PETA activist discusses veganism, animal injustice

“I want everybody to think about the rights and freedoms human beings have been afforded over the last 150 years,” said Gary Yourofsky about events such as the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage. Yourofsky, a national speaker funded by PETA, spoke recently on campus to about 30 students and faculty.

“Decency and compassion are relatively new concepts when it comes to dealing with other human beings,” Yourofsky said during his lecture sponsored by VCU’s Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “My hope is that over the next 150 years we are going to display decency and compassion to the entire animal kingdom.”

An active crusader for animal rights, Yourofsky likens himself to many of history’s great activists.

“I have been arrested a total of 13 times for random acts of kindness and compassion following in the footsteps of other routine radical lawbreakers like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Caesar Chavez and Jesus

Christ,” said Yourofsky of his efforts to free animals.

Yourofsky said he talks to students and others at 30 to 40 colleges a semester to educate them about animal rights and veganism, the practice of eating plant products only and refraining from the use of all products derived from animals, including fur and leather. In contrast, vegetarians eat a diet composed of vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts and seeds with or without eggs and dairy products. The use of nonfood animal products is not an issue of vegetarianism.

The presentation included several graphic videos filmed at animal factory farms and slaughterhouses. Andrea Sydnor, founder and president of SETA’s campus chapter, said she underestimated the power of the videos.

“It was the first time I had seen (a) video of slaughter and animal abuse,” Sydnor said. “Before I had only seen graphic pictures, and I didn’t expect to be surprised by the video. I was very wrong.”

During his talk, Yourofsky focused on the injustice he said animals suffer at the hands of humans.

“Do not call me an animal lover. I have the utmost empathy for animals,” he said, “but I am not an animal lover. I loath injustice.”

In his lecture, Yourofsky individually addressed the treatment of animals by the poultry, pork, beef, fish and dairy industries. He ridiculed the meat industries and the fast-food businesses for portraying animals as happy, singing cartoon characters in advertising campaigns.

“These ad campaigns are brainwashing children,” Yourofsky told the audience. “We are born vegan. Human beings are not naturally carnivores or omnivores but are forced to become so as children by a society that has developed a taste for animal flesh.”

Summing up his reasons for animal rights and freedoms, Yourofsky quoted Alice Walker, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Color Purple”:

“Animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or women were made for men.”

During the second half of Yourofsky’s presentation, he described the ethical reasons to become a vegan.

“Only veganism can make the planet a nicer place,” he said. “Vegans don’t eat

anything that had a face, a mother or a bowel movement. We also don’t eat their products or use their skin.”

Yourofsky identified healthy living as another reason people should become vegan. He cited several studies that he said prove eliminating animal products from one’s diet dramatically reduces heart disease, cancer, stroke and obesity.

Responding to a question from an audience member who asked why he did not address animal research or engaging animals in fights for sport, Yourofsky said he now believes the best way to be an activist is to be a vegan because “95 percent of animals are killed by the food industry.”

“I no longer break laws,” Yourofsky said, responding to another audience

member’s question because “education is the best way to change (people).” He told the audience that animal rights’ protests should be geared toward education and the goal should be to reach one person.

Julia Bowers, a freshman business major, said she did not know what to expect about the lecture, but attended because she is interested in animal rights and recently switched from vegetarianism to veganism.

“The lecture was absolutely amazing,” said Bowers, following Yourofsky’s talk. “Gary is an excellent speaker, and I learned so much about veganism. I am excited that we have the chance at VCU to have speakers like Gary, and I hope that in the future we can generate more awareness of animal rights.”