>From:    Anonymous Poster <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Recent Modern Ferret Issue with Playboy Playmate
 
Taste, whether in cooking or in personal choices, is generally a personal
choice and best left to the individual.  You found the Modern Ferret issue
with Tiffany Taylor in poor taste and that is your personal choice.  As an
FML reader, the issue could not have been a shock since Ms. Taylor's
appearance and her background as a Playboy Playmate was announced in the
FML long before the issue went to press.
 
The interview with Ms. Taylor was, from my point of view, comprehensive and
truthful.  It did not take any sort of stance on the personal choices she
made for her professional career, nor did it glorify anything beyond her
love for her ferrets.  Different people have different views on whether her
career choices are appropriate or not.
 
Whenever I see an anonymous post seeking to make an issue of a matter,
warning bells go off in my head.  I have to wonder what motivated the
author to make an issue of that subject.  Personally, I tend not to trust
people who make anonymous posts like the one above.  If the issue is
important enough to the author to call for public discussion, it should be
important enough to sign one's name.  People should have the courage to
stand behind their convictions by signing their name.  By the same token,
if an issue isn't important enough to sign your name to, it really isn't so
very important.  Perhaps there would be less back-biting and fighting if
more people had the courage to accept responsibility for things they say
and write.
 
A different type of warning bell sounds in my head when the anonymous post
concerns a business.  I can't help wondering if the anonymous post is
designed to negatively impact that business for some other reason, and if
the anonymous poster has financial, professional, or personal ties to a
competiting business.  If that is the case, then the real issue is not the
original post, but the unscrupulous back alley business practices that are
behind such a post.
 
Of course, I am not claiming that is what happened here.  What I am saying
is that I tend not to put much stock in certain anonymous posts, and the
reasons for why I personally don't find them very valid.  Each reader needs
to make their own decisions on how much importance to attach to anonymous
posts.
 
Scott
[Posted in FML issue 2680]