Why are animal rights discussions prohibited on the list?

It’s been our (long, and sometimes painful) experience that bringing animal rights topics and specific organizations and individuals into a discussion on Corgi-L is almost certainly guaranteed to derail whatever topic is being discussed ..

It’s been our (long, and sometimes painful) experience that bringing animal rights topics and specific organizations and individuals into a discussion on Corgi-L is almost certainly guaranteed to derail whatever topic is being discussed, and even take the conversation into uncivil territory. While we might allow the occasional notification of important issues happening elsewhere, discussion of these topics on Corgi-L are strongly discouraged, and certain terms and names are outright banned. (See below for a list.)

Please realize that this is not a value-judgment one way or another on the topic being discussed, it’s all based our experience with the list and emotionally charged topics such as this. It’s our goal to keep Corgi-L a friendly place for people to discuss Corgis. There are many other places to freely discuss animal rights issues.

The Dilemma – “Animal Rights” is not always what you think.

Some organizations, popular organizations with lots of public visibility, actually have an agenda to end pet ownership completely. Now, if that’s what you want to support, fantastic. The problem is that these organizations are very misleading in how they present themselves and/or how they are perceived. This is the kind of issue that then devolves into the emotional and destructive discussions on list.

When it comes to animal rights organizations we strongly encourage you to do the research to understand the true motives of the organizations you may choose to support.

Resources

Just as you should educate yourself prior to getting a dog so that you’ll know what’s right and proper for you and your lifestyle, the same is true for the organizations that you choose to support. Here are some reference links to hopefully present a flavor of both sides of some of the issues around pet ownership, animal rights, animal welfare and animal activism:

Corgi-L Banned Terms

Messages using any of the following terms are likely to rejected:

  • PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
  • HSUS, Human Society of the United States
  • Ingrid Newkirk
  • Wayne Pacelle

Note that attempts to “obfuscate” a specific term (P**A versus PETA, for example, or even “that very prominent animal rights organization”) is still attempting to use term and will likely be rejected. We’ll be looking at theintent of the rule, not just the letter.