It's
Christmastime! That means it's also time for many NGOs to "sell"
alternative gifts to help people in the developing world--gifts like goats.
And who wouldn't want to buy a goal to help someone in the developing world escape poverty?
Animal
rights activists, that's who.
That's
why I discovered recently when a post from Plan Canada about buying goats for Christmas came
up in my Facebook feed.
According to Plan Canada, a goat "just might be the most unique gift you’ll give this year."
Goat’s milk provides important
protein for growing children, it adds, and the sale of offspring helps the family pay for essentials.
"Hoofs
down, we’re m-a-a-a-d about this gift!” they exclaim.
They are the only ones who are mad: So are animal rights activists—mad at Plan Canada.
“No
animals to be used for human consumption PLEASE!!! This is not compassionate!”
posted one person.
“I
disagree with making animals suffer and would never gift an animal for this
purpose,” posted a another.
The anti-goat posts attracted responses.
The anti-goat posts attracted responses.
"You're not buying a goat for someone in downtown Toronto. You're paying for a goat to be given to a family in a developing country on behalf of your friend in downtown Toronto.”
Soon the thread was no longer about ways to help people escape poverty.
Instead, it devolved into arguments pro and con about eating meat versus not eating meat, with a bit of religious dogma and a racist troll thrown in.
Instead, it devolved into arguments pro and con about eating meat versus not eating meat, with a bit of religious dogma and a racist troll thrown in.
Smartly, Plan Canada stayed out to the debate; this isn't their issue. They were content to let others come to their defense.
But
a check back later that evening revealed the original post was gone, taken
down by administrators.
The
experience is a reminder to NGO communicators of the need to stay on top of social media feeds at all times of the day.
A post may seem innocuous to NGO staff and supporters—who can be against helping people get goats?—but can end up attracting all sorts of
negative responses in a public forum like Facebook.
It’s
also a reminder that not everyone sees the world the way NGOs do.
To put it another way, sometimes the best of intentions can—bad pun coming—get your goat.
P.S. Another Plan Canada thread about goats appeared in my Facebook feed, and it happened again. See below.
P.S. Another Plan Canada thread about goats appeared in my Facebook feed, and it happened again. See below.
1 comment:
I sure respect folks who are vegetarians but if you live in northern Kenya, it's pretty hard to live on vegetables alone, goat and goat milk are pretty much all you have.
It's been my experience that some folks who are on either the left or right seem to be evangelical about their beliefs in being vegetarian or on the right about gun control. The challenge these days is to respect others in a society that is built upon democracy. Good thoughts as usual.
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