Thoughts
herder101
if someone objects to who and what you are, it is not about you.It is about their desire to have an excuse to engage in violence against other people.
Thoughts
Young & Old
Young dogs say, “What will we do next?”Old dogs say, “Thank you for being with me.”
Thoughts
The Goal
The job of lifting and carrying a weak old dog, cooking special food for him, cleaning up daily due to his incontinence, and paying for his veterinary care and pain medicines is the ultimate goal of adopting a puppy.Only adopt a puppy if senior care is your goal as well.
Thoughts
Lifetimes
When an animal lover tells of the joy of their puppy
my happiness for them is constrained by knowing
the sorrow that lies distantly in their future.When they tell of the sorrow for their aging dog
my sadness for them is tempered by knowledge
of the happy years they have given their beloved companion.
Thoughts
Consent
Arguments hinging on consent by animals are always made in bad faith.Legally, an animal is never required or allowed to give or deny consent.And any amount of enthusiasm by an animal gets defined away as inadequate, never sufficient to be considered consent.
Thoughts
Sexuality
My fetishes are exciting and erotic.Your fetishes are disgusting and sick.
Thoughts
Crusaders
A loud crusade against evil is about the loudness, not about the evil.
Thoughts
Bad People
The enemies of bad people are not good people. Crusaders can be more malicious and less ethical than are the villains they pursue.
Thoughts
Accountability
Accountability can be legal, but only if there is unambiguous physical evidence of a crime and its perpetrators. That evidence is vanishingly rare.Accountability can be social, but only if ostracism works. Ostracism does not work in the online world where evil people can always create new identities to find and support each other out of view.And accountability can be vigilantism, where misunderstanding and hypocrisy invariably outweigh justice.If you demand others be held accountable, be sure to explain which type you are demanding. Calls for accountability online range from ignorance of reality to support for mob violence.
Thoughts
Rumors & Sex
Stories about sexual events are magnified in the retelling, as in a lascivious game of telephone. Sex becomes orgies; barns become brothels; an awkward incident is painted as a lifetime occupation.Kernels of truth are distorted by creative storytelling and by the horrific conceptions of the audience. The imagined events take root as the presumptive reality.The outrageous rolling boulder gains momentum, far from the uninteresting pebble of reality that first turned on its axis.
Thoughts
Privacy & Salience
Everyone is entitled to a private life.Share yours only with intimate partners, and with close friends that you are confident will be happier knowing that much more about you.But salience matters.No matter how many bridges you build, no matter how many oceans you cross, no matter how many mountains you climb, each time they see you their first thought will be... goatfucker.
Thoughts
Trolls
No matter how rational, important, and well-stated you believe your ideas to be... do not quote or reply to trolls, ever.Trolls care neither about you nor about animals. Their victory is your reaction. Deny them any victory.Do not offer them counterarguments or corrections. Ignore them, and they will go away sad that their effort was wasted.