Cats and the people who love them are never not getting a bad rap, even though the Internet as we know it is run on kitten power. The nefarious conspiracy to malign the good nature of cat lovers everywhere has been around for quite some time, as this 1872 editorial from The New York Times goes to show.
In "Cats and Craziness," an unknown writer opines, "It is a curious fact that lunatics, especially those whose lunacy is of a mild and comparatively innocuous type, frequently evince a remarkable fondness for cats. The insane man or woman who lives in a garret, in the intimate society of three or four score cats, is perpetually coming to the knowledge of the public."
The writer goes on: "There is evidently a bond of union between the lunatic and the cat which does not exist between sane persons and that undesirable animal. Possibly this bond consists in the fact that in most cases the lunatic develops a stealthy, tortuous cunning which assimilates him in some degree to the cat."
Well, if that means owning a cat predisposes a person to stay inside, order from Seamless, and watch Murder She Wrote on Netflix, guilty as charged! Or, you know, My Cat From Hell reruns. Those are always good, too. [Mental Floss]