How do we save our hobby?

[WingedWolfPsion]

I would like to see USARK grow into a lobbying organization that can afford to run TV ads that generally promote herp keeping and the herp hobby as being normal, beneficial, and safe.
It seems that the majority of the populace has lost the ability to think for itself...we can't change that, so we will have to play the same game that our adversaries are playing.

We're going to have to put in more of our money, and a LOT more of our time, if we're going to turn this trend around.

The most recent Reptiles Magazine has taken on a paranoid, withdrawn sort of tone which I think is the exact opposite of what we need to be doing. We don't need to withdraw and hide. It may seem 'safer', but in the long run, it's going to destroy us. We have to actively promote our hobby, because if we're at all passive, we will lose to those who are more outspoken.

We need to do more than just make information on reptile keeping available, now--we need to put it in front of as many people as we can, make it pretty and shiny, and do all we can to encourage others to take up this hobby. (Reptiles aren't for everyone, but let's be realistic--if a person can keep a fish tank, they can keep a corn snake...MOST people can handle it, if they're given the basics on how).

If corn snakes were in as many homes as hamsters, we would have a much larger lobbying base.

The other side of this is bringing in the 'fringe' of the reptile keeping community...the pet owners. There are a lot more of 'them' than there are of 'us', and the majority of reptile owners out there don't even know this ban EXISTS. They never heard about it, because they don't hang out on reptile forums. They just have a pet gecko, they aren't the type of reptile fanatics that we all are.
We need some way to reach them, and include them in the reptile community, so we can rally their support when it is needed for causes like this.
We need to reach out to the general pet keeping communities and establish a greater and more vocal presence there.
I've gone to a number of general pet keeping online communities and forums, and found virtually nothing on reptiles...always a few people asking questions, but no one to answer them. We have to do better than that.

I'm not saying that everyone should announce to their neighbors that they have reptiles, mind you--far from it. But the Reptile Nation as a whole has GOT to establish a bigger presence in the public eye than it has now.