Over the past few years, animal rights activist Ryan Courtade has received a lot of media coverage largely due to the novelty of his age — Courtade was only 10 when he became an animal rights activist and started his group, Love All Animals. But Courtade is not likely to get much support from this animal rights friends for the e-mail he posted to an animal rights list on July 27 describing the second thoughts he’s having about the movement.
After describing criticism directed at him from within the animal rights community, Courtade writes,
From now on I will not classify myself as an animal “rights” activist. I will be an animal welfare activist. I’m tired of the infighting, and splitting, and I’m extremely tired of this violence.
Courtade has worked closely with In Defense of Animals and Courtade goes on to offer a criticism of animal rights violence very similar to that offered by IDA’s Elliott Katz:
We are supposed to be promoting compassion towards animals, but one needs to promote compassion toward all living things. You can go around talking to employees at HLS or Procter and Gamble, but when you go to their home or call them at home, that’s harassment, and we have no right to do that. That does not promote compassion and it changes the focus from animals to violence.
I’m very sorry that I have to do this, and I am prepared to suffer the consequences. I accept that I may lose your support, although I would still like to have your support. Because I will not be physophically [sic] changing due to this change in title, I just will not feel out of place calling myself something I’m not.
I think that the animal rights movement has gotten out of hand, violence to humans is not helping anything, it is giving a bad image to the public. I will do everything that I can to help the animals, but I will not harm another human being. I guess I’m just to compassionate to do that. Civil disobedience and violence is not acceptable, and it should not be used as a tool to attempt to force a change that may never come.
When Katz offered his critique of animal rights violence, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Bruce Friedrich wrote an article savaging Katz for this view. One wonders if Friedrich will be up to the intellectual challenge of taking on a teenager’s rather eloquent argument against violence.
Source:
Change in Views (Last E-mail unless you make the move). Ryan Courtade, E-Mail Communication, July 27, 2001.