Something that's been bothering me for a while, is the fact that people who hate things, think that everyone else should hate them, and no one should be able to do it. It's a very backwards way of thinking, and it's something that needs to stop. Unfortunately, it seems to be about the sole mantra of the RARA's - "I don't like it, so no one else should, so it should be illegal!!"
Problems come into play, though, with people who take things like "animal abuse" too far. You know what I was told was animal abuse the other day? Taking my dog outside to go to the bathroom, and forcing him to say out until he goes to the bathroom. My dog is trained on a schedule - he has set times that he goes out, and he HAS to go to the bathroom at those times. No if ands or buts, don't care what the weather is, how cold it is... And he knows. If he wants inside, if it's not nice out, he boogies his little butt into the yard, does his business as quick as possible, and races back into the house. We go in, he gets his treat. He doesn't seem to think it is abuse - in fact, if I am not home at one of his appointed potty times, he will find someone else in the house and nag them to take him out! However, to some people, the fact that I don't let him rule the roost is abuse! And wrong! And I'm a dictator for how he's trained!! Except... it's not. It's a different method. I don't ridicule the people who let their dogs do whatever they want. I don't agree with it, I personally think dogs need structure and boundaries and schedules, but I'm not going to tell someone they're abusing Fido because Fido is allowed to counter surf.
Or how about something subjective like feeding a dog? Now, I feed my dog Taste of the Wild kibbles. Decent quality, grain free, nutritionally balanced. He has kibbles available 24-7. My sister, on the other hand, feeds her dog a different brand that isn't grain free, but is still decent quality and nutritionally balanced. The main difference is that my sister's dog is given 2 meals a day. Different methods, does that make one of us right, and the other wrong? I could limit my dog's food, but don't bother - my dog doesn't gorge himself, he eats when he's hungry and stops when he's full. My sister, on the other hand, would have an exceptionally fat dog in an exceptionally short amount of time if her dog's dish was always full - her dog is a food vacuum, and has been since she was a pup. Neither of us is right or wrong.
At this point you're saying "well, those aren't big deals, what about something like buying a pet from a pet store? That's always wrong, and those people should always be told they're wrong!!!" Not exactly.
I don't agree with buying pets from a pet store(with the exception of fish - seriously, where else are you going to get fish!?). I don't like the fact that when buying a pet from the pet store, you don't know where it has come from, what sort of breeding it has, or sometimes what breed it is! This, though, is my personal opinion. If it comes up in conversation, I will politely say "Oh, I wouldn't do that because..." and then give some reasons, and follow up with some alternatives. If the person takes my advice, great! If they don't, that's their right. They might well follow up with their thoughts and reasonings behind buying their pet from a pet store. I am not going to insult or berate them for their opinion.
Another thing that I disagree with is ear cropping. In fact, it was my thoughts on ear cropping while reading Arrogant Afghan's blog post about ear cropping that led me to this post.... Afghan agrees with it, and I happen to disagree with it. We each of us have an opinion concerning ear cropping. I have my reasons for disliking it - it makes a dog look meaner, I prefer a floppy ear, I like my dogs to look cute and cuddly, not alert and ready to rip your face off. Afghan has their reasons to agree with it(you'll have to go read the blog to see why). Is one of us right and wrong? Not in the least. Afghan should be free to have their dogs ears cropped as they see fit, and I should be free to have my dog's ears be floppy, their face to look round and soft and fat.
People are always going to be entitled to their own opinion. No matter what it is you believe, it is YOUR opinion. You need to research the facts, decide how you feel on any given topic, and form an opinion.
"But Herds," you're saying, "this is simply nuts! You're telling people that their opinion is never right nor wrong, but then you tell people they're wrong all the time!!!"
That's a fair enough statement, but the fact of the matter is, I don't think people's opinions are wrong, I think they are merely misinformed, or parroting someone else's opinion. And I'm guilty of doing it as well, there have been times where I have heard something and repeated it back without actually looking into things myself. I'm human, after all.
When someone states to me that "All breeders are bad!!", I could go on the defensive, attack back, and freak out. Instead, I go for the more civil approach, and ask why they feel that way. Chances are, they don't know, or they will parrot back a list of "facts" as to why breeders are bad. Do they actually know the facts behind their reasons? I don't know, and I'm not going to grill them to find out. They are free to think what they want, and all I can do is offer up my opinion, the facts that I have available, and ask them to consider my side. Verbal abuse, insults, threats, they're never going to make someone change their mind, they're going to make the person close off their mind and be unwilling to consider another view point.
And then we come to the main point of this blog. When opinions aren't actually opinions, but are simply people parroting what they've been told time and again. Seriously, if you watch tv at certain times of the day, you're going to see dozens of ads from HSUS, PETA, WSPA, so on and so forth. For simply pennies a day, you too can save these animals from the evil hands of abusers and breeders!!!!
It's hard to think for yourself in this day and age. It really is. We are bombarded by the media telling us to think this, and do that, to eat this food, not that food, to drink this brand or that brand... Our opinions are constantly being forced upon us by what we read on the internet, in the newspaper. People don't need to think for themselves, the TV will tell them what to think!!!
As a society, we need to encourage people to think for themselves, we need to challenge the views that people hold onto so tightly because they read about it on Facebook, or saw a commercial about it or watched a movie about it... Ugh - Blackfish. I watched that movie, and it made me feel ill. Not because of what it was telling me, but because of the way it portrayed things. After Blackfish came out, I watched my news feed on Facebook become bombarded by people who were suddenly armchair activists, who watched a movie and were made to feel, and started sharing everything they saw on Facebook concerning the exploitation of marine mammals. They simply became marine biologists by watching a movie! I won't go too deep into this, but long story short - Blackfish is an opinion movie that was filmed to make you feel, not think, and people who are not accustomed to thinking for themselves watch it and automatically adopt that opinion. There are tons of other "documentaries" like this, designed to make you feel, not think, and intended to leave you with the film maker's opinion as your own.
The whole world wants to make your opinions up for you. Is it easier to sit back, relax, and just let yourself be told what to think? Of course it is. Is it right? Absolutely not. As sentient beings, with morals, rights and responsibilities, we need to step up and make our own opinions, formulate them ourselves and decide what is best for us, for our situation. If what is best for you is adopting a shelter animal, while what's best for your neighbour is buying from a responsible breeder, and what's best for their cousin is buying from a pet store, who are you to say that anyone is wrong?
The opinions you make are yours, and no one else's. The reasoning behind them needs to be yours as well. Not what you heard on tv, not what you read on Facebook, not what your best friend told you. Yours. While all those places might be good starting points, if you're going to have a firm belief in an opinion, you need to research it, read both sides and decide for yourself. You also need to understand that not everyone is going to agree with your opinions, and those people not agreeing does NOT make them bad, or wrong. It makes them of a different opinion.
So if you have a strong opinion, make sure you have it for the right reasons. Make sure you can formulate a debate based on your reasonings behind your opinion, and make sure you're willing to make that debate without name calling, accusations, threats or anything else. Think for yourself, and remember that there are a lot of people out there who won't think for themselves, they'll just parrot whatever they've been told. Doesn't make them bad people, but I do encourage you to encourage them to think for themselves. When they finally open their mind and start thinking for themselves, they'll thank you for it.