Temple Grandin

[Antoinette Smith <broknbel@compuwise.net>]

> College may not add to one's common sense, but it can certainly give people who HAVE common sense more tools with which to use it.  This is not a matter of "faith" bu a matter of recognizing when someone puts in the time and effort to try to ascertain the actual facts, and tries to make some scientific sense of them, versus the people who claim to be "eye witnesses" who have no credentials or understanding of cause and effect, alternatives, etc. and who choose to put forth their agendas by means of emotion.  I do not personally know Temple Grandin, but I do appreciate people who try to deal in the facts.  All the emoting in the world does not define problems, nor find solutions.  The horse slaughter issue is a highly charged emotional issue, and a great many people (whose sincerity I do not doubt) do far more harm than good with their refusal to look at the realities and the alternatives.

I couldn't agree with you more regarding the fact that many rescuers are highly emotional, however, most of those are not the ones that operate organizations.  Sue and Chris over at the EPN certainly have qualifications of their own, however, how much education one has has nothing to do with their ability to report, document, and photograph what they have seen.  One of my rescue's members lives near Dallas Crown and drives by there each day on his way to work.  He reports the daily presence of double decker trailers.  I have not inquired as to his educational history.

The issue with common sense is not with reporting what one has seen, but rather with doing such a survey or study and announcing ones presence in advance, thereby allowing the findings of the study to be deliberately skewered by those being studied, ones who would have much to loose if such findings did not suit them.

3-legged, half dead horses headed for slaughter spell profit for all involved, from auction owner to transporter, to truck drivers and auction employees as well.  For a study by someone prominent and respected, such as Temple Grandin, to return a finding that such illegal activites were indeed going on would surely lead to stricter enforcement of laws, thereby decreasing the number of horses by percentage volume, and thus lowering profits.  Common sense alone points to motivation on the part of these individuals to 'clean up their act' for a day.

I don't have a college degree.  I recall in my younger years when I worked in the fast food service industry, whenever the state health inspector would announce an impending visit, we always had to scrub everything top to bottom, much more dilligently than we normally did.  My friend, who worked in a nursing home, would tell me that when the state inspectors told them they were comming, employees would work day and night painting, polishing, and scrubbing to make sure everything was perfect for when the inspector came.  Did conditions met in these inspections match the true day-to-day conditions of these businesses?  No.  If so, there would never have been the need to put forth all of the extra effort prior to the inspection.  And one more example, if you please...how many of us on this list will clean up our house when company is comming?

Antoinette