Animal rights activists come in for a lot of criticism, but the one argument
that seems to really get under their skin is the claim that they care more about
animals than they do about human beings. Animal rights groups and individuals
will go to great lengths to show they value human life. They argue they simply
want humans to value the lives of animals.
Do animal rights activists care more about animals than human beings? Comments
made by prominent activists and groups after the September 11 terrorist attacks
speak volumes:
- Alex Hershaft runs a group called Farm USA that manages a national animal
rights convention. On September 23, Farm USA issued a press release quoting
Hershaft saying, “Worldwide, every day, 125 million innocent, sentient animals
are dreadfully abused and butchered for food. These tragedies are perpetrated
by a worldwide animal agricultural terrorist network that is much more threatening
to planetary survival than the Al Queda network, because it kills more people
and animals, because it kills them unrelentingly every day, because it is
pervasive and accepted. For every human being who dies of warfare, crime,
or terrorism, 10,000 innocent, sentient animals die a violent death.” - The next day, Michael W. Fox of the Humane Society of the United States
blamed the 9/11 attacks on humanity’s crimes against nature. In an essay distributed
via e-mail, Fox wrote that, “Our collective violence against Nature and against
human nature, from the plight of endangered cultures, wildlife and the environment,
to the sufferings of indigenous peoples and of domestic animals, especially
in factory farms and commercial laboratories around the world, needs to be
acknowledged. Until we find atonement with Nature and all beings, human and
non-human, how can human nature find peace and not annihilate all that our
better natures embrace?” - In its October issue, the widely read animal rights magazine “Animal People”
included an unsigned editorial linking Osama bin Laden’s fanaticism to meat
eating. More disturbing, however, was the magazine’s comparison of farm animals
to the victims who died onboard the hijacked planes. According to the magazine,
“Many and perhaps most of the nine billion animals sent to slaughter in the
U.S. each year, as well as the billions killed abroad, have at least as long
to sense doom as did the September 11 victims. Neither are the animals’ last
cries as unlike the cell phone calls made by some of the September 11 victims
as the typical meat-eater would like to believe. Equally disturbing to meat-eaters
might be awareness that doomed animals, too, often put up frantic resistance,
like the passengers who tried to retake United Airlines flight 93…” - Lee Ryan, a member of the British boy band Blue, put the comparison in stark
and crude language. Ryan, who styles himself an animal rights activist, asked
the British tabloid The Sun, “What about whales? They are ignoring
animals that are more important. Animals need saving and that’s more important
. . . Who gives a f— about New York when elephants are being killed.” - To his credit, animal rights philosopher Peter Singer did criticize the
idea of comparing the victims of the September 11 attacks to animals killed
for food, but United Poultry Concerns’ Karen Davis vigorously denounced Singer
for this. According to Davis, “For 35 million chickens in the United States
alone, every single night is a terrorist attack.” Davis went on to suggest
that since most of those who died in the terrorist attacks were likely meat
eaters, the attacks may have actually resulted in a net reduction in suffering. - Finally, just a few days ago Farm USA announced the schedule for its upcoming
Animal Rights 2002 National Conference. Describing the goal of this year’s
conference, Farm USA’s press release said, “Animal Rights 2002 is our movement’s
first national conference since the terrible tragedy of September 11 and its
aftermath. It is dedicated to exposing and challenging the terror perpetrated
every single day against billions of innocent, sentient nonhuman animals.”
Despite the frequent claims that animal rights activist do not care more about
animals than they do about human beings, in each of these cases human suffering
from the Sept. 11 attacks is minimized, ignored, and even celebrated. At best
human suffering is used simply as a segue to talk about the real issue, which
is always the alleged suffering of animals.
Do animal rights activists care more about animals than they do about human
beings? Of course they do.