The Cyberactivist

Yeah, I know. I haven't posted in a bit. Sorry about that. I have been really busy lately and have had the computer in and out of the shop. Gotta keep this thing going, even if it was quite a bit more expensive that what I could really afford. Who needs to eat that much anyway? LOL!Also been doing a bit more around the house lately since Laura broke one of her toes and taking care of extra animals for some friends that are out of town. Meanwhile the stream of emails continues to come in and build up. It's been a bit of a struggle to keep all the different email accounts I have set up to keep everything running smoothly from overloading and bouncing messages everywhere.

Speaking of which, I have had a couple of email addresses spoofed. Someone is apparently using them to spread viruses. I don't send out attachments without good reason, and certainly without telling someone ahead of time to expect it and describing what it is and that it is safe. Sooooo, if you get an email like that, I probably didn't send it. Don't open it. At the very least, contact me first to find out if it was me. I would hate for any of you to be infected by something you thought came from me. I certainly don't send out viruses.

Also, I have found myself becoming a bit overwhelmed by all the different emails flooding my inbox from all kinds of causes wanting me to write a letter for this, sign a petition for that. And, of course, I try to do as many of those as possible. However, I have begun to notice that I am neglecting too much of the work I consider the biggest priority right now. Of course, that is my fight against the abuses of factory farming. That is my priority and my niche. It is where the vast majority of abuse happens just because of the numbers involved. It also happens to be the thing I know the most about. It's where I am best suited to help.

The point of all this is that I have been doing some thinking here lately about this dilemma. It seems callous and cold to say, "Well, I just don't have the time to sign that," and hit the delete button. So I didn't. I saved it for when I had more time. You know, that magical day when you have all this extra time to get caught up on everything. That one that never seems to come. Before you know it, you are swamped and feeling overwhelmed by the gargantuan task of going through all those tasks and write off the whole bunch. Nothing gets done. And you feel bad.

Any of you ever gotten into this situation? I mean, which issue do you say is less important than the others? The poisons in the air, the land, the water? The decreasing forests? The starving kids? Human rights abuses? The abused animals in zoos, circuses, etc.? What do you let slide? The sheer size and number of the problems facing those of us in the world who are paying attention are piling up. I'm sure most of you know exactly what I am talking about.

You get the emails too, no doubt. You hear about the things large corporations get away with. You here about the things this administration is getting away with. GMOs. Water privatization. The Patriot Act. NAFTA, WTO, etc. You just want to scream really loud to the rest of the country, "America - WAKE UP!!!!!!!! Take back your country!!!!!!!"

But, the fact of the matter is that each one of us can only do so much. We each need to find our niche and concentrate (at least most of) our energy on that. That's not to say we should ignore everything else, but somewhere we have to draw the line and do the things we are the best at and here we can make the biggest difference.

For me, that difference is in factory farming. It's what I know. That's the main thing that people come to this blog to read about. They come here to read about the bad side of the factory farming industry, especially that of the poultry industry, by far the worst of the worst.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that I will need to unsubscribe from some of the different newsletters I am signed up with and not work on those issues so much. I'll keep most of the environmental ones, though. I was doing that even before I came forward with all this. And our environment is in dire need of saving. And, in doing so, I am also helping animals. So, I'll keep those, but I am going to have to drop some of the other things. I have just gotten too involved with too many different issues - all important, but a real drain on my time to be working at where I can make the biggest difference.

I think you know what I mean. So, hopefully I can get a little more time to post here again. Though, I do have to admit that I am having a harder and harder time figuring out exactly what to talk about here. I seem to be spending more time at the group nowadays posting articles. That's the place to check for the latest issues involving factory farming. I keep it very up-to-date. But, the story here is far from over, either. Don't think that for one minute. I didn't mean it to sound that way. I have just been in a bit of a lull lately waiting on the next round of events to take place.

Like the forum in August at UPC. I hope that some of you will be coming to it. If you haven't heard about it yet, check it out. I, along with several other interesting people, will be speaking there. I am looking forward to seeing Paul Shapiro again and meeting Karen face to face after talking to her for so long now. It looks to be a lot of fun, and I hope to meet as many activists there as possible.

I'll wrap this up for now. I really just wanted to check in with you. A lot of you have been reading since the very beginning, and I feel a certain responsibility to post here frequently. I am still plugging along, getting ready for the forum and fleshing out some ideas I have about how to write the book. I plan on writing more about that soon, as I would like to get some feedback from you on some of those ideas.

Have a good 4th this weekend. Stay safe, and give a little extra comfort to the animals frightened by fireworks. A big hug will go a long way to make them feel more secure.