AR - Where Did It Start? Who Had This Idea?

The AR Movement has been a silent cancerous growth for some time. Certainly to the great majority of the Australian population. It seems the Australian motto "She'll be right mate" blinds us and deafens us to the warning signs.

American public are some what more aware of the sinister agendas behind the feel good sale pitch delivered by PETA, H$U$ and other so called groups screaming 'animal welfare", we are yet to read 'their' definition of WELFARE.

Walt Huchens write some great stuff about the AR movement and gives permissi0n for his writing to be cross posted.

Below is a reply by Walt to a member of Pet Law.

My gratitude to Walt Huchens for his permission to cross post his intellectual property.

From Pet Law:

I have a dumb question, but I would like to better understand where the idea of animal rights (as opposed to animal welfare) originated, both in a philosophical sense (animals equal or superior to humans) and a political sense (elimination of pet ownership). I've read a few things but I am trying to understand if there was a single tipping point that brought about any of this, what motivates these views (true believers or some other political agenda), etc. Vegetetarians, anti-fur.. Any "nexus" info/sources would be appreciated.

This is NOT a dumb question. It is a very important question.

These are the standard works on the history of the movement; they have different approaches so all are worth reading:

The Hijacking of the Humane Movement, Rod and Patti Strand, 1993, ISBN
0-944875-28-9 (Revised edition in preparation)

Animal Rights: The Inhumane Crusade, Daniel T. Oliver, 1999, ISBN
0-936783-23-0

Animal Scam: The beastly abuse of human rights, Kathleen Marquardt,
1993, ISBN 0-89526-498-6

I think all are currently out of print but are available from the usual sources.

I am enough of a cynic to think there are ulterior motives behind this and without understanding that, I have trouble getting to a strategy to counter it.

In other words, "What makes this thing go tick-tock-tick-tock ..."

There ISN'T one person somewhere with a plan. Not even one organization. There are a bunch of PEOPLE going the same way for compatible reasons who together form a MOVEMENT. These people are full
of hate for themselves and thus for their species; the movement gives them a way to take that out on everyone else by attacking us through our animals.

Many people support some AR views and actions without actually being ARs. For example many shelter workers back MSN but only a few are ARs. The AKC's backing of PAWS did not make them an AR organization -- just badly managed. Very few lawmakers are ARs; even most of the ones like Lloyd Levine who sponsor bills are just opportunists.

When you scratch an AR, hate oozes out; if it doesn't then that's not an animal rightist. We often use the term 'AR-lite' for people who believe some of the ideas but don't have the hatred.)

The movement is served by many ORGANIZATIONS that provide status and often pay for their officers and workers.

The organizations depend on tons of MONEY. Nearly all of that money is donated, most of it in fairly small amounts by people who believe that their small checks help animals. They DO NOT -- nearly all of the money goes to raising more money, paying salaries, and passing and using laws to squeeze animal ownership and use.

We can't fix the AR people: it really IS 'mental illness masquerading as philosophy.' We can't stop them from forming organizations either -- that's in the Constitution. Our strategy is thus two-pronged:

1. Defend ourselves by preventing the passage of bad laws and the abuse of citizens 'under color of law.'

2. Take away the money by educating Americans to the real meaning of AR and the true purpose of the AR organizations.

We cannot stop the Bob Barkers of the world. But there aren't a lot of those people. If we stop the $25 checks, we stop the AR action.

That's why every list member, every friend and family member of a listmate, EVERYONE who loves animals is important. PAWS multiplied our strength severalfold, AB 1634 doubled it again: Maybe we now have 20,000 folks who are clued in? But we need a million. A million people who understand what the AR movement is about can stop those $25 checks.

Every one of us needs to reach out to others, every day, to spread the facts. People who have the facts, give to local organizations that actually help animals -- a good local shelter, a favorite rescue or rescuer -- NOT to HSUS or any of the other AR organizations.

When the money stops, the movement goes back to being a few hundred unhappy fruitcakes. This is America; it's perfectly okay to be a fruitcake if you're not hurting other people or yourself.

Walt Hutchens
Timbreblue Whippets