Tom Reagan on animal rights activism, violence/non-violence, demonization, and agents provocateur

[Guest guest]

"WHO ARE YOU ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ANYWAY?

essay by Tom Regan, author of The Case for Animal Rights and

Defending

Animal Rights.

 

Do animals have rights? Different people give different answers.

Sometimes people give different answers because of a disagreement

about the facts. For example, some people believe cats and dogs,

chickens and hogs do not feel anything; others believe they do.

 

Sometimes different answers are given because of a disagreement over

values. For example, some people believe animals have no value apart

from human interests; others believe the opposite. Disagreements of

both kinds are important certainly, and both will need to be explored

along the way. As important as these kinds of disagreements are,

neither touches a third, more basic source of division, this one

concerning the idea of animal rights itself.

 

Some people think this idea is synonymous with being kind to animals.

Since we should be kind to animals, the inference is obvious: animals

have rights. Or they think animal rights means avoiding cruelty. Since

we should not be cruel to animals, the same conclusion follows:

animals have rights. Given either of these two ways of understanding

animal rights, it is hard to explain why the idea is so controversial,

with animal rights advocates on one side, and animal rights opponents

on the other.

 

The heated, often acrimonious controversy that pits advocates against

opponents tells us that these familiar ways of thinking (we should be

kind to animals; we should not be cruel to them) fail to capture the

real meaning of animal rights. Its real meaning, as it turns out, is

both simple and profound.

 

Animal rights is a simple idea because, at the most basic level, it

means only that animals have a right to be treated with respect. It is

a profound idea because its implications are far reaching. How far

reaching? Here are a few examples of how the world will have to change

once we learn to treat animals with respect.

 

1. We will have to stop raising them for their flesh.

2. We will have to stop trapping them for their fur.

3. We will have to stop training them to entertain us.

4. We will have to stop using them in scientific research.

 

Each example illustrates the same moral logic. When it comes to how

humans exploit animals, recognition of their rights requires

abolition, not reform. Being kind to animals is not enough. Avoiding

cruelty is not enough. Whether we exploit animals to eat, to wear, to

entertain us, or to learn, the truth of animal rights requires empty

cages, not larger cages.

 

UNTRUTH IN LABELING

Opponents think animal rights is an extreme idea, and it is not

unusual for them to pin the label "extremists" on animal rights

advocates. It is important to understand how this label is used as a

rhetorical tool to prevent informed, fair discussion; otherwise,

chances are we won't have an informed, fair discussion.

 

"Extremists" and "extremism" are ambiguous words. In one sense,

extremists are people who will do anything to further their

objectives. The terrorists who destroyed the twin towers of the World

Trade Center were extremists in this sense; they were willing to go to

any lengths, even if it meant killing thousands of innocent human

beings, to further their ends.

 

Animal rights advocates (ARAs) are not extremists in this sense. Let

me repeat this: ARAs are not extremists in this sense. Even the most

militant advocates of animal rights (the members of the Animal

Liberation Front, say) believe there are absolute moral limits to what

can be done in the name of animal liberation, acts that should never

be performed, they are so bad. For example, the ALF opposes hurting

let along killing human beings.

 

In another sense, the word "extremist" refers to the unqualified

nature of what people believe. In this sense, ARAs are extremists.

Again, let me repeat this: ARAs really are extremists, in this sense.

ARAs really do believe that it is always wrong to train wild animals

to perform tricks for human amusement, for example. But in this sense,

everyone is an extremist. Why? Because there are some things all of us

(one hopes) oppose unqualifiedly.

 

For example, everyone reading these words is an extremist when it

comes to rape; we are against rape all the time. Each of us is an

extremist when it comes to child abuse; we are against child abuse all

the time. Indeed, all of us are extremists when it comes to cruelty to

animals; we never favor that.

 

The plain fact is, extreme views sometimes are correct views. That

being so, the fact that ARAs are extremists, in the sense that we have

unqualified beliefs about right and wrong, by itself provides no

reason for thinking that we must be mistaken. So the question to be

examined is not, "Are ARAs extremists?" It is, "Are we right?" As we

shall see, this question is hardly ever fairly asked let alone fairly

answered. Collusion between the media and powerful special interests

sees to that.

 

THE MEDIA

One barrier to fair discussion of animal right is the media. As so

often happens today, our perception of the "real world" is based on

what we see on television or read in the newspaper. This should raise

a red flag immediately. Think about it. The media loves a plane crash.

Safe landings? Not newsworthy. As the first axiom of news reporting

states: "If it bleeds, it leads." The second? "Good news is no news."

So if something happens and it doesn't bleed or isn't bad? Well, it's

probably not worth reporting, at least not in depth. Any doubts about

this, just watch the news tonight or read the paper tomorrow.

 

Because the media looks for what is sensational, there is a strong

tendency for them to cover animal rights only when something unlawful

or outlandish occurs. Members of the Animal Liberation Front firebomb

a lab. An anti-fur activist throws a pie in Calvin Klein's face. These

are the sorts of stories judged to be newsworthy. As for the peaceful

protest that took place outside a fur store yesterday, or the lecture

on animal rights given at the law school last night? Forget about it.

Non-sensational news is not news; it doesn't "bleed" enough for the

media's tastes. No wonder the general public views ARAs as a band of

merry pranksters and social misfits. With rare exceptions, this is the

only message that works its way through the media's filters.

 

SPECIAL INTEREST POLITICS

That the general public tends to have a negative picture of ARAs is

not the result only of the media's appetite for the sensational; it is

also due to what the media is fed by the public relations arms of

major animal user industries. By "major animal user industries" I mean

the meat industry, the fur industry, the animal entertainment

industry, and the biomedical research industry, for example. The

people who work in these industries speak with one voice, tell the

same story, even use the same words to denigrate their common enemy:

animal rights extremists.

 

The origin of the most recent chapter in this story is not hard to

find. It begins in 1989, with the publication of the American Medical

Association's white paper, "Use of Animals in Biomedical Research: The

Challenge and the Response."(1) Among the AMA's recommendations:

People who believe in animal rights "must be shown to be not only

anti-science but also (a) responsible for violent and illegal acts

that endanger life and property, and (b) a threat to the public's

freedom of choice." ARAs must be seen as people who are "radicals,"

"militants," and "terrorists," who are "opposed to human well being."

By contrast, sane, sensible, decent people must be shown to favor

animal welfare, understood as humane, responsible use of animals by

humans, for humans.

 

The AMA's strategy was both simple and inspired. If the public's

perception of using animals in research could be structured as a

contest between no nothing animal rights extremists who hate humans

and have an insatiable appetite for terrorism, on the one hand, and

wise scientific animal welfare moderates, true friends of humanity, on

the other, ARAs would be repudiated and the ideology of humane,

responsible use would prevail.

 

Since 1989, a steady stream of press releases, memos, email messages,

press conferences, and web site miscellany, denouncing ARA extremists

and lauding reasonable animal welfarists, has flowed from the AMA's

and other biomedical research industry's public relations offices

straight into the hands of reporters, news directors, and editors. How

does this work? Here is one example.

 

The Foundation for Biomedical Research describes itself as "the

nation's oldest and largest organization dedicated to improving human

and animal health by promoting public understanding and support for

the humane and responsible use of animals in medical and scientific

research." FBR's web site includes a page entitled "Journalist

Resources," featuring three links. One is "Expert Opinion," which is

described in this way. "FBR works to bring scientists and journalists

together to inspire exceptional, outstanding and ongoing news coverage

that contributes to public understanding and appreciation for the

humane and responsible use of animals in medical and scientific

research. When you need to quote an expert from the American research

community, contact us first."

 

"To inspire exceptional, outstanding . . . coverage." That's positive

and appealing. Who could be against that?

 

A second link is "FBR News Tips," described as "a monthly tip sheet

for journalists that promotes story ideas that will strengthen public

understanding and respect for the humane and responsible use of

animals in medical research. It provides a summary of the latest

medical discoveries, as well as reliable contact information. In every

case, the research described demonstrates the essential need for lab

animals in medical research."

 

"Humane and responsible use of animals in medical research," which is

"essential." Hard to be against that, either.

 

And the third link? This one is "Animal activism," where FBR presents

(quoting) "a record of all known criminal activities committed in the

name of `animal rights' since 1981."

 

Let's see, now. "Animal activism" equals "criminal activities

committed in the name of `animal rights'," which equals "illegal and

violent acts." If that's what `animal rights' involves, who (except

those who support criminal, illegal and violent acts) could possibly

be for it?

 

There we have the basic story: Animal welfare moderates versus animal

rights extremists. Wise scientists who treat animals humanely versus

no nothing, emotionally overloaded ARAs bent on destruction. This is

the message special interest groups like FBR spoon-feed the media.

Does it work? Does the media slant its coverage because of efforts

like FBR's? Before we answer, let's do some imagining. Here we have

Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet. His beat includes

biomedical research. On a monthly basis, he receives FBR's tip sheets.

On a daily basis, he receives the latest installment of authoritative

quotes from "experts" who support research using animals. And on a

timely basis, he receives an up-to-date inventory of "criminal

activities committed in the name of `animal rights'."

 

So let us ask ourselves: what are the odds of Clark's giving an

impartial, fair story about the "latest medical break-through using

animals"? Might the odds be just a tiny bit skewed in one direction

rather than another? Should we mention that among the Daily Planet's

biggest advertisers are major animal user industries, including

economically powerful interests (major pharmaceutical companies, for

example) represented by FBR? Or that Clark's 401(K) is heavily

invested in these same industries, as are those of the Daily Planet's

publisher and editorial staff? Can we really think, when we think

about it objectively, that the odds of an impartial, fair story about

the "latest medical breakthrough using animals" are even-steven?

 

There may be some people who will answer yes, but my experience tells

me they would be in the minority. Most people, once they understand

how the cards are stacked, understand why the news is dealt the way it

is. Remember the old adage: "Those who pay the piper call the tune?"

Its truth did not pass away when paid pipers became an extinct

species. The plain fact is, many people have a negative image of

animal rights because the media relentlessly presents ARAs in a

negative light.

 

And the media relentlessly presents ARAs in a negative light because

the media is relentlessly fed a negative image by the financially

powerful and influential spokespersons for the major animal user

industries. It's not all that surprising, once we stop to think about

it.

 

ALL ABOARD!

With so prestigious a group as the AMA having raised the sails, it did

not take long for other major animal user industries to come on board.

The meat industry. The animal entertainment industry. Sport hunters

and rodeo enthusiasts. The story is everywhere the same. Animal

welfare moderates versus animal rights extremists. Law-abiding

citizens versus law-breaking terrorists. By way of example, consider

the following discussion of animal welfare and animal rights from the

Fur Information Council of America. First, we have a description of

the sane, sensible position of those who favor animal welfare.

 

Animals enrich our lives in many ways. They provide food, clothing and

companionship. Animals used for medical research have given us

important advances in medicine that have saved millions of lives. Most

people today recognize that the use of animals under humane

circumstances is important.

 

Animal welfare organizations also support the wise use of animals

under humane conditions. The animal welfare ethic has been promoted

over the past century by many groups, including the fur industry.

Working with the government and the veterinary community, industries

that involve animal use have adopted high standards for the treatment

of animals. For instance, today there are strict regulations governing

livestock; guidelines have been implemented for the care of animals

used in medical research; and humane care standards have been

implemented by the fur industry.

 

Next, we have a description of the "out-of-touch-with-reality"

extremists who favor animal rights.

 

In the past few years, however, an extreme movement called "animal

rights" has emerged. The basic philosophy of these groups dictates

that humans have no right to use animals for any purpose whatsoever.

These groups oppose the use of animals for food, clothing, medical

research, and in zoos and circuses . . .

 

The majority of Americans support animal welfare groups, but do NOT

support [any] out-of-touch-with-reality, publicity-hungry animal

rights groups . . . Animal welfare groups support humane treatment and

responsible care of animals while the animal rights philosophy not

only condemns the use of all animals for any purpose but it also is

known for its increasingly terroristic tactics. The current mindset of

the animal rights movement is, "Believe what I believe . . . or else."

 

True to the spirit of the AMA's white paper, the debate over fur is

here framed as a contest between animal welfare moderates, who favor

"humane treatment and responsible care of animals," and animal rights

extremists who, like the criminals who blew-up the twin towers of the

World Trade Center, resort to "terroristic tactics."

 

But (you might well ask) is this true of all ARAs? Do we all favor

terrorism and intimidation? This is what the Fur Information Council

is saying. They presume to tell us what "[t]he current mindset of the

animal rights movement" is, not what a small handful of ARAs think.

The mindset of the movement is, "Believe what I believe . . . or else,

" where the "or else" carries with it the threat of one "terroristic

tactic" or another. ARAs must really be terrible people.

 

"THEY WOULD NEVER DO THAT, WOULD THEY?"

Having adopted a pro-active strategy, one pillar of which is the

depiction of ARAs as lawless terrorists, the major animal user

industries face a daunting challenge. For their strategy to work,

there has to be illegal, terroristic activity attributed to ARAs. And

not just a little. What is needed is a lot. It did not take long

before anti-ARA forces decided that they would need to do a little

free lance terrorist work of their own.

 

Consider this possible scenario.(2) Why not hire someone to infiltrate

the animal rights movement, as an agent provocateur, with one main

purpose: to find a malleable person in the movement who could be

"encouraged" (shall we say) to try to do something that would really

discredit ARAs. Like, maybe this person could be "encouraged" to try

to murder someone. And not just anyone. No, the "someone" should be a

pillar of the community, someone who (what an odd coincidence) just

happened to be a leader in a major animal user industry, someone who

just happened to have been famously outspoken in his criticisms of

ARAs. An attempt on his life would be perfect. It would show the

public that ARAs really are extremists who will stop at nothing to

further their ends. It is not hard to visualize the headline: "Animal

Rights Terrorist Attempts to Murder Pillar of Community."

 

A few problems would have to be solved. It takes time to find the

right person for the job. It takes money to pay all the players. Who

is going to come up with the necessary cash? Well, suppose the pillar

himself could pay for the attempt on his life. Suppose the pillar

himself (such is his influence) could arrange to have the local police

on hand to arrest the would-be murderer. "Nah," you might say, "This

is too fanciful, too conspiratorial. I don't think anyone in a major

animal user industry would ever do anything like this." Think again.

 

Leon Hirsch, president of the Norwalk, Connecticut-based U. S.

Surgical company, played the role of the pillar of the community.

Hirsch's company manufactures staples used in place of ordinary

sutures in many operations. Physicians receive training by practicing

on live dogs, who are vivisected, then killed. ARAs (led by Friends of

Animals, also located in Norwalk) mounted an in-your-face campaign

against Hirsch and his company back in the late 1980s. His ingenious

way of getting even was to put-up the necessary money to arrange for

an ARA to try to murder him.

 

On November 11, 1989, a man on the payroll of a firm Hirsh had hired

drove a young woman named Fran Trutt, a self-professed ARA, along with

her two recently purchased pipe bombs, from New York City to Norwalk.

When she placed the bombs adjacent to Hirsh's parking space, Hirsh's

friends in the Norwalk police department just happened to be on hand

to arrest her.

 

The resulting story (not the bombs, which never exploded) was the real

bombshell. There it was: "Animal Rights Terrorist Attempts to Murder

Pillar of Community." As John C. Stauber and Sheldon Rampton observe,

"Normally, of course, company presidents do not arrange their own

murder, but Hirsch was neither crazy nor suicidal. He was trying to

engineer an embarrassing scandal that would discredit the animal

rights movement."(3)

 

Hirsch would have succeeded, too, except for one thing: the ensuing

trial brought to light extensive tape transcripts that implicated

everyone, from Hirsh on down, who had hatched the plot to discredit

ARAs. Friends of Animals sued Hirsh, but their suit was unsuccessful,

and he never faced any criminal charges. Perhaps not surprisingly,

Fran Trutt was the only person to serve time (a year in prison,

followed by a year on probation). She seems to have left the movement.

 

IT ONLY GETS WORSE

This is not the only case where people in major animal user industries

have taken on the job of trying to make sure there is enough "ARA

terrorism" to go around. Books, not just people, can be deceiving. The

infamous Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, knows this. One of his

books, African Atto, is a manual written for violent black street

gangs, supposedly authored by an "insider" (that is, a gang member).

Another of his books (like the first, this one was not published under

Duke's name, for obvious reasons), is a sex manual written by and for

the "liberated" woman. You know the type: mindless of "family values,"

lusting after sexual adventures with the next guy to turn the corner.

 

In both cases, Duke's books were written to reinforce prejudicial

stereotypes of the sort Duke wants his constituency to fear: the

predatory black male, in the one case, the "liberated" woman (whatever

her race), in the other. Given the familiar stereotype of ARAs as

misanthropic violent law-breakers who are anti-science, anti-reason,

anti-American, anti-everything any decent human being values, one

might expect to find a fraudulent animal rights expose written by

someone posing as an ARA insider.

 

This expectation was fulfilled with the publication of A Declaration

of War: Killing People to Save Animals and the Environment, written

anonymously by an author identified only as "Screaming Wolf."(4) A

real charmer, Screaming Wolf makes it clear that there is no limit to

the violence real ARAs ("liberators") are prepared to carry-out. It is

not just the university researcher who uses animals in harmful

studies, not just the furrier, not just the hunter, whose lives are at

risk; it is the researcher's children, the furrier's rabbi or

minister, the hunter's friends or business associates. In short,

anyone can be chosen as a legitimate, justifiable victim by the army

of "liberators" who have decided the time has come to kill people in

order to save animals and the environment.

 

Haven't the major animal user industries been saying as much?

Screaming Wolf (a liberator "insider") is only confirming what these

industries have been saying about ARAs all along. The industries could

not have done a better job of discrediting ARAs if they had hired some

fictitious "Screaming Wolf" to write this book for them. (5)

 

Which is precisely what happened. At least this is the finding I

believe the available evidence supports. In my judgment, A Declaration

of War is nothing more than a work of fraudulent provocation, a work

of fiction disguised as fact. And a clever work of fiction it is. For

liberators, you see, will rarely take credit for their actions. In

general, they prefer to remain anonymous.

 

Consider the illogic of this logic. Suppose a researcher's car is

blown up. Or she dies or disappears mysteriously. Or strangers rape

her daughter. Then either liberators will take credit for this or they

will not. If they do, then they did it. If they don't, then they

probably did it anyhow. Here, most assuredly, is a strategy that

cannot fail to create the appearance that animal rights terrorism is

on the rise.

 

And the moral of the story is? The moral of the story is simple. The

next time the media shows or tells a story about "animal rights

terrorism," we should all think twice before buying into its veracity.

We do not know how often violent, unlawful acts that the media

attributes to ARAs actually were paid for by someone trying to do what

Leon Hirsch tried to do: discredit the animal rights movement by

encouraging an impressionable ARA to break the law. And we do not know

how often violent acts that the media attributes to ARAs actually are

carried out by people who, paid or unpaid, have nothing to do with the

movement. What we do know is, all this happens some of the time, which

should be reason enough to make us raise a skeptical eyebrow when we

open tomorrow morning's paper and read "Animal Rights Terrorists" do

one bad thing or another.

 

NORMAN ROCKWELL AMERICANS

Let me be perfectly honest. My wife Nancy and I have been involved in

animal advocacy for more than thirty years. During this time, we have

met some people we would not want to watch our children. Misanthropic

people, mean-spirited to the core. People who hate hunters, hate

trappers, hate butchers, hate every living, breathing human being,

even themselves. We have also met ARAs who could be described (to

speak charitably) as weird, kooky, or strange, and others who have had

no respect for reason or science. More, we have known ARAs who believe

violent, criminal acts, as well as personal threats made against

animal users or their family members, when done in the name of animal

liberation, are morally justified. Yes, some ARAs are prepared to go

this far.

 

For a variety of reasons, the attitudes and values of the ARAs I have

just described are regrettable. One reason concerns the public's

perception of animal rights. The violent, lawless behavior of a few,

the hateful attitudes of a handful, is grist for the opponents of

animal rights' mill. Representatives of the meat and fur industry, for

example, want nothing more than to have the general public accept the

accuracy of the stereotype of ARAs as misanthropic violent

law-breakers. Fortunately for industry spokespersons, some ARAs

cooperate by actually being this way. They don't have to be invented.

 

If I have learned anything from my years of involvement in animal

rights, it is that the ARAs who fit the stereotype are the rare

exception, not the rule. The great majority of ARAs are just ordinary

folks: neighbors and business associates; the family that runs the

print shop or cleaners down the street; the guy next to you on the

exercise bike at the gym; students and teachers in the local schools;

the woman who sings solos in the church choir; teenagers who belong to

Luther League or Wesley Fellowship; the couple that volunteers for

Meals on Wheels; homemakers, nurses and physicians; counselors and

social workers; whites, blacks, browns, reds, yellows, of every shade

and hue; rich, poor, middle class; the old and the young; Protestants,

Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and every other faith, including

those with no faith; political liberals and conservatives; people who

love family and country, who work hard, mow their lawn, and pay their

taxes.

 

Moreover, while the ARA message the public receives is one of

negativity (ARAs are against greyhound racing, against sport hunting,

against rodeo, for example), the other, positive side of the story

never gets told. With rare exceptions, ARAs are for love of family and

country, for human rights and justice, for human freedom and equality,

for compassion and mercy, for peace and tolerance, for special concern

for those with special needs (children, the enfeebled, the elderly,

among others), for a clean, sustainable environment, for the rights of

our children's children's children--our future generations.

 

In a word, the vast majority of ARAs are Norman Rockwell Americans,

straight off his famous Thanksgiving cover for the old Saturday

Evening Post, only with this noteworthy difference. We'll pass on the

turkey, thank you. We don't eat our friends.

 

So let us put an end to the untruths that the major animal user

industries spread about "animal rights extremists." Not all ARAs are

violent law breakers, and "[t]he current mindset of the animal rights

movement" is not "`Believe what I believe . . . or else.'" This is

just special interest propaganda meant to forestall fair, informed

discussion. That said, it has to be acknowledged that ARAs are, well .

.. . we are . . . different than most people. Especially if you're a

Muddler, you have to wonder how we got that way. Answering this

question is a good place to begin the discussion."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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