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Grr! Graphics for Animal LiberationHow to Do Animal Rights -
And Win the War on Animals
About
Chapter 1
Introduction to Doing Animal Rights
1. The Broad Setting
2. Mass Extinction
3. The Animal Holocaust
Chapter 2
Know Your Animal Ethics & Animal Rights
1. Animal Ethics
BackgroundEthicsImportance of Animal EthicsGlossaryNow a Biff From HistoryHow to Proceed?Ethical TheoriesEthical Theories ComparedChoosing an Ethical TheoryDo Philosophical Ideas Work?2. Animal Rights
What are Animal Rights?Background to Animal RightsMajor Dates for RightsAnimal Rights TheoryFundamental Animal Ethical PositionsVariations on Animal RightsAre Rights a Cure-all?Universal Declaration on AnimalsArguments For & Against Animal Rights3. Comparing Animal Philosophies
Animal Ethics vs Animal RightsAnimal Rights vs Animal WelfareAnimal Rights vs ConservationDeep EcologyConclusion
Chapter 3
Campaigning Methods for Animal Rights
1. Introduction
2. Campaigning
Where to Begin?Keeping GoingTen Essential Campaigning TipsMore Tips3. Civil Disobedience
What Is Civil DisobedienceCivil Disobedience & Animal RightsArguments For & Against Civil Disobedience4. Direct Action
What is Direct Action?Examples of Animal Rights Direct ActionIndividual vs Mass Direct ActionSea Shepherd Conservation SocietyStop Huntingdon Animal CrueltyThe Battle of BrightlingseaInset: Background to BrightlingseaComparing Direct ActionsDirect Action vs Civil DisobedienceEfficacy of Direct Action5. Action Planning
What is an Action Plan?Why an Action Plan?Who Should Produce the Action Plan?Before You BeginDistinguish Operations From AdministrationsCreating Your Action PlanYou Should Be SmartYou Should Also SWOTMake It HappenReview ItA Simple Action Plan Template6. Lobbying
Who Can Lobby?What & Whom to LobbyStart LobbyingHow to LobbyLobbying Techniques7. Picketing
What is Picketing?AR Picketing is Like Industrial PicketingHow to Picket8. Starting a Group
What to Do?Name & LogoFinding MembersA Constitution?The Group CommitteeGroup Success Or FailureNewslettersFundraising9. Publicity
10. LeafletingDesignPrintingDistributionPosters & PlacardsOther Media11.News MediaMedia TipsA Feature Article?The Letters PageNews ReleaseThe RadioRadio Tips12. InternetThe WebEmailCreate Your Own Web SiteDesigning Your Web SiteCapturing ViewersDiscussion Boards
Chapter 4
Activities for Animal Rights
1. Undercover Investigator
2. Video Activist
3. Animal Friendly Traveller
4. Preacher
5. Animal Rescuer
6. Investigative Reporter
7. Media Watcher
8. Philosopher
9. Flyer
10. Personal Activist
11. Animal Lawyer
12. Politician
13. Prisoner Supporter
14. Public & School Speaker
15. Aerial Snooper
16. Scientific Investigator
17. Solo Information Worker
18. Street Theatre Actor
19. Teacher
20. Voluntary Worker Abroad
Chapter 5
The Law & Animal Rights
1. Terrorism
BackgroundTerrorism DefinedAnimal Extremism & TerrorismDoes AR Extremism Work in Practice?2. Violence or Nonviolence?
Can We Justify Violence?Kinds of ViolenceViews For & Against ViolenceIs Violence Efficacious?Conclusion3. The Law - US & Britain
United StatesFBI vs ExtremistsBritainExtremist TacticsEstablishment Fights Back4. Police Arrest
In the Street & At Your DoorAt the Police StationYour TacticsKnow Your RightsRemaining SilentYour LawyerSuing the Police
Chapter 6
Assorted Animal Rights Activists
1. Steven Best
2. John Lawrence
3. Andrew Linzey
4. Richard Martin
5. The McLibel Two
6. Ingrid Newkirk
7. Jill Phipps
8. Henry Salt
9. Henry Spira
10. Peter Singer
11. Tom Regan
12. Richard D Ryder
Chapter 7
Animal Numbers Raised & Killed
1. Summary
2. Chickens
3. Pigs
4. Beef Cattle
5. Fish
6. Meat Consumption
7. Fur-bearers
8. Experimental Animals
Chapter 8. Extras!
1. Mutilations of Farm Animals
2. The Five Freedoms
3. Painism
4. The Forgotten Fur
5. The Golden Rule
6. Human Overpopulation
7. Climate Change
8. Think Like an Animal
Appendix 1
World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.
Appendix 2
Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare.
And Win the War on Animals
As a moral theory Painism helps you assess an action that causes pain. You might conclude that inflicting pain on experimental animals, for instance, could be morally wrong if it reduces only a little pain in other individuals. However, if the same action reduces a greater pain in other suffers you might conclude that it is morally right to inflict the pain on the experimental animals.
Painism says:
As a rival to Utilitarianism, Painism says that the rightness of what you do does not depend on the number of individuals who gain from your action weighed against the number of individuals who lose by it. Adding up everyone's pain in one group and comparing it to the aggregate of pain in another group is meaningless. Each individual can only feel the pain in his own body; no one can feel the total pain of their group. Two units of pain in a body plus three unit of pain in another body cannot total five units of pain that anyone can feel.
Unlike Utilitarianism, Painism does not permit a minority to suffer for the sake of the majority; the suffering of each individual is morally more important than the total number of sufferers. It is the severity of pain in an individual that is critical, not the quantity of pain unrealistically summed over many individuals. Painism, by making pain the basic moral issue and stressing the importance of individuals, leans towards philosophies that focus on individuals, such as animal rights and human rights.
The British psychologist and ethicist Richard D Ryder (1940 - ) originated and champions Painism (Painism: a modern morality. 2001). Ryder also coined the related term painient, meaning able to feel pain. A mouse, dog and human are painient but glass beads and marbles are not. Something painient can suffer and according to Painism all painient creatures have rights. (More about Ryder in Chapter 6.)
"The suffering of pain and distress has become the central issue in ethics today." Richard Ryder, Animal experimentation: good or bad. 2002:60.
Some Criticism
How can we assess whether individuals are suffering the same amount of pain? We do not know exactly what pain other animals feel. Trying to compare pain in animals of different species, say a mouse and a chimpanzee, is difficult or impossible. At the moment we can only make crude comparisons. Comparisons are also subjective and people may disagree about the level of suffering they are witnessing. Basing your moral action on pain alone, therefore, may not be altogether sound.
Painism states that only painient creatures warrant moral standing. Therefore, according to Painism, you would not give rights to intelligent aliens visiting Earth if they were advanced enough not to feel pain. On the other hand, they would deserve moral standing and be given such rights as respect and freedom from intentional harm.
Painism does not say much about the right of animals to life. If we can kill an animal quickly, without causing pain, then we might be tempted to do so (for instance for food or as part of an otherwise painless experiment). Painism can help us to decide moral issues, but at times we may need additional guidance beyond Painism. See Chapter 3: Comparing Animal Philosophies.
| How to Do Animal Rights - And Win the War on Animals. First published on the Web: April 2008. © Roger (Ben) Panaman, April 2008. All rights reserved. |