Dear Ferret Folks-
 
There sems to be some confusion about what many of the folks who object
to the Petco threads are objecting *to*.  I don't object to civil debate
on any issue touching the lives of ferrets, that's one of the reasons I
joined this forum.  It is the current level of incivility in this debate
that has so many of us turned off, and a corresponding shift away from
the interests of ferrets, and *to* the frenzied scramble to claim the
moral high ground, regardless of how much mud the new King of the Hill
for the Day had to fling at other people to get up there.  Here are some
tyoical statements from recent posts that illustrate my point.  Lately
this 'debate' has come right down to the level of people throwing verbal
roundhouse punches at one another in the mistaken belief that whoever can
be the most strident, belittling, and offensve must be the one who loves
animals the most.
 
>It seems to me if someone really, truly cared about animals, they'd
>want...
 
( To feel *precisely* the way that I do.  If they don't, they are not
good people, not as good as I am certainly, and thus I feel free to
insult them.  This is not debate.  )
 
>I'm glad that you never had a cause that YOU felt like fighting for,
>humane or otherwise, because you probably would have just 'looked the
>other way'!
 
(Because, of course by *disagreeing* with me, you have demonstrated that
you have no moral center, and thus I feel free to humiliate and insult
you.  *This* is not debate.)
 
>I'm sorry for anyone who says and/or believes they love ferrets and
>yet...
 
(Does not agree with me.  Ergo, you do not care about ferrets, and are
beneath my contempt.  *This* is not debate.)
 
>Do you not care about the treatment of these creatures?
(If you did, you would feel *precisely* as I do.  As you do not,
obviously you do not care about animals at all, and are missing a
piece of your soul.  *This* is not debate.)
 
>turn a blind eye and allow the abuse/neglect to continue...walk away...
>right!
 
(It's people like YOU who yada yada yada, if it weren't for people like
YOU, people like YOU, people like YOU, etc.  *This* is not debate.)
 
Like ALL of the people who have posted about Petco, (yes, ALL!) I too
care about ferrets.  I'd be interested in reading about real-world
solutions to the Petco "problem."  We represent a knowledgable community
commited to the welfare of ferrets.  We have it in us to do great things.
But as long as we expend our energy, our passion, for these beautiful
little creatures with such enormous souls in battling ONE ANOTHER, in
bashing, in self-righteous posturing, we accomplish precisely NOTHING.
And business as usual goes on at Petco.  If I was a member of corporate
Petco, and I read the last few days of the FML, I would *laugh!*  And
keep on laughing, all the way to the bank.
 
Alexandra in MA
[Posted in FML issue 4826]