I did it for the animals and it got out of hand

In the summer of 2023, a fervent advocate for mistreated dogs got emotional on social media about a case in Fresno that was frustrating her.

In the process of trying to arouse outrage, she made a suggestion which turned out to be false. Wrong. A dangerous lie.

In an online video she suggested that a Thai restaurant next door to the place where a dog was tied up might be killing dogs and serving their meat. “Something needs to be investigated, because yeah now – heartbreaking as it is, it makes more sense that they are eating the meat and selling the meat – it is just – Oh my God, I can’t even…” She posted the address. She asked people to go there and check on the dog. She said the name of the restaurant. (“‘Thai’… I don’t know how to say that word. It’s connected to the house…. I think they’re the same owner.”) The video spread widely.

Wrong. She was completely wrong. The restaurant had nothing to do with the place next door. No one was selling dog meat. No one was eating dogs. No one was killing dogs.

As for the dog whose case had caught her attention, the Fresno police investigated and found the dog was not being abused, and also that it had since been returned to its original owner. They told her to stay away from the location or be charged with harassment. She posted, “I’m not staying away. I am gonna keep going… Something needs to be done, and I guess – breaking the law per se – by [air quotes] harassing, if that’s what they call it, it’s going to get everyone’s attention, so be it. And I think we should all do the same.”

The false accusation had caught the attention of people who were so angry at the idea of dogs being eaten that they threatened people at the restaurant. WHERE DOGS WERE NOT BEING EATEN. NO ONE WAS EATING DOGS. Often they tied the false idea of dog-eating to racist ideas about people from Thailand. They posted vicious fake reviews. Mostly they called or emailed to make threats but sometime they hung around the outside of the restaurant.

The owner, David Rasavong, was especially bothered by an elderly woman caller who screamed at him and then said. “Go back to the country you came from, you dog-eating motherfucker.” Even more, he was afraid for his parents, elderly immigrants who had been helping him in the restaurant.

He replied to all public comments he could find. He posted a video assuring people that the restaurant had nothing to do with the original dog complaint, and OF COURSE WE DON’T SERVE DOG MEAT, but it didn’t help. Because the racist fury continued, he closed the restaurant. Permanently.

After a few days, the dog-welfare advocate posted on social media, asking people to leave the restaurant and its owner alone. She posted denying that she was racist. Because while she had mobilized people to harass the restaurant, other people were harassing her for that. They attacked her on social media, reposted her videos, and put up insulting fake profiles of her.

She was invited on local TV. She defended her actions. “I never once reached out to that restaurant and posted anything negative or not even… on Yelp.” The interviewer pointed out that she had posted on Facebook that she believed the restaurant was selling dog meat.

“At the beginning, yes. A lot of people believed that. A lot of people thought that they [the two buildings] were related and that they were connected together. Yes, a lot of people they believe that,” said the dog-welfare advocate. Then she backtracked, and said she never said that. “Now we’re demanding an investigation,” she said. “We’re demanding to make sure that the dogs are okay and it’s falling on deaf ears…” (It’s not clear how the one dog became “dogs.”)

She was upset that people said her remarks were racist, in connecting the idea of a Thai restaurant and the idea that people there might be serving dog meat. “Not once have I mentioned Asians in my videos, not once have I talked about a race…” She was not asked if she would have jumped to the same conclusion about an American-style restaurant.

She did apologize. In a video she said, “The situation got out of hand. I’d like to apologize. This is not the person I am. …It’s been a hard situation to handle…. I am sorry that David [the restaurant owner] and his family are going through this. There’s no justification for the hate that this has spit out. …It was not my intention for it to go this way.”

That’s a terrible apology. She doesn’t say what she did, and she doesn’t take responsibility. She doesn’t take the chance to say IT WASN’T TRUE. THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN. She’s sorry for herself.

On another occasion, she posted, “You accuse me of hate and what are you doing to me? …How hypocritical is that?”

It’s a story about how a false racist rumor destroyed a small business. SorryWatch didn’t post about it when it happened. The accuser did not seem to be in good shape. It was too late to go to the restaurant. But recently the incident came to mind again, and we looked at more recent news stories, and found a [happy outcome].

During the dark times after the accusation (which was FALSE, please remember), owner David Rasavong felt isolated. He says even some reporters on the story assumed the accusation was true.

However, most people didn’t fall for the ridiculous story, and many wanted to support the family and their business. A property manager at a shopping center offered to let Rasavong take over a location vacated by another restaurant. A designer, an interior designer, and a painter donated their services. In late fall of 2023 the new restaurant, Love & Thai, opened to great acclaim. People especially praise the crispy pork belly.

We’re posting about this now because of a recent outcropping of vicious accusations that People from Other Places are eating dogs and cats. Accusations that are shutting schools, triggering death threats, and making innocent people live in fear. This is timeless slander to hurl at people in other groups. Not just Haitians, as in this recent calumny. Not just Thais or people from other Asian countries. Not just immigrants, either. Sumac remembers the late comedian Charlie Hill (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) describing his surprise when he went to public school with White kids who insisted that his family ate dogs.

People with troubled minds sometimes find satisfaction in spreading this rumor – eating pets is horrible! People who eat pets are horrible! Let’s speak out against them! For the sake of the animals, let’s get up a mob!

We’d like to think that such accusations have a short life, that the destruction they cause will end soon. We must hope.