Your Turn
Enough to go around
In his recent editorial, Omar Yacoubi makes a case for prioritizing humans over non-human animals. The writer cites my victory as “Sexiest Vegetarian Alive” as a better way to reach people than PETA’s recent exhibit.
As the winner from that contest, I am proud to use it as a means to educate others about how eating feces-laden meat and pus-filled dairy products is far from attractive or healthy! Nevertheless, I recognize that not everyone pays attention to the same educational methods, so I stand by their genuine effort to make the world a better place.
Enough to go around
In his recent editorial, Omar Yacoubi makes a case for prioritizing humans over non-human animals. The writer cites my victory as “Sexiest Vegetarian Alive” as a better way to reach people than PETA’s recent exhibit.
As the winner from that contest, I am proud to use it as a means to educate others about how eating feces-laden meat and pus-filled dairy products is far from attractive or healthy! Nevertheless, I recognize that not everyone pays attention to the same educational methods, so I stand by their genuine effort to make the world a better place.
I ask readers to look beyond the natural emotional reaction and move toward a proactive stance on how we can examine history and learn to prevent any atrocities for any victimized group.
I urge everyone to consider the perspective from “Dominion” in which writer Matthew Scully proposes that “Justice is not a finite commodity, nor are kindess and love. Where we find wrongs done to animals, it is no excuse to say that more important wrongs are done to human beings. A wrong is a wrong, and often the little ones, when they are shrugged off as nothing, spread and do the gravest harm to ourselves and others.”
When we draw a line of separation and reinforce a system of domination between humans and non-humans, we overlook the real implications of our actions.
Our society should not set up a scale of rating what victimization is “more wrong,” for that leads to quite a dangerous line of thinking. We are, in fact, all animals – equal in our capacity to suffer when beaten and mourn when torn from family.
While humans and non-humans have certain differences, we also share many similar traits that should grant animals moral consideration in our social paradigm.
– Micah Risk
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Beyond comparison
After visiting the recent PETA display on campus, I was shocked to see images comparing the pain of slavery and lynching to unethical treatment of animals. This shocked me due to the fact that I could not believe that with all the educational resources available in the 21st century that someone could be so ignorant as to assume that there could ever be a comparison of any type.
African Americans are not monkeys or dogs – although treated as such in the past, the fact remains that we are intelligent human beings.
PETA has long practiced insensitive protest and educational methods. I recall a few years ago a protest at the Jefferson Hotel during a night when many millionaire CEOs were having a board function and dinner, members of PETA dumped animal waste in the parking lot in a failed attempt to disturb the event.
What eventually happened was the hotel manager called out a cleaning crew made up of mostly elderly workers and low-wage, hard-working employees (of all races, by the way) to quickly shovel away the “crap.”
PETA did this without any respect for the working class who work (or, some would say, “slave all day”) to provide for their families with little pay – and in some cases with no benefits. PETA has a long record of insensitivity; they simply care much more about birds and turtles than the suffering of people. Thank God we have Amnesty International.
– D. Lynn
Richmond, Va.
