Hi All!
 
I feel an urgent need to comment on the postings in regards to the show in
Seattle, WA. I will say up front that I did not attend, and do not know the
particulars of the show. I can't help but feel that unless you attended, or
were involved, it is impossible to comment on the show, whether precautions
were set up in the "11th hour", or whether ECE was really going to be a
factor at the show. Anything that anyone tells you about the show second or
third hand will be slanted towards their particular sympathies - whether it
is positive or negative. I am also disturbed by the negative slant towards
the  LOS and LIFE organizations - is this really necessary? I did not like
reading comments like, "Questionable judging and even more questionable
revocation of trophies were the biggest problem. Blame for these goes in a
different direction.", or "From everything we can tell this show turned out
rather like all the other LOS shows in the country."
 
I have heard many comments as to why the ferret community is so splintered
and this appears to hit the heart of the issue. If you do not agree with
someone, fine - choose to disagree. But to bash an organization or show
solely because of  personality differences tears the ferret community into
factions and is exactly what the ferret community DOES NOT need.
 
How can we be taken seriously if we can't even agree that everyone is
entitled to their own opinions and ideas, and that we won't always be in
agreement, but that the most important thing is our ferrets?  I feel that
comments like this are not appropriate for the FML and should not be allowed
to be posted.
 
I absolutely agree with Di (Frstypaws), on a personal level, as far as ECE
is concerned.  She made a lot of sense in her postings and more importantly
didn't try to blame anyone.  We all need to be more tolerant towards each
other - the written word leaves out so much - tone, how it is said, etc.
All that is left are the words and we can all "read" into the words what we
want, depending on whether we agree or not with the author.
 
I fully expect to get flamed for this, both in private and on the FML - but
I feel that I must respond.  To stay silent is to give tacit approval of the
postings and may allow further such posts to continue.  This is solely my
opinion, and I dearly hope that everyone will step back, take a deep breath,
and be nicer to one another.  I think that the thing that I am most sorry
for is that I felt I had to make a posting like this on FML.
 
Lisa
[Posted in FML issue 1856]