Karen Davis, Ph.D., is president of a group called United Poultry Concerns. Who are they, you ask? Well, their website states, "We are dedicated to the making of a future in which every chicken, turkey and duck has a voice that is heard," (she doesn't mention AFLAC) and "We invite the public to visit us and see what a chicken can be when a chicken is free!" Yes, one can only try to imagine the contributions that a truely free chicken could make to society. UPC would prefer that we not ingest our winged brethren. So a few weeks ago Dr. Davis wrote an "open letter" to the Vegan Voice, a vegetarian newsletter. Below is an excerpt (and I hope you're sitting down): "...I think it is speciesist to think that the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center was a greater tragedy than what millions of chickens endured that day and what they endure every day because they cannot defend themselves against the concerted human appetites arrayed against them. "Perhaps the word "tragedy" should not be used anyway in this context unless in the more precise sense of a fundamentally terrible thing happening to a human being who consciously or subconsciously brought the terrible thing upon him or herself, lived through it, and gained insight and wisdom as a result. In this classical sense of tragic drama, it remains to be seen whether America is a "tragic hero" or even a "tragic" victim. "If, though, the question is whether the World Trade Center attack was worse for its thousands of human victims than the sum total of misery and terror was for millions of chicken victims that day, I see only one nonspeciesist answer to the question." http://www.upc-online.org/011226vegan_voice_singer.html

LINK

-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), January 13, 2002

Answers

It won't make me give up my extra crispy with secret herbs and spices. If the Col. had MY recipe, he would also be a gentleman.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), January 13, 2002.

I too believe in animal rights. I think the animals that planned and hit the WTC, The Pentagon and caused the crash of the plane in Penn. as well as attacked our embassies and the USS Cole should be killed quickly and humanly. Then we could compost them and feed them to all those picked on chickens. This would save chicken lives 'cause no one would want to eat a chicken if they knew they had been fed on Islamic extremist! LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), January 13, 2002.

You know, I read stuff like that and suddenly I don't seem as kooky to myself as I did a few minutes before. :) I wonder what happens in a person's brain to make them go off the rails like those people do? You can't say they are nuts but their value judgements seem skewed to the point where they are viewing the world inside out.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), January 13, 2002.

Walt, your post should have been titled "What Karen Davis Thinks of the 9-11 Events". Far as I could tell, she was speaking for herself, and not animal rights advocates as a whole. We don't all think the same. She didn't speak for me, and I am definitely an animal rights person.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), January 13, 2002.

Everybody needs to be a champion. I would like to champion the poor carrot. You people yank docile carrots away from family and friends and leave them to die a slow death. You cut them, freeze them, boil them and then eat them. How would you like it if you were someone's favorite dessert? Jason and Hannibal are gentle compared to you. And why? Carrot mothers never tell their children they need to eat humans. If carrots have unusual tops they don't chide the abnormal one as a Celtic Head. Stop the violence. It shouldn't hurt to be a carrot. Send your non-taxdeductable checks to Carrot Rights Advocacy Program, Box 5732, Orange, TX 77609

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), January 13, 2002.

Yes, Chicken should be banned from the palnet so they won't be hurt by flying assholes, such as the UPC memba's

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), January 13, 2002.

Oh MY...... NOOOOOOO here we go again! Duck!

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

Awe come on, this is fun! Where else can you go to get a good laugh for absolutely nothing! LOL Also, I think the carrots deserve some respect too. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), January 13, 2002.

HOLY COW< oops they have an unknown quantity of rights too.

I have often wondered a few things, one of which is if Col. Sanders had liked to cook rabbits, would we then be living in a different world?

Just as a test we should all stop eating chicken and eggs, worldwide. Chickens can reproduce and have the young chicks on thier own in about six weeks. We should just release all of them, and let them eat whatever they like. That would take care of just about every green thing on the planet in less than a year. In year two they would eat up all the stray dogs and cats (rights or no), and quite likely all tha activists too. The problem would be then solved, sort of.

Just seems a little sensless to replace a manageable situation that a very small percentage of the population "may" consider to be a problem, with a giant unmanagable fatal solution. If we all die then the problem which will still be here will not bother us any more.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

Whoa......

-- Renee' at Briar Creek (fakeaddy@nomail.com), January 13, 2002.

Ed,

Unfortunately the environmentalists and animal rights people would rather have a world without people. I have heard them say that the earth would be much better off were it not for the humans. (WACKO)

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), January 14, 2002.

Oy vey!

-- Ardie /WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), January 14, 2002.

Chickens that are "free" in my area usually end up being a Fox's lunch

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), January 14, 2002.

Hehe--You have to kill (or eat something killed by someone else) to survive--plain and simple--even vegans kill plants (What about the rights of *plants*, I say? Here they are gobbling up CO2, and excreting O2, and these vegan -sarcasm- freaks -/sarcasm- want to eat them!)

This was toungue in cheek, btw :)

-- Brendan K Callahan (Grinnell, IA) (sleeping@iowatelecom.net), January 14, 2002.

IMO, the reason we see so many of these wacko's is the fact that they have spent their entire life in a city, never seen a farm animal, let alone a wild animal in real life. As Aldo Leopold said: "The danger in not owning a farm is in thinking heat comes from a furnace, and food comes from a grocery store."

I am firmly convinced, if the world as we know it was to suddenly fall apart at the seams, people like her (Davis) would either change their opinions very quickly, or die.

-- Phyllis (tmblweed@wtrt.net), January 14, 2002.

To be fair, we have no proof that "love thy neighbor as thyself" only applies to human neighbors. Heck, some of us here can't even manage that, so why berate someone who is doing their best to take God at His/Her word, however unpopular and even inflammatory their opinions may be as a result.

Perhaps what this person needs is not so much a lesson on whose life is more valuable than whose (after we finally decide who gets to say - I mean, after all, in America black people were not thought of as completely human until a historically short time ago), but rather a lesson in tact and gentle discourse. Come to think of it, it'll be a pretty big class. Have you all sharpened your pencils?

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), January 14, 2002.

A few years ago up here in canada some animal rights activists broke into a mink farm and released all the mink during the night. The next morning the farmer found mink drowned in his pond, hit by cars, and a bunch of remains left from the coyotes and owls that had eaten as many as they could. The rest were anxiously milling around their cages waiting to be put back in. It just goes to show that there are idiots in every crowd, some are just more idiotic than others.

Kristi

-- Kristi (klteather@yahoo.ca), January 14, 2002.

Good Grief.

-- Susan in Northern Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002.

I am not a "whacky" but I think animals should be treated humanely....there are extremist in every area of one's life and this woman quoted her is definately an extremist...

You can't lump all animal rights together with nuts like her just like you can't lump all farmers or homesteaders together because they are all individuals and all believe different things. gee...I thought we were all old enough to not get so weird on here....just because some of us have different beliefs do not mean we are whackos or whatever...I don't try to push my beliefs on you so why should you label me? think about it.

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002.

Wonder who can translate gobble gobble, quack quack, and cock-a- doodle-doo! I sure would like to meet that person it would make for an interesting conversation! "We invite the public to visit us and see what a chicken can be when a chicken is free!" Is this an invitation to dinner? Oh yeah, I wish chicken were "free", I'd have it more often for dinner :-)

Rita

-- Rita (rlynchjarss@aol.com), January 14, 2002.

Oh my, this is all very interesting to be sure. The way all kinds of animals and birds like to kill and eat chickens, I believe the free chicken would be the dead and eaten chicken in no time at all. I have to protect my chickens from stray dogs and even my dogs!,possums, raccoons, owls, and hawks as well as cats, bobcats, coyotes and fast cars. It seems that the passion is misplaced, as chickens will even eat each other given the right opportunity. It would be funny if it wasn't so very short-sighted.

-- Karen in Kansas (kansashobbit@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002.

For all those interested in human rights there were more babies aborted that day than were people killed in the towers.

-- kathy (davidwh6@juno.com), January 16, 2002.