You thought I was going to write about the guy who was crushed to death at Walmart by thousands of adoring fans of cheaply made Chinese goods? Naww man. China is the new Mexico from a pollution haven perspective but that's a different story. I am here because I set out on Friday with my camera and the intent of scoring a few kids books for santa to drop off next month but primary to get some photos of conspicuous consumption.

I grabbed my Canon thinking that I would see things like overflowing shopping carts full of consumer products and blue light specials.

Much to my dismay..it was not so easy to find the sort of crazy lines we use to see on TV around this consumption based holiday known as Black Friday. I still can’t believe my work gives me the day off!

After ending up at TJ Max, where I did not see a single person fighting or throwing elbows to get the latest cabbage patch doll of this year, employees said “go over to the malls, thats where everyone is”.

It turns out that TJ associates have accurate sources of shopper whereabouts intel. The parking lots were full at Beachwood Mall but what caught my attention was the protest outside. It was PETA (or the local equivalent)

I am fairly conflicted on the fur issue I am realizing. Part of me hates the poor skins getting cut off those soft little minks, foxes, beaver, etc and another part of me thinks that in certain quantities we should probably be harvesting those resources to help people keep warm and as opposed to using the latest Holofil2 synthetic insulation for coats made out of sweet Arabian crude. Fur worked for our forefathers, its all natural, could be cage free (if wild), BPA free, BGH free, retro-chic and heck it may even be organic.

I mean I want a hen so I can get free eggs and feed the rest of the food waste that my worm bin can’t handle to the bird as well... I want to live in harmony with nature as much err actually more than the next guy. See this fur thing has me conflicted. Hell even the anti-fur folks were wearing floor length furs (with custom red 'blood' accents), but most were also wearing leather shoes. That seems weird also...they appreciated me pointing out the apparent contradictory messages as well "fur is cruel" but please dont check out my leather Timberland boots ;-)

I know when I go to shoot my first deer (those overpopulated yet tasty little buggers!) I want the pelt vegi tanned and who knows what I will do with it. But alas, I don't want some corporate mega farm ripping anything off any living thing...it all sounds so inhumane. But I do wonder if the anti-fur folks are against indigenous peoples traditional ways of life (like say hunting, and wearing fur). If they are not against that, then I am with em. Floor length coats of snow white clubbed baby fur seals are not cool. It’s gross. I am a big fan of what Paul Watson at the Sea Shepard's does along those lines.

So.. what say ye on the fur front o yea realneo activists? Keep or toss? Pro or anti fur? Is it that clear any more? If you are anti-fur, are you anti leather, and or anti indigenous peoples traditional way of life as well?

Norm note : i tried to upload a 400kb image of the protest 5 times but using the photo upload feature I put the same text, selected a photo for upload and would just get stuck at a all white page that came up after a bit of loading. It stalled there.