One Man’s hypocrite is another man’s principled activist  

Re: “The Cuter The Animal, The Better The Publicity,” May 28, SEE #809.
Maurice Tougas rightly points to the hypocrisy of the general public, cheerfully scoffing down factory-farmed cows, pigs, chickens, geese, and whatever else makes a buck for the multinational food corporations.

The big difference between them and animal rights NGOs is that the latter actually care about the animals and desperately want to see humane methods adopted in the taking of the creatures’ lives.
So, if you are a person who wishes to see animals treated humanely, and hopes to make a difference, where do you start? One doesn’t risk life and limb infiltrating and filming one of those hellholes of blood, gore, and feces (although, this has been done) when getting a public response and the potential for exposure is minimal.

No, you go for the big-bang, blood on the ice, celebrity photo op that is guaranteed to get the attention of the cameras and requires much less personal risk. After all, when one is fighting such a well-financed adversary as the animal exploitation industry, one has to use tactics that will level the playing field.

With regard to the seal hunt, the animal exploiters also have governments on side to heavily subsidize them and provide safeguards against such things as shifting ice floes.

Maurice is very wrong to finger the European animal rights groups as hypocrites. The truth is that Europe, and particularly the United Kingdom, is light years ahead of us in facing up to the barbarity. Yes, their tactics are not exactly “cricket,” but neither were the emancipators of slaves, the suffragettes, the gay rights movement, and so many others trying to battle a much bigger and stronger adversary.

 He also criticizes Greenpeace, arguably the most successful and influential environmental organization there has ever been. He accuses them of appealing to our “emotion” and tells us that we are all “bleeding hearts.” What the hell does that mean? What is a bleeding heart anyway — someone who prefers to sustain themselves by the most humane and ecologically sustainable methods available? Or is it traipsing around in animal skins behind the wheel of your SUV while chewing on a shit-laden, cholesterol-filled, artery-clogging fatburger?

Things have to change if we hope to continue evolving as a species. We have been going backwards for some time now and anyone who believes we can keep going down our present Bacchanalian path is in for a big surprise.

Recognizing the seal hunt for what it is — a commercialized relic of an ancient and respectable practice — is a major step on the road to moving humanity forward.
-David J. Parker

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