I wanted to write a status this morning to give a little advice to other activists who like to donate money to causes. Whether it be a few dollars or thousands of dollars, I have learnt something valuable over the years and Id like to encourage you to do the same. When I have donated money over the years, I try to not look at the animal in question, but whether that animal will be held up as an example the world over to help the cause in an overall sense. That might sound callous but theres method to my madness. Let me give a few examples. As tempting as it is to give my money to individual animals needing help (and I do sometimes, I see a Horse on a slaughter bound truck and I do pay to have them rescued or I do pay toward an expensive surgery etc) but my main rule I try to stick by are examples like this. When I contributed toward Fays surgery (remember Fay the dog used in dog fighting that had a horribly disfigured face?) it was because I knew she would single handedly make a big difference in our perception of dog fighting overall. I payed for an anti Horse slaughter billboard in Canada because I knew a lot of people would see it, same with the bus ads here in Australia. If someone comes over promoting the message I am so desperate for people to hear, I will pay for a newspaper ad for their tour because I know it will boost the numbers dramatically. I recently put quite a bit into the documentary Cowspiracy because I could see it was going to reach people on a massive scale and hopefully result in helping to save our entire planet. I put money toward 23kms of fencing for Fadjen the bull and whilst that may seem stupid to some people, Im always trying to explain that it isnt really about Fadjen as much as I love that Bull, its about doing whatever I can for him because I know he will be the face that bans bullfighting all over the world and this morning I learnt that I was right about that, he was a big part of the recent ban in Mexico and more will be to come. So I hope that Im not coming across as mean to those single cases who need funding or help, because I believe putting money into animals that will be held up to the world and used as an example is so much more effective than throwing a few dollars away to little things here and there. What I do also may seem hopeless to some people, but I always have the bigger picture in mind and Id like to encourage everyone to do the same so we can really make a difference in the world. Like I said before, it doesnt matter how big or small the donation is, because when we all donate collectively it doesnt matter even if its one dollar or 50c - it all adds up when we focus on something collectively but please always try to make a difference where you can see something is going to reach many people - because the wider the audience the more effective our advocacy can become.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 01:39:05 +0000