Newkirk and Animal Rights in the Financial Times

by Stephanie Ernst · 2008-11-10 06:27:00 UTC
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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.

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
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