Animal Welfare Nutjobs

Here's a cautionary tale to start the week. Never try to reason with extremists of any sort. You'll only find yourself disturbed when they start foaming at the mouth and uttering veiled threats.

Some background: over the past couple weeks, various discussion threads concerning the Atlantic Canadian seal hunt have been started on a messageboard I frequent. These threads have all been started by well-meaning, yet (in my opinion) misinformed people whose information on the issue has come from the likes of Paul McCartney and other celebrities working under the aegis of various animal rights organisations, and were all along the lines of "Please click here to sign this petition and stop the barbaric killing of cute baby seals...isn't this awful?"

Whenever I see such threads, I feel compelled to comment, stating that I live in Atlantic Canada and that I urge people to educate themselves as to the other side of this issue. My main point is always that people should not believe everything that celebrities and animal rights groups tell them, and that seal hunters are ordinary people trying to earn a living in a remote and economically-depressed place. No rational, feeling person supports the needless killing of animals, but this is not a black-and-white scenario - it's a problematic issue that will not be solved simply by stopping the hunt. I try to explain this to people and provide links to sites like this one at the CBC, which in my opinion is pretty fair and balanced, and gives equal attention to both sides of the argument.

So far, so good, right? Well, rational argument only appeals to those who are rational, unfortunately. In the most recent thread I participated in last week, the originator of the thread lost it after several people (including myself) questioned whether the hunt was as inhumane and barbaric as all the propaganda from groups like IFAW and the US Humane Society would have the public believe. She wrote quite a bit about her passionate belief that the hunt was inhumane. And that's fine - I get that. She has the right to her own opinion. But then she finished her post with this nice little pronouncement:

I not only hope that anyone who hunts dies a miserable death, I hope that anyone who promotes or believes in it in any way does as well. I don't give a sh!t if the hunters starve to death or not.

Well. I found this rather shocking, to say the least. So on Saturday, I sent a private message to this woman, "S", which said:

Wow.

S., I can only assume that you wrote this out of anger and frustration, and that you didn't really mean it.

I don't know you, but I am sure you are a decent, rational, caring person, and that you wouldn't truly wish harm on others just because they don't agree with your views.

J.

I figured that after she'd simmered down a bit, she would realise that what she'd said was pretty awful, and I wanted to give her an opportunity to save face and gracefully retract what she said. So my amazement only deepened when she sent this response late Saturday night:

Wow?

No, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's how I feel. It is harsh. I wish I wasn't made to feel that way. I wish these kinds of things didn't happen in our world.

Eco-tourism is only one solution to the seal-hunting problem. People continue to do this (seal-hunt) because it's all they know is what you have said. Well, if we all thought that way, then we would all still be washing our clothes on a washing board.

We all need to learn to embrace change. Fear of the unknown and the fear of risk are the only things that prevents people from doing this.

I am a decent, rational, caring person. If you read some of my past posts here it would give you some insight to that. I haven't been on here in months and do not choose to continue to write on this forum.

I only came here because this subject moved me enough to stick my own neck out and to see if perhaps anyone wanted to help take action against views which I, myself, so strongly uphold.

-S.

Dumbfounded, I spent time yesterday wondering how or if I should even respond. Then last night I wrote back:

S., you obviously have very strong opinions and beliefs about this issue. They differ from mine, and I don’t think we will ever see eye to eye on this subject. But you know what? I think that is OK. While I don’t agree with your views and opinions, I respect them. Pity you have not extended the same respect to me.

I am indeed familiar with your past posts on this board, and know that you have posted here a lot, especially about animal shelters. The irony is that I completely support that. My husband is a veternarian, and in addition to our own pets, we often have animals in our home who are either being nursed back to health, or fostered until the clinic can find good homes for them.

Given that you are not a newcomer to this place, you should have known that [this] forum is a public message board, and when you start a thread on such a controversial subject, chances are good that others who do not support your position will post opposing views. We may not all like what others on the board have to say at times, but they have the right to say it!

Even thought I don’t agree with you about the seal hunt issue, I respected what you had to say. That is, until your words turned personal. When you stated (and then reiterated in your PM) that you would actually wish PHYSICAL HARM on anyone who doesn’t share your opinion on this subject, you lost me. Are you seriously telling me (and I still can’t quite believe you are) that you wish I would go away and ‘die a miserable death’ just because I don’t agree with everything you say? Are you? Because S., if you are – that is not the way that decent, rational, caring people behave. That is just crazy - not to mention criminal.

J.

Then this morning, this response:

J. -

first of all, let me tell you that I do not intend to reopen the seal hunt post. I said I was done with it and I am except for these last few PMs to you and others who have written things after I was finished there.

I think what you are looking for is for me to take back what I said. I am not going to do that.

I'm far from a criminal. I have never been arrested for anything in my entire life. As a born American, living here in New Jersey, I can pretty much say whatever I feel as long as it is not directed towards any particular individual. Just because I see lots of people wearing fur or whatever on the street doesn't mean I do anything about it. I ignore it. I turn my head. I however, can wish whatever fate for them I want.

I think that you, yourself, are making this personal. I am not the type of person who cares what others think of me. I don't need that kind of approval from people, especially ones that I don't even know on some message board about a rock band. I thought that the information would be useful to some of the people on here and it was.

The thread was posted by me after much thought and consideration, full well knowing the sort of responses I might get. I'm not into drama or dissention and am not an argumentative or violent person.

You can think what you wish of me.

Otherwise, in closing, with no intentions of answering any further PMs or posts regarding this - I do want to say that I applaud the efforts of both you and your husband in helping out the animal world.

Otherwise, I heard a quote once that may fit here -

"Let us call each other 'friends' with no special effort to ever see or speak to each other again."

Be well,
S.

Well. Obviously there's no responding to that. Call me oversensitive, but anyone who can so calmly tell you (and then reiterate) that they wish 'miserable death' on someone who doesn't agree with them (myself included - so yeah, you're damn right I take it personally) - I find that quite ominous, not to mention borderline sociopathic.

What makes some people think this kind of behaviour is acceptable?