https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/09/13/the-bully-xl-and-the-fraying-of-community-life/

If we move beyond both the ‘devil dog’ and ‘sweet dog’ narratives, we might start to unpack the social dynamics of the bully phenomenon. It goes without saying that this won’t be the case for all bully owners, probably not even the majority, but it does seem to me that the popularity of these dogs speaks to our era’s depressing elevation of individual status over social solidarity. I see these mutts almost as a feral expression of the politics of identity, where the bully owner’s need to advertise his persona takes precedence over the norms of the community he lives in. Like those brats who play tinny music out loud on the bus, or those big trans fellas in dresses who insist on using women’s bathrooms, strutting down the street with a nine-stone canine pretty much says: ‘I’m so important that I don’t have to care about your feelings or your social standards.’

Some people will feel uncomfortable around American bullies not because they think they’re about to be eaten alive, but because they’re concerned about what is becoming of their communities. People feel that community life is fraying. From the small things, like conspicuously anti-social behavior on the bus, to the medium things, like those bizarre TikTok shoplifting stunts, to the big things, like the scourge of knife crime or the menace of grooming gangs, social disarray has become a key ‘domain of dissatisfaction’ for the working class, as Zizek says. Throw into this mix a dog that looks like it was designed to kill – probably because it was – and it’s no surprise people feel pissed off. It’s not just what the bully sometimes does but also what it seems to symbolise that makes some of us feel uneasy.