Status: Real (unfortunately)
A series of pictures showing a woman crushing a kitten to death with her stiletto heels is causing an uproar over in China. The pictures first appeared on the internet and have recently been published by some Chinese newspapers. The woman in the photos has been dubbed the Kitten Killer of Hangzhou, because the background scene has been identified as Hangzhou. I've been able to locate four of the pictures in the series, but I think there are a few more (far more graphic) ones. Here are the ones I found (I don't have larger versions):
The big question is: Who is this woman? One theory is that the images come from a Japanese shoe advertisement. Another theory identifies the kitten killer as a "37-year-old woman from Hubei province with the internet identity 'Gainmas.'"
The London Telegraph elaborates:
She had registered a website in Hangzhou and - the ultimate evidence - had bought a pair of stilettoes on eBay last year. She was also registered with QQ, a popular Chinese message service, where she wrote of herself: "I furiously crush everything to do with you and me." Before her QQ address went dead, its owner had several conversations. In one, she is coy, saying "So what?" when asked if the pictures are of her, and then, when asked again, replying: "In theory." When confronted by a reporter, she became defensive, saying: "Suddenly hundreds of people are on my QQ and cursing me. What's the problem if I crush cats? It's a type of experience. You wouldn't understand."
The Telegraph goes on to note:
No one seems to have suggested the serious possibility that the photographs could be a hoax - created by picture-altering computer software. But in the face of tight control of self-expression, young Chinese are seeking wildly different forms of sensation or satire on the state of society.
Without having seen all the pictures (and better quality ones), it's hard to judge whether or not they're real. But it certainly seems like this has already become the Chinese version of
Bonsai Kitten (with the added twist that it may be real... in which case it's definitely disgusting).
Update: A "Crush" video is circulating around (you can find links to it in the comments, if you're interested) that makes it pretty clear the woman really did step on a kitten. Also, an article in the
Shanghai Daily reports that the lady, and the guy who produced the video, have been identified. The producer, who is a camera operator at a TV station, has apologized. However, the woman, who works as a nurse at a hospital, has disappeared, leading to concerns that kitten commandoes may have abducted her (or something along those lines).
Comments
Something's sick here, but it isn't the video!
Says Mr. "it is quite ok to kill people because they kill cats"! Hypocrit!
People matter more than animals. Everytime you forget that, God kills a kitten; and this is how!
So why are you so upset when somebody behaves like one?! Its because its easier to be outraged about somthing you can't do anything about than to get worked up about something you can! It's not like you actually want to do anything, not when pretending you would makes you feel just as morally supereor.
Hey honey, screw the couch-potato moralizors; squash one for me!
http://msn.ynet.com/view.jsp?oid=7901465
Now, if she had crushed a poverty stricken child with her heel, I'm sure people would be saying "Poor starving kid!"
Go pimp your site elsewhere.
That video ranks right up there with footage of Nazis shooting people on the edge of an open pit.
A pet is a beloved part of your family, and as a Christian, you should do everything you can to guarantee that this valued member of your family receives the glorious eternal reward for which Christ gave His very life.
I do have to say, I like the Ads by Google on this page.
Interestingly, the Bible says that God gave man dominion over all other beasts, and there's plenty in the OT about wringing their heads off and scattering their blood around to keep the average fur-fondler in apoplexy for months; it's the Koran that says that the other animals are people too.
This is a sick person doing a sick thing, but the backlash is disproportionate. Those people saying they could happily do the same to her, or kill her for it, or wishing her a similarly unpleasant death aren't any better.
I'm sure at one point or another, everyone has wished someone dead.
With the seeming IQ of a cluck
Who perhaps played a game
With the object to flame
But was all logical thought sure to duck
Sorry, Chuck. Be more subtle in the next thread.
On another note, violent cruelty isn't endemic just to humans. I remember hearing about a bored elephant who would leave trails of bread crumbs around and then try to smash the birds that ate them (so her keepers taught her to paint). Also, in young animals, seemingly pointless kills may be made for the animal to learn how to hunt, or simply for entainment. I know my cat shows no mercy to smaller animals.
With the seeming IQ of a cluck
Who perhaps played a game
With the object to flame
But was all logical thought sure to duck
wow, thats just pure poetry Sam...I will extend you a courtesy you have not extended me and will refrain from posting any ignorant comments about you. Although maybe you should take your own advice about being subtle.
And David, I understand what you are saying however, I never said anything about wishing the lady harm so I was not really sure why that comment was directed at me.
Who said, with the voice of a duck,
"I sure am-a spittin'
'Bout thet girl and her kitten,
But the rest of it, I don't give a f***!"
Now Sam was a poster quite rare,
And really he did seem to care
That people shouldn't fret
O'er some bint and her pet
While he wasn't getting his share!
But David's the lone voice of reason,
and truly a man for all season(s).
With a wit so sublime,
he's ne'er stuck for a rhyme.
Even though you all know he's just teasin'!
What, mine or Sam's. In either case, I'd say that the comment was a response to your posts in the spirit of open discussion, this being a forum an' all. So, when you said "I will show you what it's like to have your head crushed under a boot." you were in fact volunteering to lie down and have someone stamp on your head for the purposes of demonstration. Wow, that's dedication!
So would it be wrong to feel enjoyment, vindication, 'justice had been done', or whatever if something unfortunate did happen to her?
Wouldn't that just be 'a wish come true'? Nothing to be ashamed of there, right?
and truly a man for all season(s).
With a wit so sublime,
he's ne'er stuck for a rhyme.
Even though you all know he's just teasin'!
ok, that was pretty good.
So, when you said "I will show you what it's like to have your head crushed under a boot." you were in fact volunteering to lie down and have someone stamp on your head for the purposes of demonstration. Wow, that's dedication!
damn you and your pedantry David! *shakes fist at David* and yes, I am being sarcastic.
real or not, its still disturbing
I doubt I'd shed any if you were, but not because of any personal antipathy.
I just have trouble with who's company "he/she/they got what was coming to them" puts you in with. It's what's behind those crowds you see celebrating the latest terrorist attrocity, and the lynch mobs, and fatwas.
I just have trouble with who's company "he/she/they got what was coming to them" puts you in with. It's what's behind those crowds you see celebrating the latest terrorist attrocity, and the lynch mobs, and fatwas.
Hm, sounds kind of hypocritcal to me.
Oh well. That's what you get when someone tries to lecture you on the internet. Save your moral superiority for someone who cares.
Sure, it sounds weird from a person who loves 'silence of the lambs', but I hate animals dying, people are different. Death of one is a tradgedy, the death of a million is just a statistic. 😉
Is my mind playing tricks or does that ring bells with anyone else?
Whatever, it's still makes my stomach turn.
So, maybe not just ONE little kitten after all.
As much as you'd like to think that this one woman is the only one out there doing this sort of thing, she's not even the tip of the iceberg. There are a LOT of very sick, twisted people out there, who get off on the most disturbing things imaginable. One of the things that pops up is women crushing small critters underfoot, usually while barefoot or wearing nice shoes - it seems to be a sub-genre of foot fetishism. Throw in an asian woman, and you have made some incredibly perverted people very, very happy.
Honestly, the fact that it's making the news tells me one thing: Slow News Day. There's no way this hasn't been brought to the attention of media outlets before, who probably said something like: 'This is something that will generate a tremendous amount of attention, shocking our viewers like nothing else. Since it's not going to vanish overnight, save it for when we need a boost in ratings'. Perhaps the Chinese, insulated from the rest of the Internet, actually haven't seen this sort of thing until now..
>Hm, sounds kind of hypocritcal to me.
No, just impersonal. You can read about one tragic death or another in just about any day's news, are you permanently in tears? I doubt it.
>I just don't like to think about animals dying.
Ah, but if they had killed other animals, they'd just be getting what's coming to them, right?
The 'moral superiority' here is putting one's own thoughts and actions out of reach of the criticism one directs at another. It's the "I know I'm right" and "I'm only saying/doing this for good reasons", and mostly the "but that's different" in every argument.
Is it the crushing of animals people are objecting to? Or just the fact that this animal is 'cute and fluffy', whereas that harmless house-spider they flattened last week was 'icky and horrible'?
Or is it the filming of it? Would it have been okay if done in private?
So what about bull-fights? Or hunting? What about animal testing? And slaughter-houses?
Unless everyone here improbably turns out to be a practising Jain, we all hurt animals on daily basis. But suddenly everyone is so damn sure that where they draw the line is in exactly the right place? Sorry, but I see the old, old story; a group of people gather to determine the moral high-ground and lo-and-behold if its not under their very feet!