I came across an article this morning titled "Animal rights activists are negative people but deserve
compassion," written by Anthony P. Mauro, Sr. Of course with a title like that it caught my eye, because I am, after all, an animal rights activist. But I'm not a negative person, I'm actually considered an optimist. I am a follower of the Laws of Attraction and "The Secret" and realize that good things come to those who are greatful and positive. If you have a moment, stop by and leave a thoughtful comment on his article.
Anyway, I read it over, wasn't pleased, and decided to leave a response in the comment section of the article. Here's my response to the article:
He writes "I include animal rights activists as negative people because they are not content to live their lives at peace with their world view, but instead work as despots to control those with differing ideas and values."
But this is not quite so cut and dry. Animal rights activists gain absolutely nothing from getting people to stop hurting animals [only the animals gain, it's a very selfless act]. And that is exactly what they want. They see an injustice in the world and they want to help bring it to an end. It is no different than an abolitionist who fought to help end slavery, someone who tries to help end world hunger, or any other number of issues we face in the world. They see an injustice and they try to put an end to it and raise awareness about it.
For someone who wants to discuss negativity and say that animal rights activists are negative, I thought his article came across as being negative. He is negative and wants to change the way other people do things. He says he's against animal rights activists wanting to stop those who have different ideas and values, but HE wants to stop animal rights activists, who have different values and ideas of his own. So he's doing exactly what he is accusing them of doing! If he believes that people should all be at peace with the world and not try to instill change where they see an injustice, then all activists, volunteers, and others who try to make change should stop what they are doing. Sound good? I think not!
If animal rights activists are considered negative people, because they try to help bring about more peace for animals, then there are a lot of negative people in the world who are trying to help many other segments of the population, environment, etc. For me, as animal rights activists, it's all about bringing about more peace in the world. There are two kinds of people in the world, when it comes to nature. There are those who harm it and those who protect it. When you kill the animals in nature you are not an admiring protector, but you are harmful to it.
Animal rights activists are trying to help the world be more peaceful. There is no peace in killing, no matter how you do the deed. Peace comes from not harming other living creatures and helping the world to be more compassionate toward all living things, not just those that walk on two legs and foolishly rule the roost.
Furthermore, he opens his article by mentioning philosophers and compassion. Many philosophers were animal rights advocates and even vegetarians. Their thoughts on compassion were not just for humans, but for other animals as well!
"As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap the joy of love." —Pythagoras
He also wrote: "Perhaps the most poignant example of negativity exhibited by animal rights activists is found while observing everyday life: The angler, hunter, or conservationist rarely protest the animal rights activist for their values or preferences.
Well, sir, that's because animal rights activists are in the minority. We make up around 3-5 percent of the country's population. So when you are in such a large majority there is likely no reason to stand up say anything against such a small group of people. But, having said that, I see that such a small group of people have ruffled your feathers so to speak!
He ends his article by saying "A wise person wrote that if we want others to be happy we must practice compassion, and if we want to be happy we must practice compassion. If so, it makes good sense for us to practice compassion for animal rights activists."
Again, he's talking about having compassion. Does he not realize what the definition of compassion is? Compassion is "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it." And that is exactly what animal rights activists want. We want people to show some compassion for animals.
“In seperateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength.” -- Buddha
