Thoughtful article on the rivalry and differences between Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd.
Thought for the Day
Mankind has caused such terrible destruction. He has de-natured himself;he has half-domesticated himself. He is obviously unfit for the imperium which he has grasped from the world and I am filled with nothing but foreboding for the future. I must say that I am among that group of people who, to borrow an expression from Teddy Goldsmith, would regard a demo-catastrophe as an eco-bonanza. In other words, I would be very happy to see 3 ½ billion humans wiped from the face of the earth within the next 150 or 200 years and I am quite prepared to go myself with this majority. Most of you sitting here are redundant in every possible sense of the word. Even though your may be the vanguard of the youth politik of the rights of animals, you are as redundant and as unnecessary as are most other human beings, when you come to it.
Let us all look forward to the day when the catastrophe strikes us down! With what resounding applause would the rest of nature great our demise!
John Aspinall, 1926-2000, founder of Howletts Zoo Park and Port Lympne Wildlife Sanctuary in Kent, England. The above is the conclusion of an unscripted speech made at “The Rights of Animals” symposium organized by the RSPCA at Trinity College, Cambridge on August 18 – 19, 1977.
Thought for the Day
Most [vivisectors are] naturalistic and Darwinian. Now here, surely, we come up against a very alarming fact. The very same people who will most contemptuously brush aside any consideration of animal suffering if it stands in the way of ‘research’ will also, in another context, most vehemently deny that there is any radical difference between man and the other animals.
The victory of vivisection marks a great advance in the triumph of ruthless, non-moral utilitarianism over the old world of ethical law; a triumph in which we, as well as animals, are already the victims and of which Dachau and Hiroshima mark the more recent achievements. In justifying cruelty to animals we put ourselves also on the animal level. We choose the jungle and must abide by our choice.
I wish they would remember that the charge to Peter was “Feed my sheep,”not “Try experiments on my rats,”or even “Teach my performing dogs new tricks.”
C.S. Lewis, 1898 – 1963, author and scholar. “Vivsection” excerpted in the second of two parts. With thanks to Rita Wing.
Posted in Thinking
Tagged Animals in Research, Testing and Education, Thought for the Day
Leave a comment
Thought for the Day
The Christian defender is very apt to say that we are entitled to do anything we please to animals because they ‘have no souls’. But what does this mean? If it means that animals have no consciousness, then how is this known? They certainly behave as if the had, or at least the higher animals do. I myself am inclined to think that far fewer animals than is supposed have what we should recognize as consciousness. But that is only an opinion.
Unless we know on other grounds that vivisection is right we must not take the moral risk of tormenting them on a mere opinion. On the other hand, the statement that they ‘have no souls’ may mean that they have no moral responsibilities and are not immortal. But the absence of ‘soul’ in that sense makes the infliction of pain upon them not easier bur harder to justify, for it means that animals cannot deserve pain, nor profit morally by the discipline of pain, nor be recompensed by happiness in another life for suffering in this. … ‘Soullessness’, in so far as it is relevant to the question at all, is an argument against vivisection.
C.S. Lewis, 1898 – 1963, author and scholar. “Vivsection” excerpted in the first of two parts. With thanks to Rita Wing.
Posted in Thinking
Tagged Animals in Research, Testing and Education, Thought for the Day
Leave a comment
The Sanitization of Animal Research Propaganda
Apart from the moral and legal implications of this animal research with a monkey, what’s so interesting about today’s New York Times report, “Monkey’s Thoughts Propel Robot, a Step That May Help Humans,” is the way in which it is presented.
In the online version and underneath the heading are two photographs of the researchers with the caption — “THE PLAYERS Dr. Miguel A. L. Nicolelis, left, at Duke University, and Gordon Cheng in Kyoto, Japan, with the robot.” — and a video. Well, a video of sorts.
This is because the video is an animation of a monkey on a treadmill which is interposed with video of the robot walking on a treadmill. So, we don’t see video of the monkey — a living animal — but we do see video of the inanimate machine.
Other than the profound implications of this presentation — the animate becomes inanimate and the inanimate becomes animate — what else can we conclude other than the researchers didn’t want us to see animal research involving a monkey walking on a treadmill?
Well, at the risk of the Grumpy Vegan being accused of sensationalism, let’s please note that the video is credited by The New York Times to Duke University. What a shame the paper coluldn’t see how it is being used.
Propaganda, anyone?
Visit the New ASI Web site!
A couple of years ago Ken Shapiro (Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; aka Society and Animals Forum) and myself (The Animals’ Agenda which became the Institute for Animals and Society) decided to merge our organizations to form the Animals and Society Institute (ASI).
The merger went smoothly but launching a new Web site was a challenge. This is because we had two previously-existing Web sites (www.psyeta.org and www.animalsandsociety.org) to merge into one. Each organization/site had its own history and programs. The organizational merger went smoothly because we developed and implemented a plan, which included a programmatic outline, but the Web site merger had to be completed on a next-to-nothing budget.
Enter: Antharia, who took ASI up as a cause in their “No non-profit left behind on the Internet” program. And, so, after what is more than a year of activity — and many, Many, MANY thanks to Antharia — we launched the new ASI Web site last week. If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment to have a look. It’s already full of a lot of unique information and resources that you just won’t find anywhere else. ASI’s programs — and, consequently, the Web site — are broken down into three primary areas
AniCare–to stop the cycle of violence between animal cruelty and human abuse
Human-Animal Studies–to learn more about our complex relationship with animals
Animals’ Platform–to promote new and stricter animal protection laws
There’s still a lot to do with the new ASI Web site but please do take a moment to check it out. One of the features I’m most excited about is the ASI Diary, which is our very own blog!
