Peter, Gary, and Tom.

The last book I did read when it comes to animal rights was EATING ANIMALS, if I wasn't already vegan I would have gone vegan after reading this intense and deeply sad book in which the author personally visits animal factories including small farms with “humanely” raised animals, talks with slaughterhouse workers, learns and shares with us, the readers, that annually thousands and thousands of pigs and cows are skinned and cut in pieces while still alive, oops, they missed the stunner!, and even joins an animal rights activist on her night trip to a local mega chicken farm. The best part? All facts are checked by independent fact checkers. It is not manipulated drivel from an animal nut. It is solid as a brick.

Even when you are a vegan for a decade or more, or maybe ESPECIALLY when you are a long time vegan, or animal rights activist, you should read first hand accounts of the horrors of our animal friends occasionally.

Too many omnivores are shocked by undercover videos into becoming vegan, only to slowly transform their anger and ethic awakening into a mild everlasting social vegan party feeling, buying one vegan cooking book after the other, having social conversations on vegan forums, avoiding “negative issues and negative attitudes”, being proud that they are so tolerant towards omnivores, thinking that Oprah going vegan for 21 days is a “vegan victory”, etc. Que merde de taureau! The only true victory is an empty cage, the rest is clutter. 

Anyway, besides reading the next cool vegan cooking book, one also must occasionally read or watch about the lifes of animals on factory farms, to stay motivated.

This month I wanted to read some animal rights philosophy. Before doing that, I decidedto google a bit to see what’s available on the AR Philosophy market.

Peter Singer.

The first Great animal rights philosopher is Peter Singer who revolutionized the thinking of millions of people with his book Animal Rights first published in 1975. Many people of that generation went vegan and animal rights thanks to his “Animal Liberation”. I also did read that book, and although I can’t remember each detail of the contents anymore, just the well expressed idea that animals had RIGHTS was revolutionary and inspiring to me.

There is one minor tiny detail why Peter Singer at present isn’t such a good moral compass anymore for us ethical folks. Peter is not a vegan but a vegetarian, possible even an omnivore, and is an advocate of Happy Meat. (Pink Unicorns, anyone?)

Also in general, excuzez moi for being direct but you have to blame Gandhi for that, who advocated to simply tell the truth (as one perceives it with logic arguments) without sugarcoating it, Singer holds some pretty weird views and not the weird-but-nice views but the creepy-kind-of-weird views.

Singer seems to be mild about infanticide; "killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living."    Now hold a minute, you are telling me a baby doesn’t want to go living? What the crap?

Singer is also in favor of athletes being allowed to take whatever performance-enhancing drugs they wish to take. Singer argues "without drugs, those with the best genes have an unfair advantage.” Singer clearly lost it and is ripe to work for MAD magazine.

Singer also advocated that society should pay the bill for surrogate mothers and give surrogate mothers a fee for their service.
Singer is not aware of the out of control over population? Instead of advocating surrogacy motherhood, he should advocate people having less children. Society should pay for people who cannot have babies the natural way and instead inseminate some Pilipino or Thai girl for a few bucks to carry a baby?

Singer also doesn’t see nothing wrong of sex between humans and animals, as long as there is no “harm” for the animal. Initially Peta publicly agreed with it, with “challenging” remarks so typical for Peta and so damaging for the Animal Rights, like “If you French kiss your dog and he or she thinks it's great, is it wrong?” but later distanced itself from it. (Being inconsequent is a core characteristic of Peta.)

Any person with the mildest intelligence could see that Singers defense of sex between people and animals (read: pet animals) is disturbingly wrong. It takes an overqualified philosopher to talk a wrong into a right, I guess.

Any ordinary person can see that there is no real consensus when we talk about sex between adults and children, or sex between the office boss and a subordinate, or a pet owner and his pet animal. There only would be real consensus if such a person would try to have sex with an independent animal in nature, let’s say, a wild buffalo, a tiger or a lion, or a wolf. Get the picture?

To top it of, of course people who want sex with animals are not vegans or animal rights people, people who truly respect the integrity of animals, but sick omnivores, who are not satisfied with eating animals, but also want to treat them and dominate them as a lust object. Ethically disgusting! It  tells a whole lot of people like Singer (and Peta) to defend such a practice. Wacko!

Basically, Peter Singer is useless as a moral compass or fountain of stimulating and worthwhile stimulating vegan ideas and concepts.

Most of the above information is from Peter’s Singer Wikipedia page and comes with footnotes and can be easily checked.

Gary Francione.

While Peter Singer is a nutter at least has influenced a whole generation of omnivores into vegans and animal rights activists, Gary on the other hand has influenced a whole new and young generation of spirited vegans into anti animal rights people, turned good vegans into people who now deeply despise the whole animal rights movement, who denigratingly call their fellow vegans and animal rights activists “New Welfarists”.
For Gary, it seems, not the animal factories are the enemy, but animal rights activists, oops, I mean “Welfarists”!

Gary just don’t get it. Take a look at Amnesty  International or other human rights groups. When it comes to innocent political prisoners in various countries these groups fight for release of these innocent prisoneres. BUT AT THE MEAN TIME these groups ALSO demand improvement of the treatment of these innocent prisoners, e.g. they demand that innocent prisoners are not tortured and have access to lawyers etc. 

Basically that is what Peta also does when it comes to animals. Peta wants empty cages, but at the mean time they try to make the life of these poor animals less cruel. According to Gary that is fundamentally wrong and makes Peta “new welfarist.” ABSURD! By demanding better treatment Amnesty International is not prolonging the incarceration of the innocent prisoner, by demanding better treatment for factory animals Peta is not prolonging their suffering, just being realistic and offering real help to real animals in real cages for the present time.

In my opinion, Gary is very limited in his ideas, basically he thinks the whole, not most but the whole animal rights movement is fundamentally wrong. Only Gary good. You wrong. Okay, whatever, dude.

Garies blog is amusing though and I have to say I more than occasionally agree with his posts when it comes to official vegan organizations. Gary makes an interesting blogger and occasionally has something worthwhile to say, but he hardly is a great philosopher or a moral compass directing to the good direction!

Tom Regan.

I occasionally did hear or read the name Tom Regan a few times the last years but never took the trouble to read something from his hand. It was only after my personal “that’s it!! No more bull shit fro the Peta people!!” feeling I had with Peta a few weeks ago after the Big Titties photo, that I stumbled on Tom Regan’s website, and was able to read some of his articles. My luck!

Tom Regan is an unapologetic ARA, Animal Rights Activist, so that is good. Omnivore Tom started as an anti war activist during the Vietnam war, a long long time ago, and was open minded enough to let himself be influenced by Gandhi’s “Experiments With The Truth”, incidentially also one of my favorite books that inspired me also although in a different way, in which Gandhi confronts omnivores who claim to be into non violence with a “have look in your refrigerator” kind of answer, to “see the dead bodies of animals”. Tom did visit the local slaughterhouse, was shocked, and took the right and honorable decision to go veg.

Tom Regan is an “abolitionist”, that means he wants Empty Cages, Not Bigger Cages. What makes Tom Regan a great philosopher, in my opinion, is that he can distinguish between himself and other people. LOL. I mean, while Gary, who also is an abolitionist, wants to impose (force) his ideas and his point of view on other people, and who, like a little spoiled child, gets all nasty when that fails, and absolutely cannot see the good in anything different from his viewpoint, Tom on the other hand, recognizes that despite the little differences we, vegans and ARA’s, might have, we all want exactly the same thing; end this insane modern massive legal animal cruelty. Stop the Horror. Work together, being critical okay, but not trash each other mindlessly.

In short, Tom Regan acknowledges and respects that many persons can have the same goal but different roads to that goal. Tom Regan is a unifer, a person who sees the good in other fellow vegans and ARA’s, and who comes with the right arguments for animal rights.

In short, Tom Regan seems to be a good person to be influenced by, or stimulated, because he is unapologetic vegan, (he is not a “pleasing vegan” or into Happy Meat), a unifer, and he simply has good and solid arguments and logic, and the compassion for fellow vegans and ARA’s, and fits it all in the real world, it isn’t just reasoning for the sake of reasoning, but it touches real issues.

With some of his viewpoints I have a different viewpoint, but I see his logic and he has solid arguments for his viewpoint, so I wouldn’t even say that I “disagree” with him on some points, simply that I have another viewpoint, on some minor points. Anyway, it is good to be influenced by somebody’s wise arguments and so form your own ideas and opinion, but one never shouldn’t want to be a mindless “follower”.

Tom Regan's Website www.tomregan.info with many articles and essays.

TIP Of The Day: If you are looking for stimulating ethical writings with regards to animal rights my humble advice is to dig in on Tom Regan. A decades long consequent defender of animal rights, an unapologetic vegan, with solid arguments in defense of animals that fit the real world and won’t disappoint you.

His website offers many short essay and articles from his hand;