Its a tough one for me. I try my best not to, but thinking about all the hatred directed towards people like myself (and I only say it like that because nobody knows about me), it makes me sick and depressed.

I mean, most of these people probably have no idea what they're talking about and just want their opinion heard, but you can't confront them about their ignorance without "outing" yourself. The sad thing is though, that without someone to show them why they might be wrong, they will never feel differently and they might even go so far as to think WE know we're wrong because we aren't opposing them.

Are we in a lose-lose situation? Stand up and be ridiculed/slandered/harassed or sit down and let the situation only potentially get worse?

I kind of went off on a tangent there, but I guess my answer is that I pretend to side with them, but inside its killing me knowing that I must wear a mask of normality whenever I'm around other people (which, is about 99% of the time). I do resent the fact that I must do that, but I understand that some of these people are generally good, however misguided I think they might be. So to that end, I know I can't lump them all together as it isn't entirely fair, but do they express any fairness towards us?

Id have to say nope.
If the subject comes up in conversation for some reason i simply tell em what someones into is their business unless it involves kids or someone gets hurt.
Why be angry at ignorance, its a human trait that cant be helped nor avoided.

G.S. :)

No, I don't resent them, as long as they don't try to give us trouble. There are a lot of other sexual preferences and fetishes that I personally don't get, but I still think they should be free to do as they choose. And it does suck to have to keep it secret most of the time, but at least we have BeastForum! ;)

Not at all! everyone has there thing? Who am i to knock anyone?

No, it's a difficult thing to truly understand and/or accept.

If someone is fine with it, my opinion of them goes up...
But if they don't ,it doesn't go down.

Of course, if someone keeps harassing zoos or something crazy and makes it their business to "educate" zoos on how "wrong" what they're doing is, then I have a negative opinion of them.

So true, that's basically my way of thinking as well.

I respect non-zoos who are willing to understand our lifestyle and leave us be. You also don't have to be a zoo to make supporting arguments in it's favor, I've witnessed that kind of discussion before. I know lots of people will never be accepting of the whole zoo concept, but that's to be expected, and that will never change.

If someone states their opinion against zoophilia, and backs it up with their own reasons in a calm manner rather than lashing out, then I might actually respect the person more, even though we disagree.

Yeah, it is annoying when people blindly lash out against zoophilia, but the vast majority of these people seem to be the ones who follow the mob. I'm reminded of the public comments on that new documentary called "Zoo". Literally hundreds of people flocked to the discussion page, posted their hate and disgust, then left, never to return. Comparatively few of those people actually stuck around to keep posting their hate.

I also kept watch of a topic on this subject in another discussion board, which had a very high level of open-minded people. There was some good discussion being made, by people who thought zoo's weren't doing anything wrong, provided the animals were safe from harm. Others calmly debated the consent issue. Then there were a couple of the hate people, coming in abruptly and posting their messages. Once again, they never returned to the discussion, except to maybe post their hate once more, then leave. Ignoring those comments, the discussion still proceeded normally. In the end, the topic reached a neutral point, all opinions had been calmly discussed, everyone had their own informed opinion.

Hating the people who hate us won't solve anything. Although it can be difficult to ignore them at times, I've always tried to uphold the philosophy of being the better person by staying calm and pleasant in the face of such hostile remarks. Some people are just out for a fight, no need to give them one.

Well thats what I get for posing a question so late at night... I didn't even really directly answer my own question.

I agree with the comments posted thus far in that I don't automatically think less of someone for expressing an opposing viewpoint. Its all in how their viewpoint is expressed I guess.

Thankfully the subject RARELY comes up for me, but the fact that I cannot discuss this with anyone outside of this community (I've been burned by less) kind of sucks, but I know its for the best.

This post has been edited by silverwolf768 on May 5 2007, 08:37 PM

Well said! You get a 10 for that. :D

I don't resent them at all. This isn't for everyone. Live and let live.

who are we to resent them for resenting us..........if someone does not like what we do....then they should just go mind there own buisness........but it is wrong of us to resent them back....we should all just try to mind our own buisness and get along...... :mellow:

That's a very tricky question. No, I don't hate people who can't understand us. If somebody can't understand a concept, too bad for them; I feel more pity than hate.

Now, don't take that to mean I don't hate some of the people who don't understand us. It's not the lack of comprehension that annoys me, though, it's what they do with it. If someone tries to understand before passing judgement, they've gained a huge ammount of my respect. If they kindof brush it aside, without trying to understand and without passing judgement ... meh to them. But, if somebody goes "aaah! Strange peole doing strange things! Evil! Fire and brimstone! blaagh!" then they're just being a dick!

If somebody can't understand why I'm sexually attracted to other species, that's fine. But if someone yells "evil!" at us without understanding us, what the :badwords:? If you understand us and still can't wait to see us burn in hell, that's fine with me, because at least you know what you're passing judgement on. But if not....<slap>

:unsure:

<remove soapbox... hide in shaddows>

I don't resent others for having their own opinion. ;)

People do have a right to their own opinion so I going to say no on this one. Although their could be some expections to this rule. :mellow:

Coming from a heavy church background(pastors as parents) I have heard so much 'you're going to hell' crap, and seen so much hypocrisy within the 'holy' church that I no longer pay attention to those who condemn us for having more than friendly feelings for animals. Their comments might sting, might hurt at first because of how little they truly know, but in the end I feel nothing but pity for how tiny their minds are and how little understanding they have for others. There will always be people who lash out at what they don't understand, there's no way around that and the world hasn't changed enough for that to stop anytime soon.

Well said, EV. I grew up in a VERY similar background, and had to long get over my fear of 'going straight to hell' anytime I felt something out of the church mandated norms.