Thursday, March 27, 2014

Exploiting Victims, Pitbull Style

I will be updating in the future about the story of Kevin, the little four year old boy brutally mauled by a vicious pitbull named Mickey, the insanity that followed, the lies perpetuated to further the canine world's bloodiest propaganda, and the outrageous culmination of what can only be described as an absolute abortion (and I hate using that word in an abstract sense, but it's the only one that 'fits') of justice.

However, it is so deep, so complex, and there is so much material to present, that that will be a while yet in coming.  dogsbite.org, Craven Desires, and affiliates in their extensive blogrolls have done a wonderful job thus far of covering the issue.  I am making this post before I go heavier because this one is more urgent.  It's imperative to warn people of scams immediately.

The Facebook group FOR THE LOVE OF KEVIN* is NOT a genuine victim support page.  I repeat; the Facebook group FOR THE LOVE OF KEVIN is a RUSE, designed to draw in people curious about the issue and perpetuate forth more pitbull apologia, silencing those that would call them out on it.  This would certainly not be the first time pit zealots have created identical victim pages for the purposes of disseminating misinformation to the general public (that's a whole other post in the making, believe-you-me), and disturbingly, it won't be the last.
 * https://www.facebook.com/welovekevinvincente

Quite telling is the fact that comments by victim advocates and those sensitive to the issue were aggressively stripped.  Despite claims that the page is not about pitbull advocacy, in a thread where victim advocates had only a handful of sensitive and to the point comments asking for a little discretion, the only comments that were allowed to remain where those of another commenter issuing forth post after post of pitbull propaganda--posts which had nothing to do with Kevin or anything else but breed advocacy.  The multitude of these off-topic posts remain untouched. The group's function is not following its stated form.

I will summarize with my personal FB post issued to warn people about the Facebook group FOR THE LOVE OF KEVIN *
*yes, I am purposely repeating the name of the group to boost it's relevance in search engines--I want to warn as many people as possible that the Facebook group FOR THE LOVE OF KEVIN is a ruse, a scam, and a gross exploitation of a family already too abused and misrepresented (when represented at all)

What's really going on at the For the Love of Kevin facebook group??
WARNING!!

I've been one of the biggest supporters of the Facebook For the Love of Kevin group. I have shared links to it all over the place, outside of Facebook, even. I have directed people there so they can learn the truth about what really happened, and so they can proffer assistance to a family who *really* needs and deserves it.

However, when a thinly veiled attempt at pitbull apologia started spamming a victim's page with pitbull propaganda... and I called her out on it, albeit POLITELY, my focus being on staying on topic and supporting Kevin and his family...
I was kicked from the group.

I would seriously reconsider what you share there, guys, and I'm starting to wonder just who the mod is there and what they're really up to. This is unbelievable. I'm beyond disgusted, and flabbergasted. I mean, have I missed something? Is it now the sane thing to do to post pictures of pitbulls and kids all over the page of a CHILD pitbull VICTIM? Is that classy now?

As an aside... can anyone here speak Spanish and get into contact with Kevin's mother? The only thing we have from her is translated bits from TV interviews. I'm wondering if the family is actually getting anything from these so-called support groups soliciting donations. I wouldn't donate a red cent more till we get to the bottom of this.

EDIT; it does not appear to be a direct kick, but that the mod was so obsessive and incensed about the thread they were deleting comments by me and others immediately upon submission, which gave the illusion of being blocked. The image was removed* but supplanted by childish accusations of hate--over issuing that pitbull victims often feel re-traumatized by the images of pitbulls and children (especially families who've had their own children savaged and even killed by these dogs, some of which were doppelgangers of the one in the photo in question). Concern for the emotional and mental well-being of the people who can empathize with KEVIN--who the page is s'posed to be about--the MOST=hate?

I really must've touched on a nerve. That sort of extremism comes from someone who's been unwillingly outed and has to cover their tracks, but has no real means of rebuttal other than going ad hominem at the truth-sayer.
*EDITEDITEDIT the image was not removed, just displaced further down the feed by a decent post of Kevin and Flor AND the puerile you-are-haters paragraph-long-rant (also a bit telling in a group where just about every update that is not about thinly veiled pit-a-ganda is rarely composed of more than a sentence or two)

Well, I may get kicked yet, since I piped in after a request for Kevin's family's contact info, wanting to be sure anything issued forth is ACTUALLY going to the family, and the group seems a bit shady to me...
I think we'll have a definitive answer in the group's recourse. Kick=they are a SCAM.

UPDATE; scam status confirmed.  Other Kevin supporters/victim advocates had the same experience, reading through no less than 20 other accounts of shady behavior and experiences between supporters and the group.  These harassed and silenced voices belong to kind and generous people with their own painful tragedies, who pointed out that images of pitbulls and children are often re-traumatizing and ignite flashbacks, panic attacks, night terrors, anxiety, and PTSD.  (And these flashbacks aren't the stuff of band-aids and soap--we're talking degloved (i.e. traumatically 'skinned'--what happened to KEVIN'S FACE) and/or severed body parts, exposed bone, dangling eyes, crushed bones/skulls, spines ripped out, decapitations...) 

...When confronted with the question of where their focus was, what's more important... Kevin, or a dog breed's reputation... they kicked and/or removed commenting ability from anyone sensitive to the pitbull issue (i.e.--Kevin's peers, fellow victims).  In doing so, it is crystal clear where the group's priorities are... and are not

They favor alienating those that help Kevin most to coddle and promote dangerously misleading conceptions about dog behavior and biology (of which, fighting breed dogs have a unique physiology--dog behaviorist and animal professional Alexandra Semyonova describes these scientific and universal traits most succintly in her books and (is quoted) exerpts on dogsbite.org and affiliated blogs). 

So, before you open your pocketbook to the FOR THE LOVE OF KEVIN Facebook group, remember that Kevin is NOT priority numero uno.  I recommend trying to contact the Vicente family directly if so inclined.  Unfortunately I do not yet have the means/info to do so.

9 comments:

  1. There's no scum like pit scum. No low is too low.

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  2. Agreed. Posting pictures of kids posing with pitbulls on Kevin's page is in very poor taste. I can understand that the family does not want to embroil itself in the BSL debate (they have enough to deal with)... but if that is the case they should not be facilitating EITHER side.

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  3. As soon as I saw the pic of the kid w the giant pit bull up there, I was like "WTH?". I replied, and I was one of the first, and said "I think this is in poor taste, though I appreciate they want to support Kevin. It is of course up to Kevins family, but I cannot imagine there weren't other, better, ways of supporting Kevin.
    THATS IT. And It was removed pretty quickly, although I thought it was pretty mild. This was before you even got there.

    All they kept saying was that this was "not an anti pit bull page and anti pit bull posts will be removed". There weren't any posts only about pit bulls, but if there were, who could blame people for pointing out pits are deadly? But there are still MANY PRO pit posts, that aren't even on topic!
    THEN they went on to talk about how Mickey wasn't even a pit bull. And did not delete the woman who claimed to be attacked by a GSD but not bothered by pics, insinuating only weak people are. Thats when I got upset.

    I am sure Flor will take any support she can get, and smartly, doesn't want to alienate anyone. She is in a precarious situation, and cannot take any more harassment. I cannot imagine she is OK with pics of pits, but who knows, there are plenty of parents of victims that go on to buy new pits FFS. I really think she is just consumed with Kevins care, getting their lives back on track, and keeping from being further hurt or harassed. She doesn't have FB, doesn't speak English, so what she wants is really just conjuncture. IF people want to help, there is a fund set up by the hospital, and you can send them things directly.

    I would hope these people simply wanted a page where the focus was on Kevin, but knowing what I do about natters, I have my doubts.

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    1. Sadly the behavior on the For the Love of Kevin page IS alienating people... and it's alienating the largest possible group of supporters she could have--fellow victims, fellow families that have endured what she is. Pitbull lovers aren't flocking to help Kevin. They flock to blame him. The majority of people I see expressing ANY concern for Kevin, outside his immediate family and it's circle, are the very people the For the Love of Kevin group is silencing and kicking out. I doubt the group is that tight with the mother, even, at this point. Like you said, she doesn't want any more harassment, she can't speak English, and is not operating directly through FB herself. Quite frankly, at this point, I seriously doubt these people are speaking for her even indirectly anymore. ALL their credibility is gone. It wouldn't be the first time 'nutters' have electronically stolen identities and purported themselves to be a victim/ally/professional involved in a situation they are not. :(

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  4. If you love Kevin, if you feel for his mother and those who love him, if you understand that the attack by Mickey the Pit Bull was not 'random' or 'unusual' but a typical and normal Pit Bull attack on a harmless child, if you find the idea of plastering a page about a Pit Bull child victim with photographs of other children WITH Pit Bulls and you KNOW that to be in the worst taste possible.... please unlike the page and voice your opinion on the Euthanize Mickey Facebook Page. We need to continually expose the 'Love of Kevin' page for its sad decline into Pit Bull propaganda.

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  5. It's better not to lend importance to those trolls. Just ignore them. They're obviously being paid to improve the image of pit bulls, and as long as they get their pay, they'll not stop doing it. Why draw attention to their cause? Pit bulls will continue killing women and children, unfortunately, and they can only make that situation a lot worse with their pit bull apologetic activities. Anybody who still continues supporting such a dangerous dog is a total moron, and no amount of warning will make them change their minds.

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    1. You're right, it was a waste of time doing the back and forth with such people... because of the purported nature of the group (victim support) they flew in under my radar and I did not initially recognize the trolling for what it was. I still leave this post up, however, as a courtesy... a warning to people about the scam.

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  6. We knew at once when they started asking for yoga pants and bath products for the mother. No on could get straight answers. We asked what hospital he was at....while on the phone dialing everyone of them. He was not in the hospital. I work in healthcare those were out patient procedures. They raked in a fortune. The Truth About the Lexus Project was the worst of them all and still is! They are always promoting some way to get money. Their page is hate filled with lies and half truths and if you speak up they will ban and attack you.

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  7. Mickey has cancer! www.animaluncontrol.blogspot.com Btw Ben you are a lying scumbag.

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