On Blogrolls, Links and Design

I’ve received several e-mails regarding the apparent evaporation of my links that were entitled, "People I Know/Places I Go." Indulge me in a little backstory . . .

I stopped eating meat well over 20 years ago. Then all other animal products a year later. Nearly a decade ago I decided to eat filet mignon and salmon for some reason for a couple of years. Then I stopped, after several maggots, whom I named Maddy and Maggie, emerged from a medallion of cow I was about to consume. It was pizza, pizza, pizza, for a bit, until I regained my composure, and my sense of morality, and went back to being a vegan.

I started Animal Person in May of 2006 with "Barbaro Made Me Do It," which ended with: "Take a moment to ponder whether horses were put on this Earth for our entertainment, use, and abuse." My links, at the time, included PETA (I think) and other groups that reflected my belief that regulation of institutionalized use of nonhuman animals would eventually lead to not using the nonhuman animals at all. My links also included individuals who would call themselves abolitionists.

By the end of the year, I realized that incremental improvements of abuse wouldn’t, in fact, lead to not using animals at all. But my links remained the same.

I received an e-mail from someone asking me about my links, and expressing his belief that they were misleading. My links said one thing, while I was saying another. And he was right. So I changed my links, and included sites and blogs that have nothing to do with animals, but are of interest to me.

And I still received critical e-mails.

So I removed them altogether, but not because of the e-mails. I removed them, as an experiment, because I’ve noticed that people judge you according to the links you have on your site/blog. It’s another way of expressing yourself and divulging something about yourself. And it’s a way for readers to place you on a certain "team" before they read a word you’ve written. Your links could be misinforming your readers about who you are. (I’m revising my links again and I’ll repost them soon, as I do think
it’s an important way to promote other people’s good work.) The same is true if you list books you’re reading (mine would all be about criticizing religion right now and I’m pretty sure my blog’s traffic would decrease dramatically).

The design of my site tells you something about me, as well (it says that I don’t know much about design). But if it had flashing red and black stuff, or head-banging music, or a font reminiscent of medieval times, it would say something different about me.

Finally, of course, there’s language. I’ve made a vow to refrain from using The A-Word (abolition) with regard to my own beliefs. Using it brought me way more trouble than any word is worth, and I’m not that attached to any word to fight about it for days.

My hope is that my words find an audience that is either friendly to them, or adversarial, and willing to have a decent, civil conversation. Each e-mail or comment I receive that says someone has changed something about his or her life thrills me, and I am hopeful that, over time, the number of people who believe animals aren’t ours to use will increase, and Americans will finally grasp what animal rights really means, and how integral it is to any movement based on nonviolence.