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Animals as Philosophical and Ethical Subjects


Animals as Reflexive Thinkers


Domestication and Predation


Animals as Entertainment and Spectacle

Animals as Companions


Animals as Symbols


Animals in Science, Education and Therapy


Animals in History


Animals as Food


Animals in Literature and Ecocriticism


Animals in Feminism and Ecofeminism


Animals in Religion, Myth, and Folktales


Conservation and Animal/Human Conflict


Miscellaneous

Contact
LKalof@msu.edu

Linda Kalof,
Seven Bryant,
Amy Fitzgerald
Department of Sociology, Michigan State University,
East Lansing, MI 48824

 

Culliton, Barbara J. 1991. Can reason defeat unreason? Nature 351 (13 June): 517.

The research community tends to assume that animal rights activists are “on the fringe,” but their membership numbers, funding, and political clout say otherwise. Much of the activists' power lies in their ability to call upon the support of citizens around the country to write letters in support of the cause, a base that scientists do not have. One reason scientists have so much less support, public and political, is that they aim their appeal “at the head,” while animal rights activist groups like PETA “go for the heart.” Presenting emotionally-based materials, including many photographs both of cute animals and of animals undergoing surgery or research, PETA and other groups “engag[e] in disinformation campaigns and misleading emotionalism.” The campaigns are particularly misleading because while the groups actually aim to eliminate all animal research, their materials suggest that they support the continuation of “absolutely necessary” animal research, a fib which helps them gain such a large base of support. A few government officials have recently begun to speak out against these “terrorists,” trying to spread the word about how crucial animal research is to continued medical advances and to protect scientists and labs from threat and attack. If scientists want to save animal research (which has already been significantly impacted by legislation requiring peer review boards for any animal use), they must move away from intellectual appeals, which will not overcome the activists' emotionalism.

 

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