Human Whisperer?

I love Cesar Millan's show, Dog Whisperer.  I watch this show tirelessly even though we don't own a dog. Cesar always re-trains the owners to treat their dogs as dogs instead of as their children or family members and encourages owners to provide discipline before affection.  His principle is "species, breed, then name", meaning treating the pet as a species (dog) first, then its breed (Dalmatian), and then its name (Smokey).  Understanding that by treating Smokey as Smokey first, you inevitably allow and tolerate unwanted behavior and miss out on the opportunity to fulfill on the needs of the dog such as exercising.  This is often where the behavioral problem of the pet originates.  By treating Smokey as a dog and applying appropriate discipline, not only will the owner have less trouble handling the dog, Smokey will become calmer and happier. 

Although Smokey's happiness is hard to measure or judge, the owners usually rave about the improvement of their pets' behavior after applying Cesar's principle.  The principle is so simple and effective that it amazes me every time that I watch his show.  It is clear that by romanticizing our pets as children or family members, it harms the very relationship that we desire.  Other than with our pets, our efforts to enjoy great relationships with other human beings also seems to be sabotaged by the romantic notion of "name" first, "breed" second, and then "species" last.

In our day-to-day relationships, are we honoring people as people or are we interacting with others as their race, gender, education, political affiliation, or "breed"?  With the people whom we love so dearly and sometimes believe that we "own", are we treating them as people or are we relating to them as "husband and wife", "colleagues", and "best-friend"?  What are the consequences to our relationships by treating those that we care and love as "roles", "responsibilities", and "characters" rather than just another human being?  The unfulfilled expectations of a wife or husband only arise when there are expectations of the role of husbands and wives instead of a human being to the other.  An unappreciative daughter can only exist when the standard of an appreciative daughter gets established by demanding parents.  Demanding parents are suffocating when their affection comes across not just as love from other human beings.  Racism, sexism, homophobia, wars and a slew of human problems can probably be eradicated if we just apply Cesar's dog training principle to people: Treating people as people first.  Who's ready to be a human whisperer?