I just saw something that greatly disturbed me. I was breezin' through odds and ends on youtube, tryin to stay awake for my next nighttime check for the cows and i stumbled upon something that got my blood boiling high enough that i might not sleep for weeks (a slight exaggeration but you get the idea). it is a series of posts from a group called shark and their website: sharkonline.org. I forget exactly what shark stands for but i believe it's somethin' along the lines of Show Horses and Animals Respect and Kindness. From that alone, most of ya'll already know where this is goin. This group is some of the most close-minded, anti-rodeo, save-the-prairie dog groups i have ever come across. Some of their clips I can agree with. They have clips of the infamous "shocking" roughstock mistreatment and a few eastern park rangers practicing what i consider inhumane deer population control. I could go into greater detail but that would stray from the point I would like to get at. They have a clip of a high school rodeo bull goring a horse, narrated clear through, stating that the cowboy on the horse didn't care about his horse, the bullfighter (threw his hat at the bull and the horse threw his head up and caught it on the nose) was simply insulting the horse, etc... there are countless other clips that follow that line of thought: all rodeo is animal abuse etc. in an attempt to try to educate them and their countless viewers that not all rodeo events are tragedies, i sent several comments, a few of which were two part because i ran out of room, they only allowed the last halves of the two parts, making me sound ignorant and foolish, then replying to the effect that i didn't know what i was talking about. out of the 6 comments i believe i sent, only the 2 were acknowledged, my reply to their replies shall also be censored i fear. i know i'm venting incessantly about ignorance that has been around for YEARS and will only continue to grow but it really saddens me deeply that in today's "free society" an honest opinion put forth to simply educate and help create a better understanding for a predjudice based on a deep MISunderstanding must be mutilated to "further the cause." I really believe that if they are that insecure about the idea that they might be wrong, why publish such an idea for a free thinking and speaking public to view? I just had to vent a little bit because while i do not rodeo professionally i do enjoy the sport and many aspects of the rodeo are based on something that many of us do on a day to day basis and to hear it trodden upon in such an unfounded manner irritates me. We did not get rid of baseball when athletes were taking drugs to enhance their performance because not ALL the athletes were guilty. Not ALL rodeo events are traumatizing, so why should we get rid of a sport that so many people worldwide connect with? I would like you all to view as much of their product as you can stomach so that you can see where i am coming from and let me know what you think and whether or not i am completely wrong with feeling this way. thank you much.