WHY RIGHTS FOR ANIMALS? EDITORIAL

[Guest guest]

Why Rights For Animals?

 

“What do you do?“

 

“Well, I have a boring day job, but, for the most part, I'm an animal

rights activist.“

 

Blank stare.

 

“Oh, that's nice. I see my friend over there. Nice to meet you!“

 

I've had many different reactions from people when I tell them I'm an

animal rights activist. The above scenario is the most common. People

don't know what to say to the lady who wants animals to have rights.

After all, I look so normal!

 

Animal rights activists are not, as some call us, “fantasy-based

hippies.“ We do not all belong to “lunatic fringe groups,“ as USA Today

hinted. We are just ordinary people, with jobs, families, and bills to

pay, who happen to take notice of the inexcusable suffering of nonhuman animals

at the hands of humans.

 

The animal rights movement isn't something new. Historically, great

people such as Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison have spoken on behalf of animal

rights. The more people come to accept that we should not inflict suffering on

other sentient beings simply because we are capable of it, the more backlash we

get from people who disagree.

 

One thing I often hear people say is that animal rights activists are

selfish and try to force other people to do things. In response to that

statement, I ask you this: Is it selfish to fight for the rights of

voiceless, sentient beings who are tortured, abused, exploited, and

killed on a daily basis? Or is it selfish to fight for the right to keep

on torturing, abusing, exploiting, and killing voiceless sentient beings

on a daily basis?

 

I cannot speak for all animal rights activists, but as for myself, I

hate attention. I'm a very private person. I don't scream and curse in

people's faces or throw red paint on fur coats. I talk to people who

will listen, I answer questions that people ask, and I protest against

what I believe to be wrong. Slowly I reach people, one at a time. In

turn, those who I have reached spread the message and reach others.

 

I have nothing to gain, except some free time and peace of mind, from

nonhuman animals gaining basic rights. If this fight were over, I could

spend more time with my family and more time doing things I enjoy.

Believe it or not, I don't enjoy being an animal rights activist. I'd

much rather create a fun website filled with jokes, funny pictures, and

happy stories. I'd rather write a newsletter that made people smile and

laugh. There is nothing particularly fun about writing letters on behalf

of a cat that was set on fire by some bored kids. I don't get much

pleasure finding homes for one domesticated animal after another, going broke in

the process, while some people continue to breed more litters of these animals.

I don't enjoy going to a restaurant and having to smell the corpses of animals

and have a mental picture in my head of how those animals became dinner. I hate

lying awake at night thinking of the animals in laboratories who are alone and

scared.

 

But what about children? If I had a dollar for every time I heard that,

I'd be one rich activist. Why worry about animals in labs and farm

animals becoming dinner when children are suffering? If adults were

allowed to torture, abuse, exploit, and kill children on a daily basis,

I would fight for their rights too. After all, I fight for voiceless

animals. But children are protected by law. Yes, laws are broken, but

society makes those who break these laws against children pay for their crime.

In a recent court case which dealt with a dog that was murdered, the murderer

was sentenced to read the “Lassie“ books. Can you imagine the murderer of a

child being sentenced to read “Mary Poppins?“ It wouldn't happen.

 

Some final thoughts:

 

Just because a person has the power to do something, doesn't mean it's right.

The human species is protected by laws, and the strong are not allowed to take

advantage of the weak. Now we need to extend those laws to protect other species

as well.

 

We need to stop discriminating against certain species just because it

was what we were taught to do. People tend to become outraged when something

horrible happens to a dog or cat. As an animal rights

activist, all I'm trying to do is extend that outrage to include other

animals, such as monkeys, deer, cows, pigs, chickens, rats, etc.

 

I'm not an extra special person. I don't have any remarkable qualities.

I didn't come out of the womb vegan. I used to eat meat and dairy and

wear leather.

 

But I have come to the conclusion that it is not right to hug your cat

while eating a cow. And I'm trying my hardest to make others come to

that conclusion also, one person at a time.

 

© Shell 2001

http://www.theanimalspirit.com/whyar.html

 

 

 

 

" Our task must be to free ourselves…by widening our circle of compassion to

embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. " ~Albert

Einstein

 

 

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