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What
has been defined as the war on animals is not
going to prevail over its "animal
rights" opposition if their methods entailing
the dissemination of information are in keeping
with the need to put an end to the war on animals.
By method I mean the strategy, and tactics used,
and by information I mean the realities upon which
strategy, and tactics must be predicated, which
can be defined as the logic of success.
Such realities
includes the fact that the animal rights movement
is involved in the ubiquitous struggle for power
that must be distinguished from the power that
polities seek.
The power sought by the former is legitimate
power, whose purpose is the ascendance of moral
and legal change on behalf of the animal
kingdom that must be distinguished from the power
sought as a means of domination, or armed aggression.
Such moral and legal change
must be predicated upon the goal of
"animal liberation," broadly defined to
include the ultimate repudiation of
the unjust status of animals as human property.
Victory over a powerful, and well entrenched
adversary consisting of the omnivorous majority,
and habitual exploiters of animals, must of
necessity be a piecemeal process whereby each gain
means a reduction of misery and pain and the
premature death of animals.
The belief that 'moral and legal
change' will evolve from prayer or
wishing can't be affirmed or refuted, but as with
other great social transitions must have the
necessary cause such as popular support. But
popular support can't occur in a context in which
many, perhaps the majority of people are not
aware of the germane facts. By germane facts I
mean the dreadful results of the human
exploitation of animals entailing continuous
suffering, pain and premature death.
Contrary to what is often cited, the root cause of
such vileness is not the unregenerate nature of
people, but lies in several factors. A non
exhaustive account includes the all pervasive
influence of habit that is either the best of
servants or the worst of masters, and quite
obviously a causal factor. Another is the lack of
interest, and temperament that make some people
blind to the results of their blindness. And there
is that god of fools; money,
that has enriched so many that benefit from the
torture and death of animals. Religion too must be
included in this villainous gallery, which must
not include all religions or people of the cloth.
"I would give nothing for that man's
religion, whose very dog and cat are not the
better for it."*
The
world is a matrix of change, and a "right
question" would be: Are the people of America
now willing to change their
lifestyles, and abort their small minded attitudes
and conduct? The answer to this question is
implicit in the tens of thousands of animals
killed by hunters every year, and the billions of
animals killed for food, and acceptance of our
factory farms, and the millions of animals that
are brutalized in American laboratories and
barbarous fur farms each year. The people of
America, however, are a heterogeneous lot
consisting of a plethora of people opposed to the
tyrannizing of animals, and constantly
striving, and succeeding to bring about change.
That the elusive dramatic change has not yet
occurred can be attributed to the absence of
enough people power employing the necessary means.
The means employed as
here suggested must be in keeping with the
magnitude of the objective, which can be defined
as a moral and legal change without precedent. It
will not do, however, to think in terms of going
from barbarism to a new world order for the
animals in the foreseeable future, it may take
decades. Progress toward the objective will be in
proportion to the prudent effort generated by a
growing force, entailing a progressive
transmission from one reform to another, during
which animals are still brutalized and killed.
The
question to now be answered is: What is the nature
of the here suggested method?
The idea is of ancient origin: the dissemination
of truth. It was via a website and the
internet that I tried to inform, explain, rouse
emotions, and stimulate new ways of thinking about
the plight of animals due to the savagery of man.
I have used this method since April 2001and as
of the week of 8/20/2006 to 8/26/2006 received 120,384
hits to the site.
I
can't evaluate the response beyond saying that the
respondents were exposed to, and informed of facts
that should be made public. And that human
brutality of which they had no, or little
knowledge, as well as conduct that they were
aware of, could in some way affect them as their
conduct could affect others. Because history
is not a chain of unrelated events falling within
unique settings, but much of a continuum in which
change is contingent upon a cause that had a cause
ad infinitum.
My objective opinion is that if the means as here
suggested are properly used by say, 2000 or more
people with an interest in justice for animals,
human or non human, a change of unprecedented
dimensions for the good will occur as a result of
their labors.
J. B. Suconik
*Rowland Hill
English preacher 1744-1833

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