Fact Or Fiction? New Tools To Beat Breed Bias

Fact or Fiction? New Tools To Beat Breed Bias

If you are a dog owner with a "targeted" breed, like me,  you and your dog  may be a victim of breed discrimination.  And if you haven't experienced breed bias yet - it's likely coming your way.

Now if you're like me - owning a specific breed of dog can also unexpectedly land you in a whole new social circle, one that people associate with dogfighters and drug dealers, crackheads, gang members -

oooh - and babykillers.

And the daily parade of pitbull headlines touting the supernatural strength and bullet-proof chests of these bloodthirsty animals as they eat children and cars for breakfast seems almost, dare I say it ............

orchestrated.  However - I do digress - but the result is plain, isn't it?

Criminals Like Me?

Maybe your neighbors no longer speak to you because of your dog.    After all, the only kinds of people that would own pitbulls or Rottweilers or other "targeted" breeds are criminals.

They've read newspaper articles that report -thanks to the press machine at the HSUS - that these dogs are most likely owned by criminals and gang members, and will eat your children for breakfast.  And after all - since you own one of those "vicious" things - I guess that makes you a criminal too.  Especially if you live in the UK.

Crackheads Harboring Vicious Animals?

Maybe you've lost your homeowner's insurance, or even your housing, because your insurance company says you own a "vicious" dog.  That's they've heard.  They also heard on the news that pitbulls are unpredictable. Bet you were even more surprised to find that you're harboring a vicious dog if you own a Yorkshire Terrier in Massachussets, according to the the Boston Globe. 

But as a gang-banging, crackhead, vicious dog-harboring criminal - what will you do if you can't get or keep homeowner's insurance? Should you move, or give up your dog?  Are you willing to surrender your Shepherd/Husky mix to the shelter, or a foster family - if you're lucky?

You Are Unworthy?

But wait - the news gets better!  Because as a gang-banging, crackhead, vicious dog-harboring criminal, the public has decided that you are no longer entitled to civility, not to mention civil rights.

You are now Unworthy.  Unclean.  You and your dog are now a target, fair game. Because of your dog, you are now Lower Than Low. OK To Kick Around, Exlude, Spit At, Deny,  and just ripe for the next round of breed bias in the form of hate crimes. 

Kick Me - I Own A Pitbull

I think of these as hate crimes against dogs and humanity.  Breed bias incidents come in many forms.  Maybe you've been the victim of a personal breed bias incident:

• Maybe people cross the street when they see you with your "vicious" dog, yell things like "babykiller", or even scream or curse at you. 
• Maybe you've been denied accomodations at a hotel or campground, or even access to a park because of your  "vicious" dog.
• Maybe you are disabled and own a service dog, but you've been asked to leave the store or restaurant because your dog is a "vicious" breed.  Never mind the certifications, or years of training, or even that pesky Americans With Disabilities Act.
• Maybe you've even been physically assaulted because of your "vicious" dog.  Have people spit on you, kick you or your dog, or even thrown cans, rocks or bottles at you or "vicious"  dog? 

Dont' think these are hate crimes or civil rights violations?  Think again.

Ethics Schmethics

Just how accurate are dog bite or attack stories? Do the journalists that write these stories report in a fair and ethical manner?  Do journalists correctly report statistics, do they correctly cite the studies and sources of their data? 

Or does the media just spout the same old twisted innacuracies, retold  in all of their glorious factual errors?  Practicing fear-mongering tabloid journalism that twists the facts to sell papers and drive Internet traffic, drive votes for corrupt politicans and drive insurance profits off the backs of innocents dog owners?

Accountability

That is all about to change for the betterment of dogdom, thanks to three small, little survey tools sponsored by My Dog Votes ™ and Love Does Not Discriminate™ .  They've put together a suite of web-based surveys so that dog lovers can finally put a stop to the fear-based, unethical reporting that results in so much suffering for innocent dogs and innocent dog owners.

Each of these surveys is available at www.LoveDoesNotDiscriminate.com We suggest you bookmark the links and keep them handy so that you can help stop breed discrimination!

For the next year, they'll be collecting and tracking incidents of breed bias in the media, breed bias in insurance underwriting, and breed bias incidents against innocent dogs and dog owners.

In other words, we're gonna bust the people who support breed discrimination.

Busted! Report Breed Bias In The Media

If you read, see or hear an unethical, biased news article concerning dogs, or animals, report it! Just click this link and fill in the survey - that's it!

Report Media Bias  - Click HERE

Busted! Report Insurance Discrimination

If you or a friend or loved one has been discriminated against by your insurance company based on the breed or even the size of your dog, report it!  Just click this link and fill in the survey - that's it!

Report Insurance Discrimination  - Click HERE

Busted! Report Breed Bias Incidents

If you and your dog have been discriminated against, denied services or access,  verbally or physically assaulted because of the breed of your dog, then report it! Just click this link and fill in the survey - that's it!

Report Breed Bias Incidents - Click HERE

Where do we go from here?

Use The Force Tools, Luke

Love Does Not Discriminate - and neither do we.  So no matter where you are on this planet  - Use The Tools!

If you are in the UK, or Canda, South America, use the tools to report Media Bias.  If you are in the US, for the Far East, or Down Under, use the toold to report Breed Bias Incidents.

By using the tools on LoveDoesNotDiscriminate.com to submit news articles, report insurance companies that discriminate and track incidents of breed bias and dog, you can help change how dogs and their owners are treated.

Wherever You Are, Stop The Hate

It doesn't matter you who are, or where you live, if you love your dogs and think people deverse civility and civil rights - Use The Tools.  We are Better Together,  We are Stronger Together.

Someday, in the not-too-distant future, we can make sure that we truly hold dogs and their owners accountable for their deeds, not their breed, and stop hating innocent dogs.  And stop hating the innocent people that own the innocent dogs.

Comments

[Christine Lewis]

Well HSUS true colors are showing - they support the mandatory/spay/neutering bill AB1634 for all of California dogs and cats (unless purebred special permits with only their registeries. AKC even hates this bill and they're on the approved registries list.

It's just another extremely misguided piece of legislation.

[ARfighter]

A great overview can be found here:

http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Jade/06_Media.Bias_07.asp

And check out the book "Freakenomics"...

[D. Shields]

One piece of journalism that i Like!
One size fits all in stay & delay tactics..Just like the delays in court ruling on Bill 132/DOLA that have caused so much financial grief for groups fighting it.
The Ontario Ombudsman says that Mr. Bryant, Att. Gen. has broken the law. **

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/02/28/3676065-sun.html

Quote from this story:
"It's put victims through the wringer time and time again, and
frankly it's the commission or government body in the worst shape our
office has encountered in 32 years."

He said staff at the board developed a "document fetish" and became so
obsessed with having their lengthy application forms filled out
perfectly that they rejected one man's claim because he forgot to dot
an i in his name.

Marin's report blamed successive Ontario governments for underfunding
the board and allowing it to "embrace lethargy and delay as a survival
tactic."

**Attorney General Michael Bryant broke the law by directing the board
not to issue payments to save money and stay under budget, Marin said."

[D. Shields]

When I looked at the page to report biased media, I didn't know where to begin. In Ontario Canada, a year after the passage of BSL, I can scarcely remember reading/hearing many objective reports that countered the government's claims about the dogs that they had banned, or the effectiveness of BSL in the matter of public safety.(And there where many unbiased rebuttals to BSL available, & many experts to speak against it.) There are important differences between being ignorant, choosing to remain ignorant, & garnering advantages by adopting an ignorant viewpoint.

There was an interview this morning given by a man who had been a 'spin doctor' & the subject of his book was 'the death of Spin'. He offered a number of explanations for it. One aspect which he didn't mention was the fact that media can only spin so many things before they put their own credibilty in serious doubt with an increasing number of people.

Just think for a moment about how many things you know to be spin, & mistruths, & half truths, or no truth at all that have been facilitated by the vast majority of media, apart from the pro-BSL stance taken by most media. I bet many come to mind in the first few minutes. If 'Spin' is dead, it may take mega-media down with it.

Fact: Violence, blood & gore sell newspapers. Logic doesn't.
Fact: People enjoy a little terror at a safe distance. If they didn't, would the slasher movies, fictional horror & t.v. mayhem have such a established place in our lives? We know that werewolves, & mutants don't exist, but we are aware that human monsters do.
Fact: Newspapers jump off the shelves when the words "Pit Bull' are visable on the front page.
Fact: We place human motivations on dogs. We placed high intelligence, & nearly saintly attributes on Lassie, & Rin Tin Tin in the 50's. Now things have swung 180 degrees & we give some dogs the mental abilty for comprehending 'motive, malice of forethought,& man-killer instinct' & a host of other nasty attributes that can only be found in the Human species. Maybe we should change 'scapegoating' to 'scapedogging'?
Thanks in part to the media itself & Bill 132/DOLA, I have lost the small amount of respect I had for most of the Ontario media, & the current government. I'm sure many of you feel the same way about both your local & national media & legislators. If they would lie about something as generally normal & harmless as dogs, how can we believe them anymore about anything?

2 old press sayings:
1)"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
2) "If it bleeds, it leads. If it thinks, it stinks."