Care and feeding of humans

My fellow Ugly Dogs--

This is a personal essay, which may or may not be indicative of anyone's opinion but my own, but I wanted to put this out there in light of recent attacks from Twitter-based trolls (that aren't as fun as telling Karen to go back to her ugly dogs). I am putting it here rather than Twitter because I want to keep this discussion below the radar of those trolls.

There are individuals and organizations that protest mushing in general and the Iditarod in specific. They often come in firing invective and looking for a fight. Internet social interactions tend toward the reactive and the hostile. These individuals and organizations know that.

While it is tempting to push back and try to win the conversation, it is important to recognize that they usually have different goals than you do. You want to win the conversation and demonstrate that this sport and people in it are not evil monsters as they claim. They don't really care about winning the conversation. They want the fight, because in having the fight at all, they can do two things:

1) Hopefully demonstrate that advocates such as us are angry and hostile, giving credibility to their points,

2) If protesting to a sponsor, demonstrate that a fight exists and hopefully discourage a sponsor who doesn't want to take the time to figure out the case for both sides or who simply wants to be clean of all controversy of any type.

Arguing plays into the protestors' hands in both cases.

My recommendations, based on what I have seen work so far:

DEALING WITH INDIVIDUALS

When having a 1-to-1 conversation with someone--even if they're rude!--keep your cool. Many of the Ugly Dogs have set a great example for these conversations. The best phrase to keep in mind and to use in your discussion is to start with a variation of "I appreciate that you are looking out for the welfare of the dogs. I am / We are too." Keep the focus on the dogs, not the people.

Often times, a certain 4-letter organization will be invoked. That's a distraction. Ignore it. Keep focused on the welfare of the dogs. Cite facts, since opposing arguments usually are opinions presented as facts. Continue to be patient. Walk away if you need to. Ask someone else privately from the group for input.

I have not seen any group of people in my 40+ years of internet (and pre-internet computer networking) win detractors over as well as Ugly Dogs have done with their naysayers. You won't win them all, but positive focus on the dogs will be more successful than the most witty rejoinder.

DEALING WITH ORGANIZATIONS

Here I am referring to that 4-letter organization, as well as a few smaller organizations that serve as "storefronts" for them (usually 1 activist operating under some anonymous name that makes them look like a significantly sized sled dog care organization).

This organization wants to end sponsorships. They want a fight. They don't care about fighting fair and they don't care about winning or losing. The more noise, the better, because the goal is to make dog sledding unpalatable to the sponsor however they can.

To fight back, just completely ignore them. Stay off their threads. Ignore their responses. Instead, write your own independent and positive messages to the same sponsors. Tell them how much you appreciate their sponsorship, how much you appreciate their support, how much you like them as a sponsor. Instead of one fight with a lot of loud voices fighting back and forth, now it becomes one voice shouting anger into the air and a hundred voices singing support and thanks. If they find you and come to your thread, ignore them, mute them, even block them if you have to, but let them turn your praise into a fight.

Again: the best argument will not win. Avoiding the argument and spreading praise and thanks will. Protestors usually succeed even when in a minority because they make it a hassle to oppose them. Don't bother. The goal isn't to oppose them. It is to parallel them with your own positivity to counteract their message.

So tweet, write emails, send letters, make phone calls--do whatever you can and are comfortable doing--but make your voice heard. Just make it heard on your terms, not on the terms of an organization who is not aiming for good faith conversation.

My two cents. I'd ask that this post NOT get hashtagged from Twitter with any of the usual group hashtags because we don't need the trolls coming here, either. But spread it quietly to others to keep countering the attacks.

--JEEMS

**Additional comments added:**

**One person in particular is trying very hard to troll Ugly Dogs. This person is now attacking "Karen" and her ethics, claiming things like "everything about her is for sale" (linking to Karen's website). There have also been references to the 4-letter group and citing "experts" who believe in medical quackery.**

**Suggestion: DO NOT ENGAGE. This person is not acting in good faith. As noted above, we should attempt to engage people with kindness, but in my opinion, this person is trolling Karen's fan base and looking to convert new followers.**

**My suggestion: Block and move on. This person has made a business of acting out like this and there is no good faith to be had in the style of attack that is taking place.**

3/12: The main account of the 4-letter troll organization has now decided to attack "Karen." She is called out by name for animal cruelty. It is textbook targeted harassment by Twitter standards, so report it as such. Don't engage--they want fuel on their fire. Snuff it out by ignoring them publicly and reporting them for their targeted harassment.