This first version of this pamphlet was composed in the early nineties for a group I co-founded, called University of Toronto Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (U of T SETA). It was designed to inform fellow activists of some of the practices to which nonhuman animals are routinely subjected. Unfortunately, since the first version, laws have scarcely changed, and the same can be said of common practices described in this updated paper. One activist reported that she was as profoundly affected by its contents as anything she ever read--most people have little idea of what is actually done to animals behind closed doors of ultrasecure labs, and barricaded slaughter facilities.
Once again, this was a companion piece to the previous one, for U of T SETA. It was intended to enable activists to respond to common objections to animal rights or equivalent. Many of the rationalizations that people commonly give to dismiss a stringent concern for animals may seem "lame," on closer examination, and perhaps would not be accepted if they arose in discussion of, for example, human rights.
This guide is freely adapted from Joan Dunayer's brilliant book, Animal Equality: Language and Liberation (2001). As she rightly point out, part of liberating animals means changing how we think of them, and that necessitates a questioning of the language that we use to think about animals.
Does speciesism exist? If efforts are made to exploit animals "humanely," is it really humane or what we can call "animal welfare"? Or is it rather "animal illfare"? Use this analysis in terms of levels of harmful discrimination to arrive at your own answers!
The page is instructive of fallacies in reasoning that occur in any discourse, not just that pertaining to the ethical treatment of animals. In any case, examples of logical fallacies are drawn from arguments that reflect liberated views and also speciesist views.
Originally developed for a website on University of Toronto's practising of vivisection (the largest centre of invasive animal research in Canada), this critique was since picked up by the New-York-based Medical Research Modernization Committee (MRMC) website, run largely by doctors and scientists against animals used in medical research (for reasons that are ethical, health-related, and that concern actual waste of taxpayers' funds). It is also being used by Lesli Bisgould, Canada's only specialized animal rights lawyer, who is including it in a legal brief in her defamation suit against the Canadian Council of Animal Care (CCAC). The latter group had the temerity to indicate that she was violating confidentiality in her very general description of invasive experiments that occur in Canada, given that she is a member of an animal care committee. CCAC did this even though the descriptions she gave were general, and indeed common knowledge for anyone who is well-read on the subject. They picked on the "wrong" person, and Clayton Ruby will defend her in court.
Sayings and maxims that I have written over the years.
Written by David Sztybel, plus his favorite poem, with an analysis (Ulysses, by Tennyson)
Originally given at Kingston Public Library in the fall of 2001, Oct. 29, in one of a series of talks sponsored by OPIRG (Ontario Public Interest Research Group, Kingston Branch), in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Tries to bring to bear rational principles of peace to a troubled situation.
This brief study that liberators often need to be liberated from their own contradictions.
An academic article rendered into general audience terms. Summarizes Sztybel's assessment of speciesism, animal liberationist philosophies, and his animal rights theory based in his own theory of "best caring ethics."
Another academic article in general audience language. Argues that legislation that merely reduces suffering can sometimes be ethically acceptable and effective in both the short- and long-terms.
Are you a student with motivational difficulties? Or do you know someone who fits that description? Why not try to make a clean sweep of all potential "demotivators"? Sometimes a little insight can really help someone who is struggling turn the corner.
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