Facebook policy is “prison” for champions of life?

In the late 1990s, a Humane Society investigation revealed the existence of a horrific prurient sub-culture connected to animal crush videos. An offshoot of the foot worship fetish, animal crush videos portrayed scantily clad women, wearing high heels or many times barefooted, slowly torturing and murdering small animals for the sexual gratification of their customers, who would pay up to $300 per video. In 1999, President Bill Clinton signed the Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act, legislation that outlawed the creation, sale and possession of videos of this nature. The market for these videos quickly dissipated, although a strong underground global demand for the videos still existed.

In 2004, a test case was conducted to test the extent of the law. Robert Stevens was indicted for creating and selling three video tapes: two dog fighting videos and one dog fighting training video, under this new law. Stevens motion to dismiss the indictment was denied and he was convicted. When he appealed, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law violated Stevens First Amendment Rights by creating a new category of speech not protected by the free speech provision of the amendment. In April 2010, the Supreme Court upheld the Appeals Court’s decision, the Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act was determined unconstitutional, and thus, stricken from the United States Constitution. Animals, once again, had absolutely no legal protection in regard to the depiction of their cruelty and those who propagated this sordid industry, had free reign to profit from their torture.

In response to the sudden upsurge of animal crush videos appearing after the initial Court of Appeals ruling, Marla Stormwolf-Patty, a long time animal and human rights advocate, organized a number of people into what was initially a MySpace discussion group, whose earliest members included Irish Cornaire and Sheila Gredzinski, both now current administrators of Stopcursh.org. Support for her plight quickly grew into Stopcrush.org as both a Facebook presence, and as a separate website in the All-Creatures.org family. Her firm guidance, interwoven with her strong sense of spirituality, has pushed Stopcrush.org into the respected and influential group it is today, spreading awareness in regard to the cruel treatment of our fellow sentient beings via both Stopcrush.org and AELLA.org, as co-founder with Anthony Damiano. She has earned the respect of many noted activists and advocates, and her messages of compassion inspire many. Her dogged determination was influential in the recent passing of new legislation to once again, outlaw these heinous animal crush videos. StopCrush.org is now moving internationally, starting chapters in the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, and the Philippines, amongst other countries, spreading word of these atrocities globally.

Recently, however, her voice has been silenced on Facebook, her primary forum for spreading compassionate awareness. Her pages have been reported to Facebook as a violation of policy regarding multiple profiles. The person, or persons, responsible for reporting her page exhibit a true lack of compassion, as well as a sincere hatred of people and animals. Regardless, Marla’s voice of reason, her compassion, her honesty, and her humor are now sorely lacking in, not just the activist community, but in the Facebook community as a whole.

If you are so inclined to speak on Marla’s behalf, here are 3 of facebook’s email addresses:
disabled@facebook.com
info@fb.com
appeals@fb.com

Tell them that Marla’s presence, her dedication to life and our planet, is sorely needed. If Facebook wants to clean the trash off of its server, it may wish to look into the actions of those who are reporting her.