Animal Rights

Newkirk and Animal Rights in the Financial Times

by Stephanie Ernst

Published November 10, 2008 @ 06:27AM PST

Ingrid NewkirkThe Financial Times profiled PETA co-founder and president Ingrid Newkirk on Friday in an interesting and fair article. Check it out: The PETA Principal.

When I finished reading the first paragraph of the following extract, I groaned. But I soon realized that the journalist wasn't just inserting into the article her own opinion of Newkirk's philosophy and its implications--she was giving her initial perspective as conveyed to Newkirk and then presenting us with Newkirk's response. And this I appreciate. I particularly like that the journalist brought up the notion that animal rights activists believe that all human and nonhuman animals are the same and should have the same rights and allowed Newkirk to respond.

Do unto others, Newkirk says, is her philosophy – for her, though, the “others” includes Noah’s Ark in its entirety. But the belief that the welfare of the pig, porcupine and panther is as significant as our own is problematic. Humanity is outnumbered and, if Newkirk espouses the utilitarian ideal of promoting the greatest good of the greatest number, then, taken to its logical extreme, her thesis would see our wellbeing submerged by the wellbeing of fish and fowl.

“It’s just too simplistic to say I’m going for the greatest good of the greatest number,” says Newkirk. “I’m much more pragmatic than that. I’m not trying to get humans and animals to compete. I’m trying to get humans to modify their behaviour. We think we’re teaching our kids compassion, but then they have a choice between a beef burger and a veggie burger, and they go for the beef, which causes suffering. I care less about philosophy than the fact that we should avoid being demonstrably cruel by endorsing factory farming and the slaughtering of cattle.”

But if she considers animals “equal” to us, and we are dwarfed by their numbers, is it not inevitable that their interests will ultimately overwhelm ours? “No, no, no, ‘equal’ doesn’t mean ‘the same’. Happiness for a bird is not the same as happiness for man. I’m not suggesting we buy the chicken a golf-club membership, but if he has wings, let him fly and don’t keep him in a cage. Let him be who he is,” she says. And she turns away, composure dissolving.

Read the rest here.

Comments

  1. Lisa Smolen-Jenkins

    "We think we’re teaching our kids compassion, but then they have a choice between a beef burger and a veggie burger, and they go for the beef, which causes suffering."

    I try to impress this upon my friends & family: I'm not aiming toward a world overrun by animals, just that I/we should live in harmony.  The choices we make are so simple, yet the ramifications are far reaching.

    Reach for the soy milk instead of dairy.  Reach for the boca burgers instead of ground beef.  The "action" is the same: reaching & buying.  The benefits are greater.

    Posted by Lisa Smolen-Jenk... on 11/10/2008 @ 07:10AM PST

    • Report close

      You must be signed in to report content.
  2. Jason Grossman

    Thanks for posting this, Stephanie.  You are my blog hero.

    "I care less about philosophy than the fact that we should avoid being demonstrably cruel by endorsing factory farming and the slaughtering of cattle."

    But that IS philosophy!

    Posted by Jason Grossman on 11/10/2008 @ 01:59PM PST

    • Report close

      You must be signed in to report content.

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

Check Spelling

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Subscribe to RSS Feed

Stephanie Ernst Stephanie Ernst
St. Louis, MO

Stephanie is a vegan, a tree hugger, a freelance editor and writer, and an animal rights advocate. She lives in St. Louis with a motley pack of three dogs and two cats as well as the world's most adorable foster pit bull.

Related Blog Posts

close

This user's Profile page is not public. They have restricted it to only their friends.

Already a Member?

Create an Account

You must create a Change.org account to complete this action.
If you already have an account click here.