Rescue Journal

willful ignorance

Carol  ·  Nov. 13, 2016

so many of the issues that we face in animal welfare are faced out in the human world too. there is a disconnect inside some of the most important issues. Folks as a rule will agree that there is a huge problem of abused, neglected, unwanted homeless animals in the western world. millions of animals die every year, and mostly because of only one common reason...they did not have good enough homes to protect and care for them. and yet while knowing this one singular and important fact, people still do not spay/neuter their animals, puppy millers. pet stores, BYB, and even kind and sweet aunt lily, or nice and kind co-worker sam, continue to breed even more to feed the never ending public need to have and discard millions upon millions more.
most educated folks know there is a problem but the solutions are too inconvenient.

and then there is the poor sad dog on the internet, heartlessly killed by the shelter, out come the condemnations of evil incarnate, of blood thirsty intent by shelter staff or management. we all know there are not enough good homes, that not all animals can be saved and yet when one dies we point fingers and blame the very people who are in the trenches trying to care for the tsunami of unwanted animals.

but lets not forget the other side of this crooked fence, the ones who make fun of puppy huggers. there is another layer of this..the implication that those who care about the welfare of animals are actually mentally flawed lunatics. "it's a damn chicken for fucking sakes, who gives a shit if it suffers?"

it is not just an intellectual disconnect, it is a moral disconnect too. i call it willful ignorance....when intellectually and morally capable people choose to be ignorant. it really is a form of laziness, easier to get mad, find fault, ignore, justify, make fun of than it is to educate and understand and work towards intelligent solutions.

so if animal welfare can suffer from such wilful ignorance..is it such a stretch that the rest of the world does too?

look at the syrian crises, good lord..just look down south at what is supposedly one of the most progressive societies in the entire world.

in the past few days i have seen gleeful sneering at a huge population of the United States who are anxious, who are hurting, who are disillusioned and afraid. and the memes of crying babies is tossed in their face.
really? that's what we do when we witness someone's pain?

it's no wonder the animals of this planet are screwed.

Comments

Pam in Nashville

Well said Carol and from the U.S., thank you. I too live to the South of you and on behalf of us down here, I want to apologize for that "gleeful sneering" that found it's way to your blog. I am one of the "anxious, hurting, disillusioned and afraid". And if there is anyone, left or right that is not, I feel they've probably been living with their head in the sand. It's truly disheartening to see that propaganda posted here of all places. There is no escaping it. And Sheila, you rock!

Keep up the great work Carol!

Willie

Suzanne, I voted for Hillary - I'm frightened for my future, but I'm trying to be positive. I live in Portland, Oregon - lots of marching here and even a riot. I personally am sick to death of the blame and finger pointing!! Please, no more. I wish you well and hope everything you are frustrated about in our country improves.

Penny

Wow, heavy duty stuff. Interesting to get different perspectives, though.

Sheila

Suzanne I will preface this comment with I think we see the world through our own belief system and when we read information we use a filter as to what we take in and what we don't. For instance I watched CNN through the election campaign and they spent a lot of time on wikileaks and the illegal server.

I am going to guess that the reason Carol said that people are in pain is because I know I was in pain when I found out who is now the president of the United States. I mourned for the first two days and given the conversation I had with Carol she did too.

I will also say I love Mr Obama. Even if you do not agree on his policies - his compassion, warmth, and love of humanity always came shining through for me. I listened to his speech live when he came to Canada and I cried. I will miss him greatly. As for Hillary I spent a lot of time researching her (I only used non partisan sources because I wanted a clear unbiased picture of her. I also read the wikileak emails) and having done that I am sorry she didn't win.

And to bring it back to the animals. There a few animal welfare agencies that endorsed Hillary Clinton because of the fear of Donald Trump. I fear that animal welfare will take a step back under this government given that he has Michael Torrey leading the agricultural transition team. Mr Torrey is a long time lobbyist for food and agricultural corporations. I hope I am wrong but since the lobbyists in Washington have always been there for business rather than the animals it doesn't look good.

If you go to the issues section of Hillary Clinton’s official campaign website, you will see an entire section devoted to animal welfare with the heading: “Protecting animals and wildlife: The way our society treats animals is a reflection of our humanity.” Here, the campaign outlines Clinton’s position on issues related to the protection of wildlife, pets, and other domestic animals like farm animals and horses. Issues addressed include increased regulation of animal breeding (including puppy mills), combating wildlife trafficking, the humane treatment of farm animals, and cracking down on the practice of “horse soring” (damaging a horse’s legs to “improve” its gait).

Go to this website https://face4pets.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/where-do-the-u-s-presidential-candidates-stand-on-animal-welfare/ They lay out the facts without judgement. The links on that site also work.

The only thing I know is that Trump's sons are trophy hunters and Trump supports this and has no policy on animal welfare (which isn't surprising since he had no policy on a lot of things except the wall, kicking illegal immigrants out, and not letting in Muslims).

suzanne

Whereas I agree with everything you said about the animals Carol, I disagree with you about what is going on in these United States, of which I am a resident.
This nothing more than a giant Leftist temper tantrum. The alleged "protesters" are actually PAID and BUSSED in to wherever the riot du jour is scheduled for that day. They are blocking roads and highways (a man died in an ambulance that they wouldn't let through), they are calling for Melania Trump to be raped, they are burning businesses, they are throwing rocks and molotov coctails at the police and they are calling for Mr. Trump to be assassinated. From where I sit they are not in a lot of pain. They are just pissed that they didn't get a participation trophy.
The Professional Left is out of control here, largely no thanks to Obama and Hillary. Obama met with Mr. Trump and according to someone who was granted anonymity to speak, the bottom line of their meeting was Obama trying to put pressure Mr. Trump into guaranteeing that neither he nor Hillary would be prosecuted when Mr. Trump takes office. Had Mr. Trump acquiesced, this would not be going on because trust me when I tell you that these actions have been sanctioned by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Perhaps, given the out of control Left wing Media (even the Brits refer to CNN as the Clinton News Network) your take on what's going on would be a logical conclusion. But believe me, if for no other reason than I am living it on a daily basis, what you hear or read is either not giving you the whole story or you are being told flat out lies.
May the Good Lord bless all of you for what you do

pip van nispen

Well said, Carol~thankyou for your compassionate outlook~pip