I’ve officially been a pit bull advocate for five and a half
years now. Prior to February of 2011,
when I co-founded the Portland Pit Bull Project, I had kind of ‘un’-officially
advocated by writing e-mails and letters to legislators in Oregon and other
states or municipalities trying to share verifiable valid information in the
hope that whoever I was sending the information to would stop and think more
deeply about implementing a breed ban; usually targeting pit bulls. I worked hard to target those people who
would be a part of the decision making process wherever I heard, or saw on
line, was considering implementing a breed ban and also when they were
discussing repealing a breed ban.
In the last five and a half years of being an ‘official’ pit
bull advocate I have had occasion far too frequently to engage people on line
who advocate FOR Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) targeting pit bull type dogs
and AGAINST pit bull type dogs and anyone who might be even remotely interested
in them or supportive of them in a positive way. Typically,
due to the nature of the people who post their opinions on line about pit bull
type dogs, these discussions seem to always be heated based on or around the
issue of pit bulls, breed bans, etc. I
realized long ago that anything I may share with these people in the way of
accurate, verifiable and valid information was pretty much like pissing in the
wind. But I consoled myself, knowing that they would refuse to accept ANY
information that did not support their beliefs, actually believing that other people who
might be on the fence on the issue or just might want to know more are reading
the discussions and hopefully are getting at least a healthy balance of information for
them to base their opinions on. That was
my fervent hope anyway and so for the last five years or so I’ve been posting
my comments, usually in response to the anti-pit bull campaigners comments, on public discussions thinking that just maybe I might be reaching someone;
even if only one person.
I won’t lie, I have been aggravated with the anti-pit bull
campaigners beyond measure. Intentional ignorance indeed can be completely and totally aggravating and at times mind blowing. But I have
always done everything possible to keep it calm, keep it rational, to keep it
civil and to provide factual information in response to their propaganda. I really honestly believed that even though I
wasn’t getting through to the people I was ‘discussing’ the issue with that
other people who hadn’t made up their minds were ‘observing’ the discussion and
were benefiting from receiving information that they could validate and
confirm through numerous other official sources.
I will admit however that I had some ‘crazy’ hope that those people, who
seem to be a select few who troll the internet for anything that has the words ‘pit’
and ‘bull’ in it together, might see information that made them think about
where they were getting their information. But I must concede that after much reflection that most likely
every keystroke, every word, every statistic, every single bit of empirical data I
shared with them was a waste and was for naught.
Admitting that I was naive enough to believe that I could
make any difference in any of 'their' opinions on this issue has been tough but
FINALLY I got it and to be quite honest it feels as if a huge burden has been lifted
off of my shoulders and my mind.
In the end NOTHING any of us has to say and no information
we might be able to provide, regardless of how accurate or verifiable it is, will
ever make a dent in the opinion of these anti-pit bull campaigners. They’ve already made their choices in what to
think and no one, likely not even if it came directly from the
people they are already listening to who are providing the misinformation that fuels their beliefs, can change their minds or even bring into question what they
believe. Admitting this was a difficult
but necessary step in my evolution as a pit bull advocate but I’m here now and
thanks to someone I just recently met, who apparently has a lot more common
sense than I do, I have made a conscious decision about who I will engage in a
discussion about pit bulls and the people who have them in the future. Beginning now I will no longer read the
comments of the anti-pit bull campaigners, even when directed at me personally,
regardless of where the comments are or what the incident may have been. Beginning now I will consciously choose to
only discuss the pit bull ‘issue’ with people who are involved on the
advocating side, the rescuing side or just with people who come to me with
questions they want answers to.
In the end I have come to realize that I can be much more
effective and productive if I avoid wasting my time discussing an issue with
people who quite obviously have already made up their minds about it and who only
seek to convince others to agree with their point of view. It may be tough to break this old habit of
engaging with the anti-pit bull campaigners but I will replace it with a new
and much better habit of learning as much as I can and engaging ONLY people who
share my interest in fixing the many problems and issues that plague pit bull type dogs and the
people who have them. This new habit includes, but isn’t limited to, working in a much more
proactive manner to provide services and information for people who have these
dogs so that they don’t one day become a statistic that will sadly only serve to confirm the
misguided beliefs of the anti-pit bull campaigning camp.
So from here on out all I have to say to the anti-pit bull
campaigners is...
FAREWELL HATERS and have a great life!
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