'Animal rights' goes too far
By: David Martosko
Newspaper: The Chicago Sun-Times
By: David Martosko
Newspaper: The Chicago Sun-Times
I'd like to correct some erroneous information presented in a recent Sun-Times editorial about my organization and its position on the treatment of animals.
It's certainly not a "straw man" proposition to describe today's animal rights movement as primarily interested in granting rights to animals by denying them to people.
These are goals held by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and also by the much larger Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society celebrates World Vegetarian Day. Its president argues for "reducing meat consumption." This is no straw man. More like a stealth campaign. The Humane Society claims to represent nearly 10 million members, but I suspect most of them are unaware of the agenda their donations support.
Ironically, the Sun-Times did describe one actual straw-man argument: a lone New Yorker writer's contention that chickens raised for food are universally kept in factory- like settings. Most chicken farming operations are much smaller and would be ill-suited for the Upton Sinclair treatment.