By Center for Consumer Freedom
Throughout most of history, human beings adopted more and more enlightened standards of animal "welfare" for their pets, livestock, and laboratory animals. Insisting on humane treatment for animals was an important economic decision. Farmers know that happy livestock animals produce more milk, better beef, and more valuable leather. Medical researchers know that their scientific work is meaningless without healthy lab animals. Animal welfare standards are just one way humans acknowledge the important bond between us and the animal world.
But beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, activists lost their way. Instead of striving to strengthen this relationship by improving the lives of animals in our care, an extremist movement began attempting to terminate that connection entirely. Today, we call it the animal "rights" movement.
Animal-rights activists believe that animals should be completely separate from humankind. Their goal is to guarantee that the human race has absolutely no access to animals, no matter how important they may be for our survival and progress.
Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), summed up the goal of today's modern animal rights movement in a recent speech. "Our goal," Newkirk told the Animal Rights 2002 convention, "is total animal liberation."
For the uninitiated, "total animal liberation" means permanently eliminating much of what we take for granted-regardless of how responsibly farmers, scientists, or trainers treat their animals. It may be hard to imagine a world without meat, eggs, leather, milk, or circuses; but there's no denying that animal-rights activists are gradually shifting these ordinary things to society's margins.
How? By consciously, shamelessly, viciously attacking people and businesses that don't subscribe to their "four legs good, two legs bad" world-view. Since the animal rights movement began gathering strength, over $100 million in property damage has been cause by animal-rights activists. A medical research executive was beaten with baseball bats. Countless death threats have been issued. Scientists have been sent razor blades in the mail. Trucks and buildings have been firebombed. Boats have been sunk.
"People have died, and are going to die," said former Animal Liberation Front "spokesperson" and SHAC organizer Kevin Kjonaas at the "Animal Rights 2002" convention. "This isn't a joke. It's not a game."
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OPINION: Animal Rights is Not Animal Welfare
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No joke
No, it's not a joke. That's just what most meat-eaters think. Every time I suggest there's something morally problematic with eating meat, the conversation turns quickly into a joke meant to subvert any serious discussion of our habits. I don't see the point of your listing damage done by animal rights activists, since those people are a very small minority among animal rights activists. I'm also not sure why you think it's better to slaughter yearly billions of animals and treat them like nothing more than items of consumption than it is for "People have died, are going to die," for which I would like to see some evidence because as far as I know, no humans have ever died in the struggle for animal rights. And there's a huge difference between threatening a human being with death for acting cruelly and literally slaughtering an animal for no reason other than what you call farmer responsibility.
I agree with you on one thing: animal rights is not animal welfare. First of all, PETA does not represent all or even most animal rights activists; PETA doesn't even have "animal rights" listed as its purpose as far as I know, and "animal liberation" isn't really part of it either. PETA supports animal welfare at least as much as it supports animal rights because PETA thinks it should collaborate with corporations like KFC who don't support either animal rights or animal welfare, and why? For the sake of animal welfare, not animal rights.
Animal liberation is called veganism. According to the founder of veganism, that's exactly what veganism is. This makes it more obvious why PETA is not an animal liberation organization: it supports people going vegetarian as much as it supports their going vegan, which simply undermines veganism - animal liberation - by supporting the notion that we can liberate animals by simply changing which ones we eat. It also suggests that we should support KFC.
"Their goal is to guarantee that the human race has absolutely no access to animals, no matter how important they may be for our survival and progress."
This statement is absurd. By "access," what you really mean and are trying to cover up is "ownership." Just because you don't have custody of your daughter, for example, when she turns 18, doesn't mean you lose connection with her.... and I doubt you would use the word "access" in referring to her since you probably would not have exploited her for your "survival and progress" (I hope not). Also, nonhuman animals are not necessary for our "survival and progress." If they were, I think we vegans would have died a while ago. There's a reason why fruitarianism is dead and veganism is not: one of them is not sufficient for survival, and the other is.
- Ciuma
December 3, 2008 7:00AM
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PeTA - The opposite of Animal Rights
I agree also that Animal Rights is not animal welfare, I am an abolitionist and I'm very anti PeTA... How can they even be considered Animal Rights, they are barely welfarists PeTA murders thousands of animals each & every year, they are actively against no kill shelters, as you said they support KFC... even promoting a wedding that was taking place in there, they have an anti pitbull policy stating that they're "dangerous dogs" & much more disgusting stuff besides!
Welfarism is a totally backward step, it's only about making money.
- veganpanda
December 3, 2008 1:55PM
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