Defend the Rights of Animals, by Rick Gunderman

“Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind then that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; and while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” – American socialist Eugene V. Debs on trial for giving an anti-war speech in 1918.

While this is indeed a rousing, inspiring speech on behalf of Debs, who I count among my role models, there is as much to be said about the part that I emblazoned in that badass looking bold font as there is about the latter part, which is easily more famous.

Debs recognized his kinship with all living beings. I have, at present, no evidence to indicate that he meant literally all living things, including animals, but for a moment pretend I do. Pretend he did mean to suggest that he felt compassion not only towards humans, but animals as well. For a man of his stature I wouldn’t be surprised.

Thanks to an old high school football teammate I came across an animal rights group that prompted me to sign their petition to stop the skinning alive of animals in China for fur. Yes, for fur.

Basically, the situation is this: literally millions of dogs, cats and other cuddly little critters are shackled up in tiny wire cages, shipped across the country in morbid conditions, hung upside down or beaten with a stick repeatedly until they are calm enough for the removal of their skin to begin. Did I mention they’re alive when their skin is peeled off? Apparently putting the animals out of their misery is too much to ask, such is the demand for fur that it must be produced as quickly as possible.

Remember Cruella De Ville? That evil bitch from 101 Dalmatians who wanted to skin 99 puppies to make a fur coat for herself? Remember how outraged all us kids were that someone would do something that evil?

Estimates show that 2 million dogs and cats alone are skinned alive in China every year. Let’s round Cruella’s bounty up to 100 puppies. To figure out how much more evil the fur industry (in China alone!) is than Cruella De Ville, we divide 2 000 000 by 100. Therefore, the fur industry (in China alone!) is 20 000 times more evil than Cruella De Ville.

Yeah, that was stupid, I know. But it proves a point: we were so incredibly outraged at the thought of 100 puppies being killed then skinned for their fur, so why aren’t we up in arms about this outrage?

Don’t think the fur industry isn’t one step ahead. They KNOW that people would shit themselves if they found out about their atrocities. They KNOW that their bottom line (i.e. profit) is based off of the suffering of sentient creatures. If you’re wondering why more people don’t know about it, consider the financial clout of the fur industry over animal rights activists and you have your answer. Bombard the people with luscious looking advertisements of beautiful people wearing fur and soon you’ll have a crowd of spoiled rich kids and their parents alike clamouring for your product!

I see only one reasonable justification for fur: to keep warm. The Inuit, for example, I have no problem with. But for gold-diggers, spoiled teenage girls and mindlessly self-indulgent celebrities to wear fur in the name of fashion goes to show just how heartless the drive for profit can make the industry and how heartless the infection of consumerism can make people.

Pure and simple, it is exploitation. It is the same kind of exploitation we see in clear-cutting, pollution, overfishing and depletion of mining resources (environmental exploitation). It is the same kind of exploitation we see when a Bangladeshi child is paid three cents to produce a shoe that is sold in North America for $150 and when a steelworker in Hamilton produces $300 worth of labour every hour but is paid only $20 an hour.

We must end the culture of exploitation if we wish to see an end to animal suffering, environmental exploitation and workplace oppression. We are all, in some ways, a victim of the culture of oppression.

Finally, I would like to transform my last comment partially into a critique of the animal rights movement. Like the gay rights movement which I critiqued in “Unite the Activist Front”, the animal rights movement is far too narrow. There are too many animal rights activists whom, for them, animal rights is the only issue. They see no link between animal exploitation and capitalism or statism, all being components of the culture of exploitation.

The animal rights movement has received incredible reactionary backlash, especially in recent times from shows like South Park and Penn and Teller Bullshit. There are multitudes of lies spread about the animal rights movements, much like other left or left-leaning movements. I won’t bother debunking these: any reasonable person’s bullshit detector should go off when reactionaries claim that animal rights activists “equate pet ownership with slavery”. Clearly not.

Nevertheless, big organizations like PETA have received criticism for being hypocritical which, in some cases, is true. They, for example, run some animal shelters which euthanize animals despite speaking out against such things.

Even so, the animal rights movement is right about:

- Vegetarianism requiring less resources to produce food. The IDRC reports that “At Toronto’s 1992 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Agriculture Canada displayed two contrasting statistics: “it takes four football fields of land (about 1.6 hectares) to feed each Canadian” and “one apple tree produces enough fruit to make 320 pies.” Think about it — a couple of apple trees and a few rows of wheat on a mere fraction of a hectare could produce enough food for one person!” http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-30610-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

- Animals shouldn’t be kept in confined cages in factory farms waiting for the slaughterhouse. It’s inhumane, cruel and ultimately unhealthy for both the animal and whoever eats the meat from that animal. On top of this, it is incredibly bad for the environment.

- Pet abuse should not be tolerated. Pets thought to be facing abuse should be removed from the owner and the owner should be sentenced to receive help for their obviously violent tendencies.

- Hunting is sometimes really stupid. If it’s a matter of “tradition” or whatever because you live in the Northern Ontario wilderness, that’s okay. But a bored rich man looking for a cheap thrill by polishing off a herd of deer is pointlessly killing off a living thing.

- Of course, the much-aforementioned fur.

- Things like the rodeo and some circuses could stand to treat the animals a lot better than they do. The abuse is hardly necessary, and if it is necessary for the sport, the sport should be very much discouraged. Cockfighting, dogfighting and bear baiting are all illegal for a reason.

Basically, the socialist movement could stand to include animal rights among its core principles (perhaps as a component of their environmental policy?) and the animal rights groups could stand to be more openly against exploitation in general while still maintaining their focus.

Please visit http://www.animalsaviors.org/index.html and sign the petition to stop the skinning of live animals and to educate yourself on the grim reality of the situation.

~ by redrising on May 6, 2008.