I couldn't overcome my disgust. Engaging in consumerism rather than Freecycle. Why?

[Pacifist Patriot]

My family just adopted two kittens. We had most of the necessary supplies, but lack a cat carrier to safely transport them to and from the vet. I figured it was worth a request on Freecycle but after a week only got one offer. The signature in this man's email included a link to a blog. And since it was entitled Christian Patriot I was naturally curious. After reading through some of it (poorly written so a tad confusing as to his positions in some cases, big surprise!) I need an extraordinarily hot shower. Although it may be better for the environment, and my family's finances, to take his cat carrier, I cannot bring myself to have any contact with this individual. Some of what I read literally sickened me.

Conflicting values: This is the tricky stuff we need to be talking to our children about. Hardly any situation, if any, is black and white. Some may condemn my decision as condescending, shooting myself in the foot, isolationist, no better than the far right's dismissal of progressives.... Others may applaud it for whatever reason. I suspect I will be thinking about this all day as I try to figure out why I cannot enter into a neighborly free exchange of goods with someone whose world view is 180 degrees different from mine.

Edited to add: I wish I had the courage to tell him the real reason why I will not be accepting his offer, but I just don't have the desire or energy to engage at that level right now.

[LostinVA]

1. I wouldn't have taken the carrier either -- unless I just couldn't afford a new one

Don't feel bad about it.

BTW, Target has some really nice ones pretty cheap, including the nice cloth ones.

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

At some level it would feel disengenuous to accept this free item from him knowing what I know about him and suspecting that if he knew more about me he would be utterly appalled.

[jpljr77]

2. My first impression.

I also freecycle (although not exclusively). The only thing I can point out is the aim of the movement. Remember: it's all about the products, and keeping them in use and away from refuse piles. You should actually be happy a person like this is engaged, it's a good sign. If you change your mind, just think of it as the natural progression of freecycling. If it were to completely replace consumerism, you will find yourself exchanging things with people that you have absolutely nothing in common with, like when consumers walk into stores. It's all about the product.

That said, I can't blame you and you shouldn't feel bad or tortured for your decision. In fact, is there any way you can provide a link to the blog? That might be interesting.

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. This is it. The flag nailed to the cross is a big tip off.

http://www.christianpatriot.us/

[jpljr77]

5. Something is weird with that site

I'm not seeing anything but incorrectly-rendered code, and I viewed it in IE and FireFox. Is it me, or is it the site?

[WritersBlock]

6. It ain't just you.

Tried it in Flock, Firefox, Safari, Camino, OmniWeb, & Opera (all Mac).

The source is a gibberish when I try to view it, too.

[jpljr77]

7. Yup, I veiwed the source as well, and it was crap.

We didn't just get reamed, did we?

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

12. I believe its trying to serve up binary content..

[LostinVA]

9. I tried to open it and IE wanted to save it to my disk as a file

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. That didn't happen to me either earlier today or just now. Very strange!

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

14. Do not, under any circumstances

Touch that file with a 10 foot pole..

[LostinVA]

15. Yeah -- I just closed out of it

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. Creepy. It was perfectly legible when I read it on my laptop this morning.

I just clicked on it and got the gobbledy-gook. I googled it to check if I had the URL correct and it came up with gobbledy-gook again. No clue what that means.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. I don't blame you...

The cool thing about our freecycle is that we can't have siglines, bloglinks etc... It makes it just people, giving stuff away and/or taking stuff away. People are frequently warned about this as they tend to use it as a mouthpiece.

[jberryhill]

8. Coexistence or No Existence.....

It's not just for people who believe in it.

My two cents.

[Pacifist Patriot]

19. I suspect we will coexist much better if we don't interact.

I have no problem leaving him be to exist as he so chooses while I carry on my existence elsewhere.

[jberryhill]

23. Touche' /nt

[brooklynite]

13. Ask yourselves some questions...

DO you know the political/religious beliefs of the store owner where you'll buy your cat carrier? Or that of the owner? I'm not sure trhis is really what you should be focusing on.

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. Actually I do. Rather than purchase it at a mass retailer, we have an...

independent pet store in town owned by a woman who is politically centrist and a lapsed Christian who would just as soon not think about religion much less talk about it. (Obviously I know her in another context)

I do understand what you are saying, but what about when we choose to boycott businesses because of their business practices or political activity? Is my desire not to interact with this individual because of his creepy beliefs (in my opinion) much different from not wanting to purchase products from ConAgra?

I really don't know. As I said, it has given me much to contemplate today.

[Irishonly]

16. The World Has Lost Its Freakin Mind

The other day I saw some directories which were delivered to my church. The secretary looked at my face and said the church hadn't requested them. It was a directory of Christian businesses. When the man that mows my yard retired I wanted to replace him with some one reliable and cheap. I live on a fixed income. Whether the replacement was Christian didn't cross my mind. It's just insane.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

17. His site is serviing binary content..

While I could fire up my bsd vm to find out exactly what it is Im a touch busy for that now..

If you want to know more about the guy

--
http://forums.floridatoday.com/viewtopic.php?t=76202

I wouldn't be so fast to condemn the police. It is our tolerant attitude that is to blame. This country was already secured against those who would take it away from us. That is until the gangs decided that , this is their street, their neighborhood. Sounds like a declaration of war to me and should be treated as such using the National Guard of each state and if necessary the military. They have guns, attack our citizens, and shanghai our children, financing their illicit activities by any crime they can; they should be eliminated and outlawed. Tolerating them hasn't and will never work.
_________________
Denial or ignorance of the truth doesn't change the truth.

Paul Hickey

--

Thats right using the national guard as regular police... Thats wise..

[margotb822]

20. I just used the cardboard one they gave me at the shelter

Plus, it doubles as a fun kitten toy.

[pitohui]

22. much ado about nothing if you ask me

the dude is giving you something for free, if you have changed your mind about accepting the offer, the courteous thing to do is for you to email him, say you won't be picking up, and let him offer the gift to the next person on the list

i've gotten many things from freecycle, i don't do an online investigation of their religious and political beliefs before i take their goodies off their hands, nor do i tell someone "piss off, you're not getting MY freebies" if i find out (which by chance has happened) that they're a fundy kook

the point of freecycle is to reduce waste and impact on the environment, at the end of the day, either you're committed to the goal or you're not

if you're too good to take away something for FREE from a weirdo, fine, but don't pretend that it's more ethical to spend money and take more out of the environment than it is to freecycle

now if you feel there is a safety issue about contact with this guy, that is another matter and you should contact your moderators about your concerns, they can ban someone who is a danger or who doesn't actually have what he's offering to get people to stop by his home

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. You've assumed rather a great deal, haven't you?

Nowhere did I ever pretend that it's more ethical to spend the money and take more out of the environment. I wouldn't be giving serious consideration to the matter if I thought that were true. Why would this even be a dilemma for me if that were the case?

And why would you assume I believe I am "too good" to take something free from a weirdo. Feeling superior has absolutely nothing to do with it. His views creep me out.

I also did not do an on-line investigation. This was the first email I've ever gotten from a person on Freecycle that included a hyperlinked screen name to a blog. He would not include that in his emails if he did not want people to read what he had written. He chose to advertise his views.

What makes you think I have not done the courteous thing? I immediately sent him an email thanking him for contacting me and politely declining his offer. He did not have anyone on a list. I put out a request for animal carriers and he responded. He was not seeking to discard something, I was the solicitor. Which of course may make it even worse in your eyes, I have no idea.

I have given away oodles on Freecycle and yes, on occasion have been taken a bit aback by the fundie who came to pick the stuff up. Would I refuse to give something to them? Of course not!

I simply wish no interaction with an individual who advertises views as extreme as his are. If someone else responds with an animal carrier prior to the vet appointment on the 24th I'll be happy to do what I can for the environment.

It probably is much ado about nothing, but your response is off base in many respects. Please don't jump to such conclusions. I would have appreciated questions to clarify the situation rather than the assumptions you made.

Cheers.