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I got to sit next to Felicia Day and help conduct our interview with her at SXSW. I'm a pretty big fan so this was very cool. Our presence at SXSW was also a v
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Community Projects
First, I'm a huge fan of Clive Barker's work. His artwork and his stories have entranced me for years but beyond that, he's truly a deviant. *CliveBarker has become an active member of the community, submitting his artwork and commenting on others. He's a perfect fit in my opinion, but that's not entirely why I'm writing today.
Clive's initial choice for a cause to donate the proceeds of this project to, is PETA and if you've been watching the #ODYSSEYPROJECT unfold, you've certainly seen several opinions in regards to the organization.
If you know me at all, you'll know that I was a Vegan for over two decades (I've changed my status to omnivore over the last 5 years). During that period of time, I was a card carrying member of PETA and during my tenure with the organization, the extent of their requirements from me involved a lot of letter writing and outreach. I was never encouraged to dress up and protest, torture anything, throw paint at anything.. etc etc etc. As with any organization (and yes I'm thinking about Religious organizations right now) there are extremists and certainly those people exist within PETA. My personal opinion of the organization and any organization for that matter, is that judging by the craziest is really unfair. However, I do have some personal experience with situations like this and I'd love to share that for perspective.
My family has been plagued with Cancer and I've lost very important people in my life. For the last 15 years I have actively raised money and participated in events to raise money for Cancer research. Every year, when I begin my fundraising efforts within the community, I am harassed by people who tell me I'm wasting my time, that research money is wasted and it's a giant political agenda. I have had people be ridiculously cruel to me BECAUSE I'm raising money for Cancer and once I had someone tell me that my loved one's were afflicted because of an inner evil they possessed that no 'medical treatment' could cure. It's a cause that means a lot to me and I extensively research where the money goes every time but to no avail, I get barraged by people screaming at me for my efforts and my choices.
I don't know that there is one charity or cause that everyone can agree on, considering what I've experienced. What I do know is that I respect Clive and his participation in this project and I trust that he, like me, has done his research into his chosen cause and stands behind it for a reason.
I appreciate that people have very strong opinions and *CliveBarker is certainly aware of the concerns conveyed by the community as you can read in his journal here and I am confident that he will do the necessary research and make an informed decision. At the end of the day, we may not all agree on it but I implore you to look at the bigger picture. This project means a great deal to me and to those that have helped bring it to fruition including, the incredible *CliveBarker and our own $techgnotic. This opportunity is not one that you're going to find every day and while I love that there has been open dialogue about the concerns regarding the charity, lashing out at Clive personally, is unfair and unwarranted.
Clive, like myself, believes in something that's dear to him. I'm sure people read my above statement regarding the personal attacks I get every year, and because you know me, likely want to come to my defense and I appreciate that. However, Clive also deserves that respect and those feelings.
Sure there can be misguided ideas about what deserves our charity and what doesn't but what's drawn us to whatever cause we're fighting for is likely personal and no one should be attacked because they care. Ever.
I'm asking you to be the community I know you are and rise to the occasion. The charity situation will be sorted one way or another, but the humanitarian one is up to you. This is a fellow deviant, this project has the potential to be absolutely epic and I, personally, have felt the power of this community when it comes together in support.
Let the Odyssey begin.
You bring up the topic of personal choice of a cause one wishes to support. A very nice argument, but completely irrelevant, unless you are suggesting that the 'cause' in question is actually 'helping an ogranization that misuses its money to fund massive slaughters of animals'. If donating to THAT cause is the well-informed, well-researched decision of any individual, then your argument indeed has some relevance. Except, one needs to question why would anyone donate to such a 'cause' in the first place.
If, by donating to PETA one does NOT aknowledge the harm done by them, and instead believes it's actually an honest charity, then why are you against the uproar this decision is causing? Can't you see that the negative response is a way of INFORMING a person who is believed to be better than that ('that' meaning 'knowingly helping someone hurt innocent beings'), so that they can put the money to a better use? Anyone actually concerned with the cause, and not the publicity would've taken notice of such a response, checked the facts that back it up, and STOPPED SUPPORTING THIS ORGANIZATION.
Oh, and I beg you, do not use that age-old "it's just the extremists that are evil" argument. It gets us nowhere. It's irrelevant whether it's the majority, or just a few people in the organization who are wicked. What matters, is that it is the wicked who make the decisions for the whole organization. What matters, ultimately, is not supporting a multimillion-dollar violent fraud just because it hides behind pretty slogans.
As for the comments on PETA: As someone has said before, I'm not attacking Clive, but there are plenty other charities out there who could probably be donated to. Why don't we split the donations between PETA and these other charities? Seeing as how it's Clive's choice and not mine, my idea will probably not be taken into account, but I thought to say it anyway.
Cheers.
No real animal lover supports BSL.
My problem was simply and specifically with PETA. I am not of the opinion that it's a couple of extremists ruining it for everyone else; the objections that I have are with the official, fundamental way that the organization is run. For instance, I have feminist objections to the anti-fur campaign involving semi-nude photos of women, and that is, as far as I know, an officially endorsed campaign. PETA is not the only organization that promotes animal welfare, simply the most familiar (and sometimes for bad reasons), so I support these other organizations instead.
I know that there are lots of other people who don't share my opinions, and I respect that. I know that others were not so respectful. For my part, I was simply voicing my opinion that I simply can not support PETA.
I am quite impressed that Clive Barker and DA responded in this way, listening to the (sometimes not very nice or rational) concerns that people voiced, and making the decision to withdraw support for PETA.
So, yeah. Well done. I hope everyone else who had objections can be rational about this now and stop the silly and disrespectful personal attacks. The reason for my decision not to participate in the project is invalid now, so I guess I have to hurry up and make artwork for the prologue before the deadline!
Overall: Just choose another organization- any, just any different one- and get this controversy over with already. It's as bad as the "video games cause violence" argument- we just need to shut up and change the subject to something less likely to enrage some people.