Commentary #15: The Tide Is Turning
Dear Colleagues: Victor Schonfeld, director of the influential 1982 film, The Animals Film, followed up his two-part BBC World Service program, One Planet: Animals and Us, with an editorial, The Five Fatal Flaws of Animal Activism, in the Guardian, one of the leading U.K. newspapers. Schonfeld once again made clear that the mainstream movement had […]
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The Answers Should Be Clear
Dear Colleagues: In Ingrid Newkirk’s attempt to deal with Victor Schonfeld’s powerful essay, Five Fatal Flaws of Animal Activism, Newkirk tried to defend welfare reform in the following way: For those who decry gradualism, the practical philosopher Peter Singer would ask, “Would you prefer to live in the horror you’re in, bred to grow seven […]
Exploiting Exploitation
Dear Colleagues: In 2007, I wrote an essay in response to PETA’s State of the Union Undress for 2008. PETA has now done a State of the Union Undress for 2010, this time featuring the full frontal nudity of a woman of color—all “for the animals,” of course. PETA ends this video with a quote […]
Martin Luther King, Jr.: His Dream and Our Reality
Dear Colleagues: Today is the day that we celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King stood for two important and fundamental values: nonviolence and equality. Forty-two years after Dr. King was murdered, we are still a nation of inequality. People of color, women, gays, lesbians, and others are still treated […]
Victor Schonfeld: “The Five Fatal Flaws of Animal Activism”
Dear Colleagues: In 1981, Victor Schonfeld did the influential The Animals Film, narrated by Julie Christie. The Animals Film was the first film to document the ways in which humans treated nonhumans. For many of us who saw it back then (I being one), the film burned images deeply into our minds and helped to […]
Commercializing THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it.
Dear Colleagues: It has come to my attention that some “animal people” are marketing t-shirts and other items with THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it. They are also attaching our website. They are apparently making a profit doing so. Please understand that neither I nor this site has anything to do with these […]
Commentary #14: Analysis of Second Segment of “Animals and Us”
Dear Colleagues: The second segment of the BBC’s One Planet: Animals and Us, hosted by Victor Schonfeld (who did the influential The Animals Film in 1982), focused on vivisection. Schonfeld ended the program by agreeing that the animal rights movement needs crystal clear guidelines and he explored veganism as a possible way to deal with […]
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The Importance of Adoption; There are So Many Christines
Dear Colleagues: Several weeks ago, we adopted Christine. She is a 9-year-old golden retriever who was surrendered at a local kill shelter by her human family, which “no longer had time for her.” She was adopted and then returned one day later by someone who said that she did not get along with the other […]
Newsweek: “Happy” Meat
Dear Colleagues: Newsweek magazine has an article, No More Sacred Cows, the tagline of which is: “Some longtime vegetarians are returning to meat, but only with sustainably raised, grass-fed livestock like these cows at Ghent, N.Y.’s Hawthorne Valley Farm.” This is where the “happy” meat movement is leading. The animals are still being treated horribly […]
Short Videos on Animal Rights, Rights vs. Welfare, Animals as Property
Dear Colleagues: I get literally hundreds of emails weekly from people asking basic questions about animal rights, the difference between rights and welfare, and the implications of the property status of nonhumans on matters involving welfare regulation. I try to answer as many of these questions as I can. It may, perhaps, be helpful if […]
BBC World Service Program “Animals and Us” Ends on a Vegan Note!
Dear Colleagues: Although the second segment of the BBC’s One Planet: Animals and Us, hosted by Victor Schonfeld (who did the influential The Animals Film in 1982) focused on vivisection, he ended the program with the suggestion that veganism may be the way to deal with the problem of animal exploitation. The BBC World Service […]
Commentary #13: Analysis of First Segment of “Animals and Us”
Dear Colleagues: On December 31, 2009, the BBC World Service broadcast the first segment of the two-part program One Planet: Animals and Us. This program was hosted by Victor Schonfeld, who did the highly influential The Animals Film in 1982. The Animals Film was among the first—if not the first—film to reveal how humans actually […]
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Vegan Mondays?
Dear Colleagues: Happy New Year. I certainly disagree with the idea of a “Meatless Monday.” But I wanted to offer a brief thought about this matter. As you all know, I advocate veganism and I think that animal activism should consist primarily of nonviolent, creative vegan education. We ought to emphasize that veganism is easy […]
Reminder: BBC World Service Documentary: “Animals and Us”
Dear Colleagues: This is to remind you that tomorrow, December 31, 2009, and on January 7, 2010, the BBC World Service (audio) will do a 2-part documentary program entitled One Planet: Animals and Us. The documentary is produced Victor Schonfeld, who did the influential The Animals Film (narrated by Julie Christie) in 1982. Schonfeld will […]
Resolution #2 for 2010: Stop Vegan Bashing
Dear Colleagues: Speciesism occurs when we accord a different weight to a similar interest on the basis of species. An example of speciesism is vegan bashing. We all agree that human slavery—however “humane”—is morally unjustifiable. But animal slavery—if “humane”—is defended by some so-called animal advocates who characterize veganism as “absolutist” or “purist” or “fundamentalist.” This […]
Resolution #1 for 2010: Promote Veganism as the Moral Baseline
Dear Colleagues: Let’s start out 2010 the right way-promoting veganism as a moral baseline. Veganism is not, as some welfarists suggest, the “most” that we can do; it’s the least that we can do if we take animal interests seriously. If we regard nonhumans as moral persons, then we cannot justify eating, wearing, or using […]
Commentary #12: The Virtual Billboard Campaign: THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it.
Dear Colleagues: In this commentary, I discuss the virtual billboard campaign, which focuses on empowering advocates with a positive message that change is possible and that we have the responsibility to effect that change. It is time to reject the vegan bashing that has become the central focus of the welfarist movement. And I introduce […]
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BBC World Service to Do 2-Part Program on Animals and Animal Movement
Dear Colleagues: On December 31, 2009 and January 7, 2010, the BBC World Service will do a 2-part documentary program entitled One Planet: Animals and Us. Victor Schonfeld, who did The Animals Film (narrated by Julie Christie) in 1982, hosts the program. Schonfeld will question whether we have made any progress in this area and […]
A Note About Our Virtual Billboard
Dear Colleagues: Earlier this week, I posted two entries (1,2) about creating a virtual billboard spreading the slogan: THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it. The point of this project is to reinforce a simple idea: that a vegan world is something that humans have the ability to bring into existence. We only have […]
Designs for the Virtual Billboard
Dear Colleagues: Yesterday, I suggested that we have a virtual billboard that we could spread around the world: THE WORLD IS VEGAN. If you want it. So far, I have received two sets of designs in English and I know that there are others being done in foreign languages. Vincent Guihan, who has two excellent […]