Speciesism, a silent conspiracy against animals
By Jean Myers - Flagstaff Resident

The difference is that with racism, anti-Semitism, and prejudice against gays, hate is very likely to be present. Most people don't hate animals, but rather just convince themselves that their welfare doesn't matter. The interests of animals are disregarded to indulge people's most trivial desires: target practice using prairie dogs; exotic animals enslaved for life to do tricks for "entertainment," dozens of lives lost to make a "stylish" coat. Obviously, the reason behind atrocities against animals is most often a desire to make money. People are big on rationalizing activities they don't want to give up. But for those who are willing to face up to the truth about speciesism, at the risk of having to make changes in their lifestyle, here's some food for thought. 

What we have going is a sort of conspiracy to pretend what we all know to be true isn't true: that the suffering of one who can't express it verbally doesn't count. Suffering we're aware of but can't see doesn't count. Suffering of sensitive, intelligent beings doesn't count if it in any way contributes to improving the lives of humans, or even has the potential to possibly provide benefits to humans, however tiny or insignificant. Millions of animals are used in research every year. Many of these animals are involved in research to help cosmetics manufacturers determine if new cosmetics are safe for use by humans. It rarely helps. These animals suffer and die in vain. The same is true of medical research; the vast majority suffer only to tell us things that don't apply to humans in practice, things we already know, and especially things we could more effectively learn through other research methods. 

We refer to animals as "it," call ourselves and other humans their owners and call animals our property. But we all know animals aren't things. Those of us with animals in our care know how much like us they really are, if we are paying attention. We can see they love their family, whether biological or adopted; that they understand a great deal of what we say, if we're willing to admit it; that they want and expect to have a comfortable, pleasant, and natural life on this planet just as we do. But we still use expressions that imply that anything is all right if done to an animal, but unthinkable if done to humans. Examples of such expressions include, "beaten (or kicked) like a dog" or "used as a guinea pig." Some people seem to find it amusing to see TV ads depicting animals hopelessly trying to save themselves from becoming food (this tactic seems to work - restaurants keep using it.) 

A large portion of many people's food budget goes to the purchase of factory farmed meat, supporting the industry, ensuring that this form of torture of billions will continue. But what, in all of human history, has ever been more cruel? Factory farmed animals are usually separated from their mothers soon after birth, deprived of mother's milk, surgically altered without anesthetics, kept their entire lives in spaces too small to move around, stretch, or sometimes even change positions, deprived of light, fresh air and adequate nutrition, given hormones and antibiotics to keep them alive, then transported without food or water in vehicles without climate control, sometimes for days, to the terrifying ordeal which will end their lives. The words crammed into that sentence don't even scratch the surface, really, of how horrible their lives are from beginning to end. There is also the horror of being constantly bred, raped by machines, attacked by their fellow inmates as they slowly go insane, and at the slaughterhouse, the brutality is truly unbelievable. All of this is considered acceptable, somehow, by the public because the victims aren't human. 

One has only to apply the Golden Rule, to put oneself in the position of these victims in order to understand how wrong this kind of treatment is. If you were a calf, pig or chicken at a factory farm, or a mouse, dog or monkey in a research facility, and someone somehow told you in your own language that the reason you were being so severely punished was because you weren't human, would that be of any comfort to you? Would you then be any better able to accept such a life, or understand it? Of course not, because it's a theory which simply doesn't make sense; it's not a crime to be a nonhuman animal. But of course, most of these animals presumably don't have the benefit of understanding what we're doing to them and why. If they comprehend death, no doubt they spend their whole lives hoping it's near. 

Also, there are many other forms of animal exploitation and abuse, all made possible by the acceptance of speciesism, spoken or unspoken. What to do about it? Refuse to be a part of it. Buy only from humane farms, or better yet, go vegetarian. Buy only cruelty-free cosmetics and household products. Boycott animal acts. Treat your companion animals as you would any other member of the family (that means don't even think about abandoning them or taking them to a shelter if times get rough.) Work on your way of speaking about animals; don't call them "it." Perhaps most importantly, teach your children compassion, and if they get an F in science for refusing to dissect an animal, consider it a job well done. Take the family out for a vegetarian dinner to celebrate.

Jean Myers is on the steering committee of the Animal Defense League of Arizona. She has been a vegan, abstaining from the consumption of all animal products, for 10 years.