I have been trying for the last two hours to not write about this, partially because I have so many other things to do and partially because I am mad. I don't know if I will be able to contain my vitriol. Then again, I've been told my vitriol is one of my best and most charming features (good thing? bad thing? I choose to embrace it).
...Humane Watch has launched, aimed at reporting about the activities of [the Humane Society of the United States], from a pro animal industry perspective.
Humane Watch is "keeping an eye" on the HSUS, which they accuse of being bloated, vaguely corrupt, and (GOD FORBID) secretly devoted to animal rights. As opposed to welfare, which the HW's writer David Martosko doesn't have a problem with. It's just those crazies who think animals are individuals and deserving of consideration he doesn't like.
While most of the blog is couched in pretty moderate terms (don't want to alienate the readers or let on that maybe the author's not the "animal lover" he claims to be), the repeated implications that animal activists are dangerous ("vegan army", assurance that any threats from the "violent subculture" of animal rights will be reported) are just more propaganda supporting the erroneous ideas about animal rights that agribusiness and the media toss around. There is a dismissive, patronizing tone throughout that implies only fools believe animals are worth something aside from their uses to people. And it's written by a pudgy white dude.
It is clear from the slick design and the media fart surrounding its launch that the blog has some money behind it. At the bottom it announces: All content © 2010 Center for Consumer Freedom. The Center for Consumer Freedom is "working hard to protect your right to have the truth about the activists who threaten your favorite foods." (Poor foods!) Who are they, actually? They are "supported by over 100 companies and thousands of individual consumers... Many of the companies and individuals who support the Center financially have indicated that they want anonymity as contributors. They are reasonably apprehensive about privacy and safety in light of the violence and other forms of aggression some activists have adopted as a 'game plan' to impose their views, so we respect their wishes."
So: fuzzy, is it not? Who are those hundreds of companies? And what companies own those companies? They can't possibly disclose because of the dangerous "vegan army" prowling at their doors, but otherwise, if it weren't for those crazy animal rights people, they'd be transparent, serious they would. They're just scared of the vegans, is all.
(I'd be interested to know how many vegans these people actually know, for most of the vegans and vegetarians I know--quite a few--detest violence in any form. But it seems like reality would not be particularly useful to their reactionary drama.)
How much of this is about "consumer freedom", as they say, and how much of it is freedom as defined and funded by agribusiness?
Perhaps this sounds paranoid. Okay, you got me! I'm paranoid! I am absolutely not willing to trust any form of corporate organization. Not even non-profits. I am not a member of PETA, I have never given money to HSUS. I won't invest in anything that's not absolutely transparent. If I spend a few hours playing with the dogs at the Seattle Animal Shelter, or if I bring a bag of nutritious food or a blanket to them, those things that I am giving go to the animals. If I give them money, who knows what the fuck they will do with it?
I don't trust them.
And if I don't trust animal welfare organizations, or even animal rights organizations, I am sure as hell not going to trust a group rallying against "self-anointed 'food police,' health campaigners, trial lawyers, personal-finance do-gooders, animal-rights misanthropes, and meddling bureaucrats."
Bunch of fat white Republican men, it sounds like to me.
Do I now cry conspiracy? Why bother? It's clear that agribusinesses have their shiny pates up many asses at once, that they influence legislature (why is dairy a necessary component of the human diet according to the USDA when 25% of humans are lactose intolerant?) and aren't afraid to manipulate the media (vegan fucking army?). It's clear that honesty is not particularly important to them (shit in the meat, guys. they are literally and figuratively feeding us bullshit).
Are Humane Watch and its pudgy white dude author a straw man? Not at all: says right at the bottom of the page, they're sponsored (paid) by the Center for Consumer Freedom. Who bankrolls the CCF, though? If only they weren't so frightened of the vicious animal crazies, maybe I wouldn't be so skeptical.
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