Hi all
I hope everyone had a great Holiday!
I have a question about the etiquette of wearing fur and people's response to it. I was out with a good friend a little bit back who wears a beautiful fur coat (I love the coat, I wish I had one!) and while we were exiting a restaurant and began walking down the street we picked up a heckler. Now the person didn't throw red paint on the fur or anything illegal he just followed us for a block or two making comments about her ("You're a murdered", "you must hate animals" "You're an awful person"). It was pretty disturbing!
Eventually she turned around and said something not too polite to him ("Leave me the xxxx alone") and he just continued harassing and following us, at which point she whipped out her cell phone and told him she would be calling the cops.
This made me wonder, is it ever OK for someone to express their personal moral opposition against something you're wearing. Obviously not in the way this gentlemen (using the term loosely) decided to voice his protest. But is there an OK way to comment on something (fur coat, letter handbag, whatever)?
I thought it was never OK but I wonder if there is an acceptable way to do it.
But getting back to the original discussion about the toad. This man was loaded with hate. In American Society today, moral outrage is seen as the only semi-acceptable public outlet for hate. It is no longer acceptable to attack people (verbally or physically) for race, religion, sexual orientation,etc. But, "You are evil, because you do X", does not receive the condemnation that "You are evil, because your skin is black" would. If this man were in the Taliban, he would have beaten women to death for looking at him.
He was not practicing 'civil disobedience'. He is not ignoring a law because he feels it is wrong. He verbally attacked someone.