Hermit crabs as pets*debate*

[Guest]

Congrats on your adoptions (Did I say that already)!

I agree with that too. But I don't always do it. I try to educate stores, so every once in a while I'll go in to see if they've made any changes, and sometimes I'm just too big of a softy to leave them and I don't stick by my own principals. I rescued two the other day, and one is not doing very well at all. I thought I'd learned my lesson about rescues, but apparently not.

To quote myself here, there have been some on this thread who have talked about all the reasons why it's not good to buy from stores with bad conditions, which is what I was agreeing with in this quote. I also stated I don't always live by my own principals. I wish I could say I always lived up to my own standards, but I'm not perfect, but I do try to be honest.

Even though sometimes I buckle at seeing crabs that need rescuing I never buy my supplies, or make big purchases from stores with poor conditions. Competition is the motivator for any kind of business in a capitalist economy. I am well aware of this, and I do reward stores with good conditions at every opportunity. We do need to look at the big picture, absolutely.

I've always loved that Margret Mead quote. I used to have it on my office cube at work. Some of us because of our personalities are born activists, some are accidental activists, which the Mead quote is referring to. In my mind it's talking about the momentum that is gathered by like minded individuals who are all doing what they feel is right, what they feel is their responsibility. I feel like no matter where we all fall in this debate, that this quote still includes all of us.

[Guest]

And about the arguement about one person... Let's say... you have 100 people. 3 of the people stop buying from the bad petstore, the rest keep rescueing hermit crabs from the bad petstore. The 3 people aren't even going to make a dent. It's just like leaving hermit crabs on the beach. 3/100 people stop buying hermit crabs. The rest are still buying hermit crabs. The 3 people won't make much of a dent at all.

…and I blame every one of the 97 people for that. What frustrates me is that those other 97 people are still buying from the bad pet store because they’re saying “I’m just one person, I won’t make a difference.â€

[Guest]

Well, with all these things that have been accomplished by thoughtful, committed citizens it didn't mean that everyone fighting for it agreed on every single aspect of what they were fighting for, or the best way to fight for it, all one needs to do is study history to see that.

The HCA's goals are to educate and improve conditions for crabs, for us all to band together and accomplish this does not mean we all have to agree on every detail of every aspect of crab-keeping. To me, it's the momentum gathered and diverse information offered and what we learn from it that is the most important thing, everything else will fall in place in time. I know that I may have a little bit too much of zen kind of attitude about things, but that's just me (and no-I'm not a Buddhist).

I can always respect an opinion if it's well thought through, and respectfully put forth, even if it's something I would VEHEMENTLY disagree with (which in this case it's not something I vehemently disagree with). Having said this, I do feel we need people with passion in order to make a difference, passionate people are an asset to this organization. We also should always be conscious of the fact all us have the really same goals, sometimes accomplished differently, or we wouldn't be HCA members. Personally, I feel diversity is also an asset.

[Guest]

Of course social change movements have never agreed on everything, but there were general agreements on philosophy (violence vs. nonviolence, civil disobedience vs. legislative solutions) that groups within those social movements subscribed to, and which had different levels of effectiveness at different times.

I hear what you’re saying, I do. I agree that there is need for diversity of opinion, and there will always be diversity of opinion in any organization. My concern is that some organizations become so concerned about not offending or alienating anyone that the mission gets lost. There is a time for discussion and “let’s agree to disagreeâ€

[Guest]

You expressed yourself marvelously there. Not everyone has the benefit of your background and your less-zen-like, personality. I guess if it had been expressed earlier as artfully as it was in this most recent post I could more quickly have said I agree with you. I guess that's the advantage of being concerned about not offending or alienating anyone, sometimes the point comes acrossed to much more willing ears.