Supervisors Dating Subordinates

      In work settings, supervisors should not date subordinates. If two consenting adults decide they want to date, then the remedy is for one to seek employment or transfer elsewhere. If a college professor wants to date a student, transfer to another college or quit. If a politician, media figure or someone else has an intern, do not date the intern.
      Supervisors dating staff is corrosive and inappropriate, and creates an unhealthy work environment.

Sexual Related Crimes And Politics

     A number of celebrities, politicians, actors, tycoons, religious and political leaders and other prominent figures are accused of inappropriate sexual conduct. Some of the accusations are criminal in nature, including allegations regarding sexual contact with minors and other allegations regarding non consensual sexual conduct, coercion, force, and more. As with any crime, criminal allegations need to be thoroughly investigated by law enforcement. People are innocent until proven guilty. But the law is not something that should only apply to the weak and powerless.
     No matter the politics, religion, high and mighty status of the possible offender, no politics should be played when it comes to crime. For years Catholic priests that committed pedophilia were untouchable, (which still might be the case in certain third world nations). The high and mighty people now accused of criminal sexual conduct must not be allowed a pass. The lesson must not be repeated over and over how not holding people accountable for criminal activity only allows crimes to flourish. Innocent until proven guilty must not mean innocent even if guilty by virtue of position, title and status.
      False accusations have ruined lives. Failure to properly investigate real accusations have also ruined lives. As with all crimes, investigations must be impartial, professional, and detached from political, religious or any other influences.

Ignoring The Messenger Does Not make The Message Go Away

      It is easier to dismiss unpleasant realities or pretend they do not exist rather than face them. Ignoring, discrediting, or making irrelevant the messenger does not make the message go away.
      People do not mind hearing about a problem or form of suffering if they are told there is someone or some organization addressing the problem. But if they are told the ones they believe are addressing the problem are instead exploiting it, or are at best ineffective, it is not a message people want to hear. People want hope. But wishful thinking does not make anything better, and so the standards for ethics and efficacy remain pathetically low in much of the nonprofit world, especially when it comes to voiceless populations.
     
     
     

Animal Cruelty And Dogfighting; Exploiting Suffering

      Over the course of many years, I took thousands of pictures (much of it when film was still widely used) and spent thousands of dollars photographing and documenting animal cruelty and dogfighting. I also hold copyrights to my photographs.
       I documented this abuse with no thought of monetary compensation, and never received a monetary benefit of any sort. I wanted to raise awareness as to the crimes of animal abuse and dogfighting with the hope that the dysfunctional approach to these crimes would change. 
       Instead my pictures and efforts were used by others for their personal gain, including in documentaries.
       There is something worse than the lack of awareness about a form of suffering, and that is when awareness is exploited by individuals and organizations. At least when there is no awareness, there is the hope that things will change for the better when awareness is raised.  But when the very people and organizations that are supposed to address a problem or form of suffering exploit awareness for their own gain, not only does the suffering not get properly addressed, people are falsely lulled into thinking the opposite. There is then no longer any impetus for change. Just because individuals and nonprofit organizations claim to care about animals or other serious issues does not mean they are not selfish, exploitative and greedy.  Millions of animals have suffered, and will continue to suffer from the dysfunctional approach to animal cruelty and dogfighting, and by the exploitation of these crimes by people and organizations that claim to speak on their behalf.                                                                                                      

     

Third World Street Dogs and Cats

      On behalf of the hundreds of millions of dogs and cats roaming the streets of third world nations in which many are badly malnourished and diseased, there is no one to speak for them. Millions of these dogs and cats suffer from sarcoptic mange, which causes great agony and pain. Not only do these animals suffer, but often they spread disease through their feces and by other means to humans, other domestic animals and wildlife.

       There is rarely any money, grandstanding or self promotional benefit for any animal organization or individual, so other than a mere handful of animals that might be helped occasionally, the plight of street dogs and cats in poor nations is ignored.  

Eating Dogs And Cats In Asia and Cruelty In The U.S.

       The effort by some U.S. politicians and animal organizations to stop the eating of dogs and cats in places in Asia where dogs and cats are eaten needs to be clear about what they want to accomplish.
Some argue that the brutal and cruel way in which many of these animals are treated and slaughtered is the reason why dogs and cats must not be eaten. But they use this standard only for dogs and cats because they do not want dogs and cats to be eaten, when they know full well other animals that are consumed by humans are treated just as horrifically. Furthermore, dogfighting and animal cruelty is alive and well in the United States. As for the hundreds of millions of starving, badly diseased dogs and cats living all over the poorer nations of the world, nothing is done. Many so called animal advocates believe it is better for dogs and cats to starve to death or die slow deaths from disease and malnutrition than to be humanely euthanized. Millions of dogs and cats on the streets of third world countries are badly infected with sarcoptic mange that causes them great suffering.
        Many of the factory farms in the United States and elsewhere are brutal places. Rather than ensure the highest humane care for factory farm animals, the direction has been otherwise. If someone gets employed by one of these factory farms and photographs what really takes place inside, they will be arrested and charged with a federal crime. Protecting the factory farm industry's image is more important than ensuring the highest level of care for factory farm animals.
         It is disengenuine to pretend to care about animals only when it comes to some dogs and cats, while disregarding the much greater extent and amount of cruelty that is inflicted upon other dogs, cats, pigs, cows, chickens and other animals.
          It is estimated that approximately 30 million dogs and cats are consumed in certain parts of Asia. This nowhere equals the billions of pigs, cows, chickens and other animals that are consumed across the world.
          Wildlife continues to be decimated. Domestic animals continue to be brutalized by the billions. There needs to be consistent standards for the proper care and treatment of animals. Exposing brutality in factory farms and slaughterhouses should not be criminalized conduct. Dogfighting flourishes in the United States, and practically no one ever gets arrested because of the pathological approach to this crime by law enforcement and animal organizations. There are many things on the homefront that United States politicians and animals organizations have completely failed at when it comes to reducing animal cruelty.
           All animals need to be treated humanely. Just because one animal is a dog or cat raised for food and another animal is a pig, chicken or cow raised for food does not mean the standard of care and treatment should be any less for one species than the other.
            If they want to end the eating of dogs and cats because of the special place dogs and cats hold, then simply say so. Do not pretend it is about cruelty when their own house is not in order. But if they want to make it about cruelty, then damn well make sure they bring that fight inside of the United States as well. Because until now, other than exploit and manipulate animal cruelty for personal and organizational gain, animal cruelty has been allowed to flourish.
         
     

Animal Cruelty Is A Lucrative Business For Its Alleged Opponents

      When it comes to protecting animals, grandstanding and exploitation by those claiming to be animal protectors have contributed to an ugly history of failure and animal suffering, which they never will acknowledge.