Reports From My Nanocosm

I’m fascinated by the varied reactions people have to this site: http://www.savetoby.com/

Some faceless person has decided it would be fun to tease the portion
of American society that thinks of rabbits only as cute and cuddly
bunnies and can’t stand the thought of one being eaten. He’s chosen to
put up a web site saying that he’ll eat his bunny if people don’t fork
over $50,000 by June.

It reminds me of 4 things:
(1) A scene from Roger and Me when Michael Moore interviews a woman
running a rabbit farm in her back yard where she raised, sold and
slaughtered them. Incidentally, Roger and Me doesn’t show up on Michael
Moore’s Y! Movies filmography. Wonder who to tell?
(2) My Polish and other European cookbooks with Rabbit sections alongside sections for poultry, pork, beef and fish.
(3) Eating rabbit as a child while visiting an aunt and uncle. They
raised rabbits for food, to supplement their normal diet. Few groceries
in Michigan sold rabbit meat affordably.
(4) A dog eating site posted to GeoCities in 1998/1999. It advocated
lifting bans against eating canines and felines as a cure to world
hunger, included recipes and other information. I was managing our
abuse group at the time so I was in the thick of the action. We were
bombarded with email demanding we delete the site, threats against
life, limb and criminal complaints,  and eventually press coverage. It
didn’t violate our guidelines so we left it up for a few months. It was
finally removed when the executives decided it didn’t fit within the
spirit of the community.

In the end, I think people should just shrug this off and ignore this
guy. Why reward actions done solely for shock value? If he wants to eat
a rabbit he will, even if it isn’t this one. Eating rabbit is common in
parts world where they are only considered for their potential as a
meal, so in those places this site and the threats it makes would
elicit only blank stares and shrugs. I’d agree with them. Why bother?