Animal rights activists would never stop screaming if the actions they take were directed against them. They demand the right to free speech–which some activists expand beyond recognition to include threats, intimidation, and even bombings–but have little problem with denying it to those with whom they disagree. Thus PETA refuses to condemn ALF, even when it plants pipe bombs under animal researchers’ cars–equating the terrorists with the Underground Railroad and the French Resistance on its Web site. This is particularly true of the “direct action” types, the ALFs, SHACs, who are closely allied with anarchists. I call this the “tear down” arm of the animal rights movement, because it certainly is not interested in building up.
A good illustration of the double standard happened here in San Francisco when an ex vegan was pied at an anarchist book store reading of her book. From the story:
An ex-vegan who was hit with chili pepper-laced pies at an anarchist event in San Francisco said Tuesday that her assailants were cowards who should direct their herbivorous rage at the powerful – not at a fellow radical for writing a book denouncing animal-free diets. Lierre Keith, a 45-year-old Arcata resident, was attacked at 2:15 p.m. Saturday at the 15th annual Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair while discussing her 2009 book, “The Vegetarian Myth.” A 20-year vegan, Keith now argues that the diet is unhealthy and that agriculture is destroying the world. As Keith stood at a lectern at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, three people in masks and black hooded sweatshirts ran from backstage, shouted, “Go vegan!” and threw pies in her face. While they fled, some in the audience cheered or handed out leaflets.
That was an assault and battery. Alas, being victimized did not teach Keith that it is wrong to engage in lawlessness against people with whom one disagrees:
Keith said her values are similar in most ways to those of her attackers. She believes in militant action, even property destruction, if it can lead to change. In her book, she said, she railed against factory farming and promoted the restoration of prairies and forests. “It’s insane. My entire book is about how the world is being destroyed,” Keith said. She said the first pie hit her just after she uttered the sentence, “You should not eat factory-farmed meat.” Among those rejoicing in the pie attack was the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, which often prints communiques from activists taking credit for attacks on animal researchers. The group said Keith was wrong about veganism, referred to her as an “animal holocaust denier,” and scolded her for calling the “agents of state oppression” – the police.
This is as much the face of animal rights as pretty models posing nude to protest fur. Rather than being distinct, I am convinced that the movement is one organism, like an octopus, with PETA’s edginess one arm, ALF’s violence another arm, and HSUS’s lawsuits and legitimate political advocacy, a third arm, etc.. That point aside, Keith’s nihilism is so thick that even after becoming a victim, she doesn’t have it in her to condemn lawless tactics against people based on differences of opinion. She just wants these tactics directed at someone else. Typical.
March 17th, 2010 | 4:05 pm
Wesley, you’d be more on the right track if you denounced and renounced bioethics entirely, rather than considering animal rights the enemy.
March 17th, 2010 | 4:55 pm
Ianthe, you’d be on the right track if you’d denounce people using force to try to promote a viewpoint. These people may not exploit animals as food, but they certainly use animals to feed their egos. What they’re about is forcing their views on other human beings, regardless of the ultimate effect.
March 17th, 2010 | 5:30 pm
The level of desperation exibited by ALF is astonishing. Violence is usually used by unhinged people who believe that they have few, if any, other options. But this is totally untrue with the animal rights issue. There are arguments that these groups can use, and that’s what they should do. If they really care about animals, they will use only rational arguments to support their views. Violence is not only completely morally repugnant, but it also causes people, who might otherwise be disposed to ration arguments regarding animals, to righly view them as crazy, and their cause as unworthy of serious consideration. That’s sad, since their is good empirical evidence that eating a vegiterian diet is healthier, as long as one makes sure that one is getting plenty of nutrients, such as B vitamins and proteins, supplamentally, that one would otherwise obtain from the meat. Why Doesn’t ALF show some maturity and decency, and write a book review, refuting her claims instead of violence, that will only convince people that they’re nuts?
March 17th, 2010 | 8:21 pm
“I am convinced that the movement is one organism, like an octopus”
Yes indeed. And we have numerous recent examples of that. Consider, for instance, the terrorism committed by the IRA and how its “political wing” claimed to not be responsible for what was done by its “military wing”–a lie that the American Left happily went along with.
Or consider the terrorism commited in the 60′s and 70′s by various leftist organizations, such as the Red Army Faction, Japanese Red Army, and so on ad nauseum: The “respectable” Left in America and Europe would tut-tut sadly at each act of terrorism, and then proceed to lecture the civilized world on how such terrible things would not happen if only the world were not so much suffering and injustice caused by liberal democracy.
March 17th, 2010 | 8:28 pm
“Violence is usually used by unhinged people who believe that they have few, if any, other options….Why Doesn’t ALF show some maturity and decency, and write a book review, refuting her claims instead of [using] violence?”
“The purpose of terror is terror.”
–Lenin
I think it was Orwell who said that the purpose of terror was not liberation from tyranny but the establishment and maintenance of tyranny.
March 19th, 2010 | 6:29 pm
Wesley Smith: I would ask you, respectfully, to provide some evidence that the animal rights groups are all intertwined. I have heard this assertion made with respect to the Pro-life movement. After the morally reprehensible murders of abortion doctors, the mainstream Pro-life groups rightly and completely denounced these actions, but we still had pro-choice groups claiming that the manstream groups ”really” believed that the murderous actions were justified. They provided no evidence for this claim, and indeed, it’s false. Friends of Animals, and The Humane Society, to give two examples, have explicitly denounced violent actions by some groups, such as the ALF. PETA is a seperate group from the ALF.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
March 19th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Bret: Read my book
March 22nd, 2010 | 8:20 pm
Mr. Smith: I will read your book. But I think that it’s only fair to point out the good, yes, the good that PETA has done. It has done extensive undercover investigations, in medical labs, farms, etc., and provided a lot of evidence of animals being abused. PETA subsequently turned this information over to the prosecuter, who has jurisdiction over the area where the abuse has occurred. Therefore, reforms have occurred in these industries. Workers who have abused animals, thereby breaking local anti-cruelty statutes, have been removed. Without PETA’s undercover efforts in these areas, these violations would never have been discovered.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Actually, I give them credit for raising consciousness in my book.
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