Critter News

APRIL 26, 2009

I not only learned about Harvey Milk, but about the early stages of the gay rights movement (which is ongoing today when one looks at all the right-wing flutterings over gay marriage.) It made me think though about the animal rights movement. Are we really a social movement like gay rights and civil rights?

Animal Rights Movement 100

Animal Rights Movement Factory Farm Factory Farming Animal Rights 100

Critter News

APRIL 4, 2009

The feud between animal rights activists and researchers is among the bitterest in science. But many researchers - although adamant that animal research remains critical to finding cures and expanding medical knowledge - have come to concede that using creatures as human stand-ins is unnecessary for many procedures.

Animal Research 100

Animal Research Research Medical Research Animal 100

Animal Person

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

I've been having a difficult time blogging both here and at Animal Rights & AntiOppression lately because I feel like my thoughts are like " Groundhog Day." There are few animal rights stories in the news. The stories we humans create for ourselves to justify--or even glorify--our behavior are fictions.

Chickens 100

Chickens Slaughter Slaughtered Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

JUNE 16, 2010

From the Introduction : "Humans are fascinated by animals. For all our devotion, though, we sometimes seem not to recognize the needs and wants of animals. Do animals have rights? Do human beings have duties toward them regardless of whether they have rights? What kind of souls do animals have?

Advocacy 100

Advocacy Vegan Ethics Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 18, 2009

Because I've been thinking about the evolution of my own thinking--and languaging--regarding animal rights. Both animal rights groups and animal welfare groups use "compassion" frequently. Then again, so do people who kill animals for a living. Or vegan pumpkin pie. Why all the quotation marks?

Compassion 100

Compassion Psychology Tnr Vegan 100

Animal Person

MAY 23, 2009

I notice that if I use "animal rights activist" or anything with the word "rights" in it, because it's loaded and misunderstood, my listener often has an immediate bias of some kind. People have a relationship, whether or not they are aware, to the term "animal rights." But I don't want to talk about PeTA.

Animal Advocacy 100

Animal Advocacy PETA Animal Advocacy 100

Animal Person

JUNE 1, 2009

But " Minding the Animals: Ethology and the Obsolescence of Left Humanism " is a great look back at how we humans have managed to always find a way to consider ourselves unique, despite what the reality of the nonhuman world tells us. Here are some of my favorite passages. [S]ince

Speciesism 100

Speciesism Morals Humane Vegan 100

Animal Person

OCTOBER 30, 2010

I'm giving the book a vegan/animal rights message because that's my lens. Objectively, however, though the use message is there, believe it or not, you can talk about enslaving animals and still not present a clear vegan message. Or any vegan message. And the animals all go there after they are set free.

Factory 100

Factory Vegan Homelessness Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 5, 2009

The animals on farms are created for the sole purpose of human consumption. And their lives of exploitation, torment, torture and slaughter cannot be compared to an animal's life in the wild. I can, however, question the motives of a human who has no need to kill a sentient being or have someone kill for him, yet does so anyway.

Gazelles 100

Gazelles Slaughter Slaughtered Deer 100

Animal Person

MAY 25, 2010

I've decided that 20 lessons is a good number to stop at, and today I'll discuss what are probably the two most controversial ones, about the animal rights movement. The Appeal of Cliques The first six Lessons Learned from 4 Years of Animal Person and numbers 7-10 hinted about cliques, but only the negative aspects. Lesson #11.

Animal Rights Movement 100

Animal Rights Movement Vegan Lifestyle Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

It has entertaining stories, includes animals people care about because they like them (and also addresses that concept), and it describes how the numbers of various species decreased to the point of being classified as "endangered" or worse. if we believe it's our right to do what we want with the lives of other animals. . . .

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears California Condor Bald Eagle Lions 100

Animal Person

APRIL 26, 2009

Juluri's focus on animals used to entertain humans is intentional and speaks to the legal battle he refers to. Free Speech may be a noble ideal, but perhaps we are better served by thinking of it not only as a right but also as a privilege. They certainly depict cruelty to animals, right? What do you think?

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Cruelty Vivisection Open Rescue 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 18, 2009

While spending hours in the car I've been thinking about various issues related to sentient nonhumans, animal rights and veganism. And vegans are accused of imposing our belief systems and brainwashing kids? Why is the vegan message the harmful one that can get one fired from teaching? What kind of lesson is that?

Vegan 100

Vegan Ethics Humane Killing 100

Animal Person

MARCH 23, 2009

First, check out " The Vegan Solution: An Ideal Whose Time Has Come " over at Care2. And former vegan, Chuck Roomi, who says veganism isn't practical "For people who do not have a desire to eat exotic foods from thousands of miles away, or mechanically-formulated suplements" also warrants a response. So many things to say today.

Elephants 100

Elephants Vegan Bullhook Laws 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Masson tells Benjy's story--and Benjy stories--while explaining his theory about the mutual domestication of dogs and humans. You may know that dog/human coevolution has been a popular topic in the past decade, and if so, this might help: Masson "takes E. The point is that, as Chapter 3 is titled, "Dogs Make Us Human."

Dogs 100

Dogs Pit Bulls Greyhounds Kennels 100

Animal Person

MAY 26, 2010

Lesson #20 We still don't know what will make a critical mass of people go vegan. But other than multi-pronged, multi-media, persistence, I have no idea what will be necessary to make most people go vegan. Yes, I see on Twitter that someone read Eating Animals and went vegan that day. But I don't think that's the norm.

Vegan 100

Vegan Suffering Free Range Animal 100

Animal Person

MAY 31, 2009

Here's the problem: A friend doesn't respect my veganism. She jokes about eating animals. My goal is to be the best human I can be and make the world a better place and stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Why is veganism. My evidence? She jokes about it. And then I get this. I just turned 57.)

Animal Abuse 100

Animal Abuse Vegan Animal Slaughter 100

Animal Person

MARCH 29, 2009

There is a general consensus that vegetarianism and veganism are different philosophically. The underlying premise is that you can know what is right (such as me knowing what's right then eating cow flesh in the form of filet mignon for a year), but that by no means will necessarily manifest in your behavior. How about this?

Psychology 100

Psychology Campaign Animal Rights Movement Suffering 100

Animal Person

DECEMBER 2, 2009

Human slavery, of course. And 99% of the population (as in, 1%, I believe, are vegans) doesn't care. Injustice wears many masks, but behind them all is the same face: the belief that you have the right to use and profit from someone else's life. But the cow part? Sex slavery.

Cows 100

Cows Vegan Trafficking Transported 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 10, 2010

I'm not one of those people who thinks family is composed of only humans or humans who are biologically related. The idea of family is currently being used by the dairy industry in a series of commercials with the tag line: "99% of dairy farms are family owned." Tags: Activism Current Affairs Economics Ethics Language.

Family 100

Family Factory Farm Factory Farming Cows 100

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

Most moral vegetarians list fish and fowl as animals one should not eat. Vegan vegetarians who eat only vegetables, fruit, and nuts do not completely remove all microorganisms from their food, even with repeated cleaning. If some microorganisms must be killed in the process, this is unfortunate but necessary for human life.

Morals 40

Morals Vegetarian Meat Killing 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 4, 2009

Becoming a vegetarian is the most practical and effective step one can take towards [sic; kbj] ending both the killing of non-human [sic; kbj] animals and the infliction of suffering upon them. KBJ: Singer’s claim is that one should not contribute, even incrementally, to animal suffering. Tags: Moral Vegetarianism.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Morals Protest Protesting 40