I am ridiculously depressed today. I can't really say why. I definitely haven't been getting enough done.
I got sucked into some group on Facebook (I know, Facebook...) that was monitoring the Remembrance Day Event page, and the associated photo page, for hateful comments/images. This group was also compiling a list of all offenses, and the information of the offenders. I didn't really collect anyone's info – I just got people to join me in reporting images that did not belong on the memorial page (not that I opposed the collection of their information – if you make racist comments and threaten people on a social networking site, you don't get to expect anonymity). I normally wouldn't get roped into policing a FB page (I know how absurd it sounds), but FB's lack of action had really gotten to me. There were snuff images of mutilated bodies (pruportedly gay murder victims) on the photo page, altered parody images of the six who've recently died, and other highly offensive material, and until hell was raised, FB wasn't doing anything to fix it. Even after hell was raised, it took serious prodding, per image, to get the stuff taken down. By the time I crashed last night all the really awful stuff was down, and it never got anywhere near as bad today.
Unfortunately, the guy who organized the group is a real power-fed tool, and that made me eager to get away from the whole thing. The guy actually said that anyone who didn't post a "hater" at least once a week would be removed from the group. Once a week? We joined up to look after one event, which ends at midnight tonight. I guess he thinks he's building some kind of FB hate-busting squad. Nothing I want any part of… there are causes worth dying for, and that sure as sh@t ain't one of 'em.
Getting back to my real causes might help me feel a little better. I did make a friend through the whole thing, who I think will join me in fighting for bigger causes.
And, on the subject of bigger causes… some of you may remember my talk of the Coulston chimps, who suffered horribly during their years at The Coulston Foundation, and were liberated. As I have previously explained, after nine years, 200 of these chimps (most of whom are elderly, with health problems from years of experimentation, and terrible living conditions) are facing the unthinkable: A return to the torture of invasive research. This was never supposed to happen. These chimps have done their time. The Physician's Commitee for Responsible Medicine is fighting to keep these chimps out of a lab, saying that they are not only bad research candidates (given their age and health problems), but that invasive research on chimps just aren't good science. 266 of the original Coulston chimps made it to sanctuaries, and are out of the greedy reach of the National Institutes of Health, who are hoping to make a whole lot of money off of the remaining 200, but the chimps who were left at the mercy of NIH need our help. These chimps survived unimaginable conditions. Several chimps actually cooked alive at the Coulston lab, because environmental controls weren't monitored properly. Dozens more died horrible "unintended" deaths.
If you want to help me stop this, please sign this petition (you don't have to be a US citizen to sign this one):
