http://www.smartgroups.com/message/viewdiscussion.cfm?gid=1423922&messageid=350
 
 
Q: "Why are your posts so damn long and [veterinarian] posts so short?
I wish your posts were shorter and [the vets] took more time to explain
their answers."
 
A: My posts are too long because I have a double dose of the recessive
lecture gene.  Vet posts are too short because they have better things to
do and are not generally as pathetic as I am.
 
Actually, we answer different types of questions.  For the most part,
vets are answering specific questions that can be done in a few sentences
(take two licks of hairball preventative and poop in the corner).  I am
not a vet, nor do I pretend to be one, so I try to answer inquiries of an
osteological, domestication, natural history or dietary nature, which
reflects my own educational expertise.  Because such questions require
more explanation, they require more space to answer.  Still, I readily
admit most of my posts are longer than they need to be.  Remember the old
saying, "Give a person a fish and you have fed them for a day, but teach
them how to fish, and you feed them forever?"   Anyone can post opinions
on this list, but when I discuss things of a controversial nature or when
presenting ideas of possible value, rather than just tossing out the
facts, I try to supply a background of information that allow people to
discern the reliability of other opinions as well.  In other words,
rather than just tossing out the facts (fish), I try to teach people how
to use scientific techniques of skeptical inquiry to, um, ferret out
reliable facts for themselves (fishing).
 
I abhor dogmatic thinking, and simply cannot post what I think are facts
without some minor (major?) explanation of WHY I think they are correct.
A better phrase for dogma might be "common knowledge."  Common knowledge
is nothing more than widely held and generally unsupported beliefs that
are held as true within a particular culture or group, such as the ferret
community.  Common knowledge, when erroneous, can be extremely difficult
to overcome.  It is "common knowledge" that ferrets will go feral that
keep them illegal in California.  "Common knowledge" convinces people who
have never owned ferrets that our harmless pets will chew the faces of
babies if allowed within a mile of infants.
 
Not all "common knowledge" is held by outsiders; ferret people have
plenty of erroneous ideas held dogmatically, without testable facts to
support them.  For example, common knowledge leads people to believe
ferrets are gregarious, although polecats and feral ferrets are not.
Because it is common knowledge that ferrets can be successfully housed in
large groups, people ASSUME they are gregarious, when in actuality, the
stress of overcrowding probably cause ferrets more discomfort, even
deaths, than most ferret diseases combined.  I sincerely doubt if it is
healthy to house more ferrets together than what is found in the typical
litter.  Common knowledge suggests a dry, extruded diet containing 40-50%
carbohydrate is better for ferrets, even though ferrets evolved eating a
high-protein, moderate-fat diets devoid of significant long-chain sugars.
Common knowledge implies ferrets can be housed in 2 by 3 foot cages for
23+ hours a day without causing mental distress, dispite a tremendous
amount of evidence that suggests otherwise.  Common knowledge suggests
ferrets were domesticated by the Egyptians before the cat, even though
the idea has been disproved by polecat genetics, domestication studies,
natural history studies, archaeology, linguistics, biogeography, and
common sense.  Yet, in recent issues of "Ferrets" magazine, there is
continued support of the "Out of Africa" idea of ferret origins.  Feeding
bone to ferrets is bad because common knowledge disapproves, ignoring
millions of years of evolution, thousands of years of domestication and
hunting, and hundreds of years of natural history studies.
 
I could give dozens of other examples, but the point is made.  Just
because something is common knowledge, even if widely held, it doesn't
mean it is factually correct.  Fighting common knowledge is like swimming
upstream in a rapidly flowing river; you can expend a great deal of
energy trying to move forward, only to glance at a shoreline reference
point to discover you have hardly moved forward at all.  The only way to
overcome common knowledge is education.  Not dogmatic pronouncements, but
real education where the intricacies and subtleties of the subject are
carefully explained so the reader can make informed decisions for
themselves.  Unfortunately, if this is done correctly, the resulting
posts are long and information dense.  When posted to a forum where
answers of a medical nature are typically short and sweet, such posts
stand out for their length and information density.
 
Nonetheless, I readily admit I am quite sensitive to the issues of
length, information density, and applicability of topic.  I have actually
considered starting a "Ferret Natural History" mailing list, but I don't
have the time to answer my own email, much less moderate and review such
an endeavor.  Instead, I post here, and if Sukie likes the posts and
thinks they are applicable to the general ferret community, when she has
time, she forwards them to the FML.  She is a sort of a "Bob filter" so I
don't appear as a dogmatic demagogue to the ferret community, and I trust
and value her judgment.
 
There is one last comment I want to make.  Privately, a ferret person
joked with me, saying few people comment on my posts; the inference being
that people were afraid to argue with a ferret deity.  I absolutely don't
deserve such praise; everyone on this list has the same capacity for
skeptical inquiry as I.  You don't have to masquerade as a genius to ask
questions, or demand dogmatic statements be supported with empirical
evidence.  Passionate debate--sans emotional attacks on the person--is
the KEY to understanding ferrets.  If a scientist, or a vet, cannot
withstand the rigors of inquiry, they have no business being in the
business.  If given the choice, I would much rather defend every
statement I make rather than have marshaled fields of marionettes
parroting everything I have to say.  Don't be afraid to disagree with
ANYONE on this list, especially me!  Ask questions, disagree, point out
error, offer alternative hypotheses, try to falsify suggested hypotheses,
demand empirical evidence, ask for, obtain and read references, and
never, ever, ever forget dogma, disguised as common knowledge, is our
common enemy.  I am here to learn and teach about ferrets, not to build
my already considerable ego.  I promise I will not get mad if anyone
challenges any facts (or opinions) I might post.  I would even hesitate
to mount a rigourous defense if you suggested it was too intimidating.
We are ALL students here, so don't be afraid to offer contributions
towards the collective education.
 
Bob
[Posted in FML issue 3859]