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Animal Welfare vs. Animal Liberation
August 15, 2011Welcome to the weekly CVA blog! In it you will find famous quotes, news and commentaries.
1. Tom Regan Explaining His View on Animal Welfare
2. Famous Quote – Romain Rolland, author and Nobel Prize recipient in 1915
3. Peter Singer: Animal Welfare Signals Moral Progress
4. Bible verse – Deuteronomy 10:14
5. Book Recommendation – The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial View of Animal Pleasure
6. This Week’s Video – Meatout TV Ad
1. Tom Regan Explaining His View on Animal Welfare
Professor Tom Regan clearly expresses his concern about the animal welfarist movement. I his view, "to reform absolute injustice is to prolong injustice.” He understands why many animal right advocates celebrate and indeed look for any way to alleviate animal suffering, such as improving the condition in which egg-laying hens live, etc; however, he believes that for animals, it might be counter-productive if terms like "humane" and "cruelty-free" encourage people to exploit animals without any burden in their conscience. His suggestion? To expose victimization and get mad as hell! In fact, he believes that when the public finally reacts strongly and decisively to the atrocities perpetrated daily against non-human animals, it will be the day abolition will start taking place. To read the article please visit ARZone's Tom Regan Week (part four) <http://human-nonhuman.blogspot.com/2011/05/arzones-tom-regan-week-part-four.html?spref=fb>
Anger is a primal emotion that, if used wisely, can be of great benefit. God's animal advocates should channel their anger into effective activism, which would help not only animals but also ourselves for its therapeutic effects. People need to see and learn why we clearly do not approve with the treatment of God's animals or the devastation of God's Creation as a whole, and that our goal is to seek an end to this.
2. This Week’s Famous Quote
"To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime."
~ Romain Rolland, author and Nobel Prize recipient in 1915
3. Peter Singer: Animal Welfare Signals Moral Progress
Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne, writes a compelling article celebrating the small but significant steps toward alleviating animal suffering in the form of animal welfare laws in many countries around the world, while at the same time highlighting that animal exploitation is still very much barbaric and widespread. Singer calls for stricter animal welfare laws and also for international involvement, as he rightly puts it: "The best hope for further progress, it seems, lies in animal welfare becoming, like human rights, an international issue that affects countries’ reputations." To read the article please visit How animal welfare signals moral progress"
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/13/how-animal-welfare-signals-moral-progress/
Our goal, as followers of Jesus, is to accomplish the abolition of animal exploitation. Animal welfare may indeed be a path to this goal; however, we should not strive to make God’s animals’ lives less miserable but instead free of abuse. We have a long way to go and God’s animals depend on our ability to show compassion, mercy and love.
4. This Week's Bible Verse
(RSV) Deuteronomy 10:14
"Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it"
Everything belongs to God and we have been given the privilege and responsibility to take care of it. It is then, when we assume this role, that we embrace a lifestyle that accords with it: a compassionate, sustainable and just one.
5. Book Recommendation – The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial View of Animal Pleasure
Read this very engaging interview with writer and animal advocate Jonathan Balcombe on his new book "The Exultant Ark". In his book, Balcombe combines breathtaking photographs with essays coupled with scientific evidence on the ability of animals to feel and express many of the same feelings humans do: pleasure, joy, grief and sadness among many others. Please visit How to Have Fun Like Monkeys, Whales and Foxes:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/exultant-ark-gallery/
6. This Week’s Video – Meatout TV Ad
This ad focuses on the split between how people perceive some animals as pets and some as food. It also shows the great variety of plant-based foods available to most people in order to make the transition to a plant-based diet. Please visit Meatout TV Ad, watch and share:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmjl8bWg06s
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