hanna, or a lot of the hoarders who've had mummified animals in their homes, but then again, I don't think I've seen such a candid conversation about euthanasia even on Animal Hoarders.

But then again, I often wonder about the counselors' approaches in general.

ETA: dwan, are you talking about Dr Robin Zazio? I agree. She seems to be following some imaginary protocol that she does not understand the motivation for. Maybe it's the right therapeutic approach, but I wish someone on camera would explain it. Also? I looked up her dissertation, and it's only 78 pages long.

[dwanollah]

Yeah, Dr. What's-her-face, the one who y'all call Dr. Tonya Harding, she of the stripey two-toned hair, seems totally useless and enabling.

[HotLips]

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's been calling her Tonya Harding. Whenever she's going on about someone being self destructive and out of control, we're like, "Yeah, you'd know something about that, wouldn't you TONYA?"

[Deleted]

I'd love to know if there's any difference between hoarders of stuff and hoarders of filth. Tonight on "Hoarding: Buried Alive", there was one woman with a house full of garbage and grime (hair clods all over the tub, empty bottles, used coffee filters, fast food wrappers, all covered with flies) and another woman with a shopping addiction whose house was crammed with stuff but otherwise clean. To me, the filth hoarders have something else going on entirely. I can wrap my mind around wanting lots of things (how many shoes or knick knacks would I have if money didn't matter?) but even my slobby self draws the line and a feces-encrusted toilet or maggots crawling on my kitchen floor. Immersing yourself in filth seems to go against natural instincts of self-preservation, so is it really hoarding or is something else going on?

[Babycakes]

Jan 24, 2011 5:37:54 GMT -4 @dguzpy said:

Immersing yourself in filth seems to go against natural instincts of self-preservation, so is it really hoarding or is something else going on?

Severe depression or undiagnosed psychosis.

[Wol]

I just started watching this show regularly, and I am having trouble controlling my hatred for the animal hoarders. A gazillion knick knacks from your local thrift store do not need to be fed and cared for. 12,000 cans of Spam cannot feel pain and die. One of the signs of a sociopathic/serial killer pathology is animal cruelty. I can empathize with depressed and unhappy people who want to surround themselves with crap because it fills a need in their damaged psyche. I want to go postal on people who appear to disassociate from their responsibilities as an animal's caregiver, regardless of their mental state.

[Babycakes]

I read at TWoP that Hanna was a result of generations of abuse and incest. Not that that mitigates the pain that she inflicted on those poor beasts, but she was a hopeless case from the very beginning. And now that she's older, it frustrates her that she can't wield the control that she once did. For decades she ruled her farm with an iron fist, and now, all the kids are gone, and none of them really want to come back to help her, (who can blame them) so she exerts her control on her surroundings and animals. After I read about the incest and violence I started to pity her. It doesn't excuse hurting the animals, or her children for that matter, but I can still say that I pity her.

[americanchai]

Wol, a lot of the regular hoarders (who don't necessarily hoard animals but things) usually do have pets AND children AND spouses/significant others AND/OR elderly family members living with them so they are still damaging living creatures outside of themselves when they hoard - not to mention the unseen vermin and bugs that can't be found until the TV cameras and cleaners come in.

Babycakes, I think one of Hanna's (alleged) kids on the A&E message board that said it wasn't Hanna's parents that abused her, it was her husband(s). I guess it doesn't really matter what hurt her - she's taken that pain and turned it on her own children and animals and is also killing herself slowly. It really sucks that she wasn't actually helped years and years ago when her kids were first taken away from her. It probably would have saved years of pain for everybody involved if she had gotten some type of therapy, hell, even prison might have been better for somebody like her!