Guest guest Posted November 3, 2001 Report Share Posted November 3, 2001 For almost the past week I have been here. I have been here reading e-mails, answering telephone calls, and aiding activists financially, and doing what ever I can do to help them. This past week I have recieved many bad e-mails regarding the e-mail that I sent out on Monday, October 29, 2001. Although I have only responded to one or two, I have read all of them with a sad eye. I have been called a traitor, a scum bag, and a horrible person. People feel that I have betrayed the animal rights movement, a movement that if I could save animals would die for. How I am a traitor I have not yet figured out. But more and more people are saying it and I need to address this. Although I cannot apologize for my letter because I believe that direct action is not the way to go, I do feel that calling fellow activists " terrorists " was harsh. Over 500 animal die every day in HLS factories, factories that need to be shut down, and a practice that needs to be abolished because of its inreliabilty, and inhumaneness. Animal exploitations needs to end, but us causing violence will not solve our problems. Violence will not solve the wolds problems, and we need to grow and understand that not everything will go perfectly. The United States is a great country. We have our Constitution, we have our Bill of Rights, and we have our right to freedom. A freedom that we have because we want it. We are entitled to it. If you want that freedom, you need to have the patience, you need to understand that you can't have everything right away, and you need to work for what you want. If you want those animals out of HLS labs, if you want those animals out of circuses, fur farms, slaughterhouses, and anywhere else that animals are enslaved, then you need to work for it. You cannot go out and threaten anyone. You cannot try to prove to the world that we will get what we want, or we will reak havic in to everyday life. We shouldn't threaten with violence, words, or any other unacceptable manner. It's unappropriate, and immature. We cannot spend our entire lives encouraging compassion towards all living creatures, saying that the things that are happening inside of slaughterhouses is uncompasionate and inhumane, an then turn around and harrass employees and break down barriers that are on public property. Even though I wasn't there, and don't have much room to talk, I know what happend. I know that there was suprisingly unbiased news coverage of why people are protesting the HLS. After the protest, the message was lost. The only thing that was covered in the news was the fight the protesters put and the disrespect they had towards the the police. I made all the e-mails that were sent to me availible online through the LAA Website. You can see these e-mails by visiting http://www.loveallanimals.com/pm.html --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.273 / Virus Database: 143 - Release 8/16/01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 3, 2001 Report Share Posted November 3, 2001 Hi Ryan, Planet Vegan folks. Because i suffer from a chronic case of obligatory opinionation, i'm going to share my opinion, and hopefully direct some understanding towards Ryan. Ryan wrote: > I have been called a traitor, a scum bag, and a horrible person. People > feel that I have betrayed the animal rights movement, a movement that if > I could save animals would die for. How I am a traitor I have not yet > figured out. But more and more people are saying it and I need to address > this. I'm not quite sure what you plan to accomplish from sending this message out on the Planet-Vegan email list.. I didn't know you were considered a traitor, scum bag and horrible person until today. =) This might best be a question addressed directly and privately to those who sent these accusations. I don't know who wrote you, and what they said. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. Who knows? (Maybe who cares?) Regardless, it wasn't a very nice way of telling you these things. But obviously these people have been bothered enough to take the time to write you. Don't take that lightly. Try to understand where they're coming from. There may be truth and wisdom in their words, along with the hostility. As you've seen in animal rights action, there's sometimes hostility, but you know that there is a deeper message under the surface. > Although I cannot apologize for my letter because I believe that direct > action is not the way to go, This is your belief Ryan. Just like you believe that animals shouldn't be used for cosmetic testing, etc. (There are many who would tell you animals *should* be used too.) Clearly, the people who wrote you disagree. I also disagree with you. The vast majorty of veteran activists, animal and non-animal, would also disagree with you. You have taken a very challenging position in this regard, and you can expect this reaction for the rest of your days as an activist. To many, this is akin to being a meat-eating animal rights activist. Please keep this in mind when sharing your opinion. Direct action is a very effective means of activism, has done tremendous good for various causes in the past, and will continue to do so. > I do feel that calling fellow activists > " terrorists " was harsh. Thank you for writing this. > Animal exploitations needs to end, but us causing violence will not solve > our problems. Violence will not solve the wolds problems, and we need to > grow and understand that not everything will go perfectly. First, you need to define what violence is. Second, you need to decide, for sure, that there really is never a need for any type of violence. If there is a legal, respectable demonstration, and the police tell the activists to go away, what should they do? Just go away? What if the the police are forcing them to go away, even tho it's their legal right to be there? Should they just back off, and leave? Let their message be lost? (I'm not saying this is how the HLS demo went, but this is a hypothetical situation that might result in 'extreme' reaction.) The following is a really harsh example, but what would you do if you came home and found someone raping your mom? Would you take the non-violent and peaceful route, and ask them nicely to stop while offering a glass of iced tea? I think not. You would be enraged. Stop for a moment and tranfer that emotion to the people at the HLS demo. They feel the same, intense feeling, for each and every of those 500 animals that die each day, and the millions more awaiting their end. You expect peace, but there are lives at stake. Lives that suffer and die every second. As one of the animals in there, would you feel better knowing that the people fighting for your freedom were willing to back down at any sign of conflict, or were willing to stand and fight? By using the above, perhaps you can understand why direct action is necessary, and why people are willing to go to extremes. This is a life and death movement, and shouldn't be taken as lightly as you appear to. > The United States is a great country. We have our Constitution, we have our > Bill of Rights, and we have our right to freedom. A freedom that we have > because we want it. We are entitled to it. If you want that freedom, you > need to have the patience, you need to understand that you can't have > everything right away, and you need to work for what you want. If this were so true, i don't think there would be as much conflict as there is. You've been conditioned to think what 'freedom' is. Freedumb might be more appropriate. > We shouldn't threaten with violence, words, or any other unacceptable manner. > It's unappropriate, and immature. You need to be more concise. What is unacceptable, unappropriate and immature to you is not to others. And note that you just called people who use any threatening action and words unacceptable, unappropriate and immature. You can probably expect more disheartening letters from this comment. > I made all the e-mails that were sent to me availible > online through the LAA Website. You can see these > e-mails by visiting http://www.loveallanimals.com/pm.html I went to this page, and thankfully didn't find any of the messages that were sent to you. Please note, Ryan, these were sent to you privately (i'm assuming). Please respect that. I, for one, will not address you privately, for fear of my private words and thoughts to you appearing on a website. Please keep doing what you can for the animals, and please try harder to understand and accept what others are doing. - Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 4, 2001 Report Share Posted November 4, 2001 > > Although I cannot apologize for my letter because I believe that > > direct action is not the way to go, > This is your belief Ryan. Just like you believe that animals > shouldn't be used for cosmetic testing, etc. (There are many who > would tell you animals *should* be used too.) I agree with David on many of his points. AR People need to come to realize that there are many ways to get things done, and it's hard to say which way is the best. Quite simply, each person has things that they are good at, and their own way of approaching issues. I'm not saying that I agree with everything that every animal rights oranization has ever done. But I don't know if a more passive approach is more affective, or a more direct method. Regardless, both are undeniably effective. I used to be sure that the passive route to animal liberation was the way to go, and tried my best not to step on any toes on the way there. But that's not reasonable. Eventually, you have to get up in some faces. I'm still not sure what the best approach is, or where I will eventually fit in to the AR movement after I graduate and can begin to take a more active role, but I don't feel that it is right to criticize other groups for being to extreme (assuming that they are not actually hurting people). If you disagree, think about what you (and they) are fighting for. The lives of feeling, thinking, living beings. Imagine if it was your life you were fighting for, or your family's. It's easy to say that people are being too radical when they are fighting for a cause that won't affect you, but what would you say if the people they were fighting against were coming for you next? It was pointed out to me a few weeks ago that we would probably act a lot differently if it were OUR lives we were fighting for... JustBeane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.