An Open Letter to Animal Liberationists & Other Visitors

Over the years, we have been contacted on numerous occasions regarding our subject matter. 
Most of the emails have been from people who claim to be associated with legitimate animal 
liberation groups, most notably the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The text of these emails 
have always been accusatory in nature, claiming we are mocking a real cause for which people 
feel a great deal of passion and demanding that we show more respect.  Typically, we have 
been able to respond to each email individually and allay their fears.  However, we've also
recently noticed that some emails are coming from anonymous accounts and that some folks are
both sending out spam while spoofing our address, sending out viruses while spoofing our
address, or sending viruses/trojans to the HLF address.

First of all, we do not mock and *have never* mocked animal liberationists.  We've been very
careful not to call attention to any "real" groups or suggest any comparisons between us and
them.

Second, we created the HLF prior to hearing about the ALF.  The HLF was created as a fun joke
between the 2 co-founders in college after watching the Monty Python movie, _Life of Brian_.
The political commentary they had with the Judean People's Front, the People's Front of Judea, 
and the Popular People's Front had us rolling on the floor, especially when we realized they
were making commentary upon any number of political and pseudo-political groups.  

After we'd created our group and even put an ad in a local college newspaper, the ALF started
operating in our area.  Heck, we thought they had copied us for a while.  But when they started
their "actions," our first thought was, "Wow... we're going to get blamed for that."  Luckily,
we weren't and all has progressed from there.

After creating our first website oh-so-many years ago, it quickly became somewhat popular among
those with a certain sense of humor.  So we've continued it and have even brought in new
"members" to assist us with our goals.  Our goal is first and foremost to stop gerbiling (if you
don't know what it is, count yourself lucky); our secondary goal is to force the omnipotent
Government (note we're not identifying WHICH government so as to be applicable to any number of
countries) to grant equal rights for rodents.  Let's face it--we're a humor website and we like
it that way.

One thing that we do find interesting is that folks get angry with us because they assume we are 
not "real" or "true" animal liberationists. Because they misunderstand that we parody 
organizations based on human politics (and our return visitors will testify that we have, over 
the past couple of years, focused more on the "battle" with the Government) and not these other 
groups, they accuse us of all sorts of fallacies. If the truth be known, no one knows whether or 
not any of our "members" are actually members of the ALF, ELF, Earth First!, or any other 
underground organization. Frankly, no one knows what I do in my free time (aside from working on 
this website); as I told someone a while back, our visitors, including any members of such gruops, 
have no idea of my political ideals, the groups to which I belong, or the job that I do to support 
myself.  Would my site be more acceptable if I told you I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU?  
Would you accept us more if several of our members are involved in Earth First!?  Would our humor 
be a little more humorous if our spiritual leader lives near Hidden Valley and spends his weekends 
and vacations chaining himself to the fronts of 'dozers and spiking old growth trees?  Or if I told 
you I grew up on a nuclear missile base, would that make me even more evil and less funny? Any or 
all of this could be true.  The point is, don't judge us personally by what our website says.

Finally, there are some people out there who are spoofing our address to send spam, viruses, and
trojan programs to the world.  That saddens us.  (They're also sending viruses to us, but they've
never succeeded--we don't open attachments from people we don't know.)  Please be assured we do
not send unsolicited emails out (except sometimes to webmasters, but they NEVER have attachments
to them) and we hope those who attempt to usurp our good name get what they truly deserve.

In closing, let me propose this: Enjoy this site in the spirit in which it was created--not as a 
parody of or to mock those who spend their lives on the front lines of the animal rights/liberation 
battles, but as a parody of human political organizations in general (to include the Republican 
party).  And if you don't like it, then thanks for visiting and I hope you find another site that 
tickles your fancy better than we have.

Sincerely,

--gair 
  Co-Founder, CEO, & Webmaster 
  The Hamster Liberation Front