On Civil Discourse for Newbies to Animal Person

I was going to leave this as a comment, but in order to get broader readership, here it is, and it’s not just for Kim.

Kim,

I published your comment, but I’m going to assume you composed it because you didn’t get the memo that it’s time we raise the level of discourse. And if you’re just giving back as good as you got, I personally think the high road is to refrain from doing that. That’s my free advice for today.

This blog is now being heavily moderated, and you all can disagree all day long if you do it respectfully. From now on, comments that are abusive simply will not be published. Heck, I might ditch the comments all together.

If any one of us is going to make a positive difference in this world it is not going to come from being sarcastic, obnoxious and mean-spirited. That is what I have learned, and this is my blog.

It is clear that some people call themselves abolitionists and campaign for welfare reforms at the same time. It is clear that some people think that is not abolition (I am one of those people). And it is abundantly clear, at least to me, that the banter about this topic is–and has been–going nowhere, and will continue to go nowhere until the discussion experiences a significant infusion of kindness.