When I saw this shop sign, I was outraged. I have to get it off my chest.
For months my social media feed has been splattered with posts from people on both sides of the Black Lives Matter fence. For the main I stayed out of it. There is not much new I felt I could contribute. And the ALL Lives Matter brigade were not going to be persuaded. No amount of reasonable discussion was going to get them to change their minds.
Then I saw this shop sign, and the penny dropped. Now I could see what the heated debate had really been about.
The All Dogs Matter (ADM) sign means the owners do not care about cats. They are anti-feline and prejudiced. If all dogs matter, so do all cats. And horses. And rhino’s. And caterpillars. All Animals Matter (AAM). Not just dogs, , but ALL animals. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all animals are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.
To identify any sub-group of the category ‘animal’ as deserving of special attention is prejudice. That too, is self-evident. Only people who declare themselves warriors on behalf of ALL animals (and most of those people actually participate in campaigns for the rights of NO animal) can be said to be virtuous.
Now I get it.