Beware of Cat Haters in Influential Positions
By advocating that people should beware of cat haters in influential positions, I am saying that some people, who happen to hate cats, have a platform and have some influence through which they are able to damage the image of the cat in the eyes of the public. For cats themselves, and for those of us who respect the cat and who are focused on cat welfare, these are dangerous people. They have some authority. They often write well and are clever. A substantial number of people who are in the middle ground regarding their thoughts on the domestic, stray and feral cat, in society, can be swayed by these cat haters.
The influential cat haters don’t declare their true colors. They employ smoke and mirror tactics. They often quote studies and sound quite scientific. What they say can seem plausible to an unsuspecting public who are not well informed about cats and, therefore, somewhat vulnerable to being influenced my manipulative people.
As I run this site, I have a greater knowledge than most of what is happening out there in respect of propaganda against the cat. I am pleased to report that the latest attack from a person named Ted Williams has been quite nicely squashed, at least to a certain extent.
Mr Williams wrote a piece for the Orlando Sentinel that did show his true colors (his hatred for the feral and free-roaming cat), which probably wasn’t intended. But his hatred can be sensed when reading between the lines. Well, actually, it is obvious because in a rash moment he advocated poisoning feral cats with Tylenol.
That single statement has resulted in his article being substantially amended. The Tylenol reference has been removed. That had to go as it was an incitement to commit animal cruelty. Perhaps he should be prosecuted? Mr Williams categorically denies that he was trying to encourage people to kill cats with Tylenol.
Also his purported connection with the Audubon Society – quite an influential group – has been broken; if it ever existed. Mr Williams was described (by himself?) in his article as being “editor-at-large for Audubon magazine”. He is now described as “independent column[ist] for Audubon magazine.”
Mr Williams has upset the people at the Audubon Society and many others. However, I sense, that there are many cat haters at the Audubon Society. It just went wrong on this occasion.
On my reckoning the cat haters with some influence have stepped up their online attacks of the cat in recent months. It almost appears that they are working in league. A coordinated attempt to force government, federal or local, to initiate discussions on new legislation to eradicate the feral cat. I am guessing and probably exaggerating but, it seems feasible.
The general public should be wary of people who sound plausible and who attack cats in the written word. I would encourage people to do their own research and make an informed decision of their own.
The key fact to remember is that people created the feral cat through irresponsible cat ownership. We must look to the behavior of people for answers. Killing feral cats in a random, ad hoc manner does not reduce numbers. It never will. It is also cruel and uncivilized, and an abdication of our responsibilities.
People shouldn’t hate cats. They should love fairness and decent behavior instead.
Note: In this post, I am not referring to people like Woodsman; mindless idiots whose bile and anger is splashed all over their written page.
Thanks for this Michael.
I’ll try to delve more into this.
re:
~~Also his purported connection with the Audubon Society – quite an influential group – has been broken; if it ever existed. Mr Williams was described (by himself?) in his article as being “editor-at-large for Audubon magazine”. He is now described as “independent column[ist] for Audubon magazine.”~~
well damn good thing.
I read his piece you linked. He cited a lot of observations as if they were “fact”, scientifically verified. I don’t think it’s appropriate to write something like this as an editorial/ opinion, with so much seeming “science”, without verification. Being a scientist, I want evidence cited chapter and verse. But, that wouldn’t have worked as a lazy Sentinel column.
I particularly question his statement:
“Free-ranging cats have driven at least 33 bird species to extinction.”
That sounds like a lot of nonsense to me. Cats have done this? All on their own? There are multiple and interacting reasons species go extinct, and I very much doubt that there is any single case where cats are responsible. Just my instinct as a scientist.
I’d like to see some hard evidence that this is the case, such as something published in a referred scientific journal. I’ll go look, just in case there is such evidence.
I’m glad Ted Williams is in trouble over his snide and cruel remarks, it makes me very angry that people like him try to influence the thoughts of others. Just because he hates cats and wants them dead he thinks everyone else should feel the same way.
Writers can cause panic, bad feeling, even hatred and they have no right to do so.
You are right Michael, people should do their own research, not just believe all the rubbish that any biased person like Williams writes.
Thanks Ruth. I feel quite passionately about this. It is very unsettling to see articles in which the cat is so misrepresented.
People read the word ‘estimate’ and think it means something exact and real – especially when written by a person with a degree. Why should it matter – having a degree is like going to the toilet these days – everybody has done one 🙂 – so the danger lies in the middle ground of people who are easily swayed without giving much thought. It really does look like most cat haters don’t even know how to keep cat numbers down. That really makes them look uncontrollably stupid. If they wanted the numbers down for real they would have worked out how best to do that but they haven’t – and that makes it very hard to take them seriously. They would gladly waste even more money killing cats (100 bucks a cat not including getting them in front of the syringe) – they clearly are stupid *ss h*l*es who don’t even want to know how to solve their own damn problem. It doesn’t get more ridiculous.