Margaret Morin's letter to DMN Blog published!

August 8, 2007

I have been keeping an eye on the DMN columnist Steve Harris' slamming of protesters at the circus. First is his starting comment. Well, I guess we had a little more support that I thought! Here is the entire section of comments on this subject, I've enlarged the fonts on Margaret Morin's entry. Grouse Just a few feet from the doors of the AAC on Saturday, some dope handed me a piece of literature I thought was a promotional ad or coupon for the Barnum & Bailey circus. Turned out to be one of those graphic

don't-be-cruel- to-elephants brochures. Suggestion to PETA: Peddle your propaganda somewhere besides the circus grounds, away from young children who don't deserve to be terrorized. Posted by Steve Harris at 8:00 AM (E-mail this entry) | Comments Comments amen! this is not the first year they have done this.. years ago when taking my stepson they peddled the same thing.and no, the circus ainta what it used to be!ahhh what these kids miss today! Posted by: sandy | August 6, 2007 09:31 AM From Margaret Morin It is indeed a sad state of affairs when a journalist labels people, responsibly exercising their first amendment rights granted by the U.S. Constitution, as terrorists. This not only demeans

those victimized by real terrorists, it threatens the very essence of our citizenship. Also, if you had used your journalistic powers of observation, you would have noticed that the leafleters never handed literature to a child and only distributed to adults. Look into the serial abuses of the circus against animals and the law and please make more informed comments in the future. In my book, torture is not training, and that's what the animals endure in the name of entertainment. See the Humane Society of the United States website for details of this abuse. Our efforts are to educate as we believe most people would stop supporting this abuse if they knew it was

going on. Posted by: Margaret | August 7, 2007 01:45 PM Circus animals Some readers are taking issue with my objection to folks handing out save-the-elephants literature in front of children at the Barnum & Bailey circus: Reader Cathy assumes too much, but here's what she had to say: Steve, have you ever really looked into the circus issue? As an educated and assumed intelligent man, throwing the word "terrorize" around is dangerous these days. I am glad people have the courage and

patience to hand out literature on the circus. I attended my last circus in California 20 years ago and was handed a brochure by one of these people. It made me think I had better do my homework before spouting off to them that the circus is a tradition, leave it alone (which were my thoughts). When I found out what the elephants in particular were subjected to in order to get them to stand in a long line with their feet on each others backs, I was ashamed for attending. And never will again.Educating children about reality is not terrorism. It is education, there is a big difference. Telling them not to think about the cruelty involved is encouraging them to practice cognitive dissonance. Terrorists do that. And from Nichole: If the truth terrorizes children, perhaps the

truth should change. Posted by Steve Harris at 9:37 AM (E-mail this entry) | Comments Comments When people like this say it is "for the children," that usually means that it is about something else. Posted by: Bob | August 7, 2007 01:07 PM "Think occasionally of the suffering of which youspare yourself the

sight" Albert Schweitzer

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