The media and Pythons.

(I hope this is the right place, I didn't think I mentioned enough politics to put it in that forum)

I go to the gym pretty frequently, and most of the time they have at least one news show/channel on one of the TVs. Well today, it was ABC news and they decided to do a segment on how FL is trying to ban all Pythons.

At first, they showed a clip of what I believe to be was a cute little BP sliding around in the grass, then it attacked the camera. It was still cute, imo. But of course, to the general public who aren't that educated about pythons are thinking "OMG IT ATTACKED THE CAMERA!!!" And that really ticked me off. People don't even realize snakes get stressed! They probly ticked the snake off and it didn't like it!

After watching the 4-5 minute segment, I was livid. Which was good, made me exercise harder! lol. They criminalize pythons, and do not represent them how they should be. Instead of saying "Ok, this is a burmese python. If it comes across your cat and decides it's hungry, it will eat your cat. (Insert educated directions here on how to not gain the pythons attention)", they say "If you should see a python in your area (insert stupid directions here on how to scream and freak out the python)" I'm just so mad at how they did that segment, and it just goes to show that the people behind S373 and HR669 have the upper hand, preying on the general public because they know no better.

Anyways, this has inspired me to get up and DO something. I plan on keeping ALL of my friends and family updated on S373, and tell them to e-mail the appropriate people when they need to. I'm also going to try and get together with a local reptile shop and see if they will help me in putting together a "S373 knowledge center" somewhere in town.

The media has officially pushed a nerve with me, and since I have no job or kids, it's time for me to push back. I hope this inspires someone else to do the same.

You talking about the same one discussed here? http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...26#post1108526

Oops, no, it was a different show.

People are always going to be afraid of what they don't understand. I'm afraid we might have a modern day witch hunt on our hands soon in florida which may spread through the states.

you know what this is? when people are not educated on a certain subject..i recently got back into herps now at the age of 21 and my girlfriends family is freaking out because they say all snakes are venemous and eat little kids lol and i realize they are just not educated

Education helps a lot, but with a lot of people, it will only help if they want to be educated. You can tell some people till you are blue in the face all the good things, but they will only see the bad.

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Originally Posted by DM1975

Education helps a lot, but with a lot of people, it will only help if they want to be educated. You can tell some people till you are blue in the face all the good things, but they will only see the bad.

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very true

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DM1975

Education helps a lot, but with a lot of people, it will only help if they want to be educated. You can tell some people till you are blue in the face all the good things, but they will only see the bad.

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Agreed

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DM1975

Education helps a lot, but with a lot of people, it will only help if they want to be educated. You can tell some people till you are blue in the face all the good things, but they will only see the bad.

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Yeah, I get alot of practice with the future in laws to know this all too well.

But it's not gonna stop me. I won't let it. I'm pretty determined to get the word out there, even if I just educate one person on how awesome snakes are, my goal will have been reached.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elise.m

Yeah, I get alot of practice with the future in laws to know this all too well.

But it's not gonna stop me. I won't let it. I'm pretty determined to get the word out there, even if I just educate one person on how awesome snakes are, my goal will have been reached.

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And that is the correct attitude to have. You should want to educate others, just do not be suprised if they would rather shake a bag of chicken bones in front of the fire instead of listen to cold hard fact.