A n i m a l
W r i t e s © sm
The
official ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue # 08/12/01
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
~
MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~ sbest1@elp.rr.com
THE EIGHT ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ Planet of the Apes: Where Humans are
Slaves by Steve Best
2 ~ Alert: Oprah and Premarin
3 ~ Croton Ohio Fish Kill
4 ~ Salicylic Acid
5 ~ Reform Rabbis Consider 'New Kosher' Guidelines
6 ~ Farm Sanctuary Launches Sentient Beings Campaign
7 ~ Dog by Dawn Ireland
8 ~ Memorable Quote
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Planet of the Apes: Where Humans are Slaves
by Professor Steve Best - sbest1@elp.rr.com
"Get your stinking paws
off me, you damn, dirty human!"
In 1968, the original Planet of the Apes (POTA) first
appeared in American movie theatres. On the surface, it was a sci-fi tale
about a post-apocalyptic Earth where apes have evolved and gained control over
a world destroyed by humans. But scratch deeper, and the film is heavily
charged with political allegories about the anxieties and social struggles of
the time. Based on a 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle entitled Monkey
Planet, and co-adapted for the screen by Rod Serling, the creator of The
Twilight Zone, POTA was a smash hit with American audiences. In
today's scale, it grossed over $100 million, and generated 4 sequels, a TV
series, a Saturday morning cartoon, comic books, vast merchandising, and even a
traveling theatre act.
Despite poor production values, faulty plot lines, clumsy dialogue,
one-dimensional characters, and thematic heavy-handedness, the film series
remains important for establishing the genre of sci-fi sequels and exploring
serious issues such as race, violence, prejudice, religion, and the pathologies
of power. POTA is premised on a reversal of master-slave
relations, such that human beings are oppressed by a superior species of
apes. Thus, it is humans, not apes, who are slaves regarded as dirty,
smelly, and ignorant, whose intelligence is limited to mimicking behaviors, and
who consequently are confined, hunted, and exploited for entertainment value
and scientific research.
In the first film, the provocative story line was matched by a stunning ending
in which misanthrope astronaut Charlton Heston discovers the ruins of the
Statue of Liberty, thereby realizing that the bleak planet he landed on is his
own (future) Earth after humans have destroyed themselves through nuclear
warfare. Subsequent films go back in time to the early 1990s when, after
a virus has wiped out all cats and dogs, apes become domesticated servants and
pets. But the apes begin to rebel, and humans fight back (unsuccessfully)
for control of the top primate position. Having begun on the dark note of
nuclear apocalypse, the series ends on a utopian motif of apes and humans
working harmoniously to rebuild a civilization.
The battle between apes and humans provides a rich allegory for the civil
rights struggles and Vietnam War that dominated the social agenda of the time,
as the nuclear holocaust theme legitimates the worst paranoia of the Cold War
period. The spectacle of hairy apes dominating white humans brings to
light the codes of conquest whereby whites have subdued people of color since
the dawn of colonialism five centuries ago. Putting white humans in the
role of conquered rather than conqueror, object rather than subject, vividly
estranges one's sense of normal and directs our focus to the utter wrongness of
violating the integrity and rights of persons, regardless of their race or
place. It is to hold up a mirror to the oppressor and proclaim,
"This is what you are like. Here is how you treat us. Know
what it is to be dehumanized, enslaved, and reduced to the status of a
thing."
Of course, POTA concerns not only how some human beings dominate others,
but also how the entire human species colonizes other animal species, including
their closest biological relatives, the great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas,
orangutans, and bonobos). Thus, for the zeitgeist that produced POTA,
it is perhaps no coincidence that amidst the heated conflicts of 1968, Jane
Goodall published her first major scientific paper about the making and using
of tools in chimpanzee societies. Moreover, in 1969, Allen and Beatrix
Gardner documented their successful efforts to teach American Sign Language to
Washoe, a baby chimpanzee. With these and other major breakthroughs in
the field of ethology, the study of animal emotions and intelligence, human
culture was making a paradigm shift in its understanding of animal minds.
The illumination gleaned from the reversal tactic of the series applies no less
to human domination of animals than to the domination of one human group over
another.
Deeply embedded in the political unconscious of POTA is the guilt of the
human species for its genocidal and ecocidal institutions and mindsets.
Throughout the series of POTA films, there are profound moments of human
self-loathing, as evinced in the misanthropy of Heston's character who complains
about the violent nature of human beings and joins the space exploration team
in the hopes of finding a better species, as well as statements like "The
only good human is a dead human." The reversal of power in the POTA
genre suggests that in many ways humans lack intelligence, that they are
psychologically unfit to hold the technological knowledge they monopolize, and
that they are an evolutionary dead-end.
Some of the anti-discrimination allegories remain in Tim Burton's summer 2001
"reimagining" of the original film, although in muted form as he
focuses on style over substance and action over ideology. The reversal
strategy is most powerful when the apes capture a child and put it in the cage
of a young female ape who keeps the human as a pet. For the snarling,
human-hating General Thade, "Extremism in the defense of apes is no
vice." But the critical foil to (ape) speciesism, and the liberal
voice of the movie, is a female ape, Ari, a human rights activist who is
greeted with as much contempt on her planet as animal rights activists are on
Earth. Whereas the astronaut played by Charlton Heston crashes on his own
Earth, Mark Wahlberg's character lands on a foreign planet, but eventually
returns to Earth for the surprise ending of the movie (and setting up yet
another round of sequels). The time travel theme sustained throughout the
series raises interesting issues about evolution and sustainability, prompting
reflection on whether "progress" is in fact regress through the
building of increasingly gluttonous economies and sophisticated weapons of
destruction.
Sierra club founder John Muir once said, "In a war between humans and
bears, I'd take the side of the bears." Burton's film, and the
entire POTA series, offers a superb test of one's species identity: Whom
do you root for when the humans are battling the apes? The night I saw
the film, the audience was loudly championing the humans against the apes, a
fact that makes one wonder if the messages about the evils of slavery, racism,
intolerance, and violence is buried in an action spectacle that ultimately
codes the humans as the underdog for whom we should root.
Humans as underdog? The Great Ape Project group has complained that POTA
ludicrously presents the apes in positions of power over humans, and masks the
obvious fact that it is humans who are the real oppressors. Far from
poised on the verge of taking over, apes are at the precipice of
extinction. While the Great Ape Project totally misses the stinging
critique of human violence and imperialism throughout the POTA series,
it is true that Burton's film does nothing to increase our understanding of the
great apes and their plight and it likely aggravates human alienation from
their kin.
We share almost 99 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, who are closer to us
biologically than they are to orangutans. We emerged from a single
ancestor some 5-8 million years ago, and we are both of the scientific order of
primates, which is formed of 12 families and comprises over 200 species.
Great apes are at least as intelligent as a 2-3 year old human, and they live
in complex cultures governed by rules rather than mere instincts. With
the aid of sign language, their rich minds, needs, emotions, and personalities
are open for us to behold, most famously in the case of Koko the gorilla.
Yet we live in a time when human beings are annihilating their next of kin,
destroying their habitat for timber and other resources, waging wars in their
territories, capturing them for medical research and entertainment industries,
and killing some 6,000 chimpanzees a year for bush meat which has become a
highly prized status symbol in many African cities. According to
primatologist Roger Fouts, there were 2 million chimpanzees living in Africa at
the turn of the 20th century, and likely an equal number of gorillas in Africa
and orangutans in Asia. Now, however, there are only 80,000 to 120,000
chimpanzees left in Africa and they could easily be wiped out within a couple
of decades.
Ultimately, the message of POTA's concerns the evils of prejudice and
discrimination of any kind. POTA's powerful turning of the tables
shows humans what it is like to be lowered to the status of a thing, to be
enslaved by a species that considers itself superior, and who uses religion and
mythology to justify this hierarchy. In this parable of power, victims
become victimizers, as age-old patterns of hierarchy reassemble in new
forms. POTA brings mixed messages about primates, but the nature
of the crisis and the task ahead is clear: we must move immediately to preserve
and expand the habitat of the great apes, and rethink the meaning of personhood
in light of the recent unveiling of the great apes' remarkable minds.
*Originally written for Life Saving Choices, the newsletter of the Vegetarian
Society of El Paso.
Steve Best is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at the
University of Texas, El Paso. He is Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society
of El Paso, a long time vegan and animal rights activist, and author of
numerous books and articles in the areas of social theory, postmodernism,
and cultural studies. Some of his writings are posted at
http://utminers.utep.edu/best/.
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Alert: Oprah and Premarin
from info@uan.org
With
millions of female viewers, The Oprah Winfrey Show has the potential to truly
spread the truth about Premarin nationwide. However, during a recent
episode in which Oprah interviewed guests about menopause and hormone replacement,
the issue of how Premarin, the most popular hormone replacement drug, is
produced never came up. Instead, Oprah allowed her guests, including
Premarin spokesperson Lauren Hutton, to tout the benefits of hormone
replacement therapy without ever acknowledging that this drug is made with an
estrogen derived from horse urine.
Ask Oprah to look at the entire Premarin picture, including the fact that tens
of thousands of mares and foals are suffering to produce Premarin. We've
done so as well and are now hoping you'll help us reach out to Oprah.
To add your voice to ours, go to
http://www.oprah.com/email/tows/email_tows_main.html
to submit a story suggestion. If she hears from enough of us, maybe Oprah
will take a look at the not-so-nice side of the Premarin story.
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Croton Ohio Fish Kill
www.upc-online.org
www.pcrm.org
Ohio
Buckeye Egg Farm, one of the 5 biggest chicken factory farms in the country,
has once again violated its agreement with the Ohio EPA (one of the more
industry oriented EPA's) and dumped its egg wash with high concentrations of
ammonia into the Croton fields, from which they drained into the river and
killed fish. Egg wash is used to rinse chicken waste off of the eggs.
While the AG's office has threatened to jail Buckeye officials, thousands of
environment, small farmer, consumer, labor, and animal rights groups want
factory farms banned.
In Wyandotte County, flies generated by Buckeye Egg Farm chicken waste have
been a factor in the deaths of mammals.
The concentrated chicken waste is a cause of histoplasmosis, generates great
fly populations (nature's way of eliminating waste), odor, salmonella, ammonia
and other toxins in the streams.
Last fall, 900,000 chickens were smashed in Croton by a tornado. Those
chickens who survived 9 days without food and water (approximately half) were
apparently bulldozed alive into craters, after gassing attempts failed.
Eggs have 275 mg of cholesterol each, take 120 gallons of water each.
Each egg represents an average 32 hours a chicken was confined in a cage 3 ft
by 1 ft with 5 other chickens, debeaked so they will not peck each other to
death from the overcrowding.
New studies have found that salmonella can be passed into the chick from the
mother through the egg shell.
Buckeye attorneys in the past have gotten suits by Larry Harter and others
thrown out on technicalities.
Anton Pohlmann, Buckeye owner, was forbidden to factory farm in Germany after
worker deaths from nicotine based insecticides as well as a pattern of cruel
treatment of animals. Republican Governor Voinovich, now Senator
Voinovich, welcomed him to Ohio. For this reason, neighbors of Buckeye
farmers in several Ohio towns call the flies generated by Buckeye waste
Voinovich flies.
Ohio Wesleyan students have studied the high salmonella concentration in waters
near Buckeye operations. OPIRG, Ohio Public Interest Research Group, has
successfully sued Buckeye re the marketing of 6 month old eggs. In
Toledo, migrant labor protection groups are opposed to alleged use of child
labor. The Ohio Farmer's Union along with those of other states oppose
the concentration of capital and unethical marketing practices of Buckeye and
other operations.
Maine, Arkansas and Maryland also have huge factory farm chicken operations
from Perdue, Tysons, etc.
Chickens have been known to suffocate by the hundreds of thousands when
electricity interrupted air conditioning, turning the metal sheds into 140
degree bake ovens, or freezing the trapped birds. In some cases unwanted
male chicks are dropped into eviscerators, drums full of swirling knives.
Photo of chickens before being bulldozed
http://www.geocities.com/chickenrights/buckeye1.jpg
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Salicylic Acid
from SDurbin@tulsa.cc.ok.us
A
new study has found that vegetarians have high blood levels of salicylic acid,
the active ingredient in aspirin. Given that aspirin can prevent heart attacks,
the new findings may help explain other studies that have found lower levels of
heart disease among people who eat a lot of fruit and vegetables.
The study, published last week in The Journal of Clinical Pathology, compared
the salicylic acid levels of a group of Buddhist monks (who are vegetarians),
non-vegetarian residents of the same region, and a group of diabetic patients
taking 75 milligrams of aspirin daily.
Eating foods rich in salicylic acid does not provide all the cardiac benefits
of taking aspirin. Aspirin helps block the formation of blood clots,
while fruit and vegetables do not. But salicylic acid from either source
reduces the kind of inflammation that can contribute over years to the
hardening and narrowing of the arteries and to certain kinds of cancer, the
report said.
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Reform Rabbis Consider 'New Kosher' Guidelines
By Kevin Eckstrom, Religion News Service
MONTEREY, Calif. - In another step nudging Reform Jews back toward tradition,
the nation's 1,800 Reform rabbis are urging Jews to adopt a kosher vegetarian
diet in an effort to live healthier, environmentally friendly lives.
The Central Conference of American Rabbis, meeting here through Thursday (June
28), will consider - and likely approve - a resolution that says "God's
primary and ideal dietary command is vegetarian."
While the guidelines are largely voluntary, they call for a reduction in the
number of meat dishes served at Reform meetings and functions, and urge Jewish
families to "celebrate their (holidays) with vegetarian meals."
Reform Judaism, the largest and most liberal U.S. Jewish movement, has
distinguished itself by shunning many traditional Jewish observances, such as
keeping kosher and refraining from physical labor on the Sabbath.
Some of that seems to be changing.
The pro-kosher movement reflects a growing interest in ancient rituals and
traditions that are undergoing a resurgence within American Judaism. The rabbis
gathered here are also expected to adopt guidelines that formally call for
traditional rituals to mark the conversion of non-Jews.
Still, Jewish leaders acknowledge they face an uphill battle in changing the
mind-set of 1.5 million Reform Jews.
"We want to convince Reform Jews to at least think about keeping
kosher," said Rabbi Charles Kroloff, the outgoing CCAR president.
"Most Reform Jews aren't even thinking about it, it's not on their radar
screen."
What's different about the pro-kosher push are the arguments Reform leaders are
using to win over a skeptical audience. Instead of kosher being seen as a
divine commandment, rabbis are appealing to Jews' environmental awareness,
desire for a healthy lifestyle and moral concerns about killing animals.
The resolution lists inhumane livestock conditions, environmental damage from
pesticides and too many "high-fat, high-cholesterol animal-centered"
diets as reasons for a leafier palate.
Rabbi Barry Schwartz of Cherry Hill, N.J., chairman of the rabbis'
environmental committee, said the Snew kosher? of Reform Judaism retains many
of the traditional taboos ... such as pork, shellfish and mixing meat and dairy
... but is more vegetarian than other kosher systems and directly appeals to
the waistline.
"When you say this is going to affect your health, people are going to
listen," said Schwartz, a 20-year vegetarian.
Kroloff said with an increased interest in kosher among Reform Jews, the
movement will have to consider "very seriously" a movement-wide
adoption of kosher living.
"Our bodies are on loan from God," said Kroloff, who has been leading
sessions on personal wellness at this convention. "That is why our
tradition does not permit us to do anything we want with our bodies."
Rabbi Richard Levy of Los Angeles, who gradually adopted a kosher lifestyle
over his 40 years as a rabbi, said beyond the health benefits, there are
important spiritual blessings to be found in a kosher lifestyle. At least three
times a day, kosher Jews are invited to experience God in their meals, he said.
"What we eat is a religious question, because the Torah makes it
one," Levy said.
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Farm Sanctuary Launches
Sentient Beings Campaign
from Verush@aol.com
Farm
Sanctuary is pleased to announce a new campaign to have farm animals recognized
as sentient beings in the United States. The campaign was launched with
the August 4th debut of the web site, www.sentientbeings.org, and seeks to
improve the status of farmed animals in the U.S. and to foster basic legal
reforms. Campaign materials available through the site include an online
petition, sample letters and proclamation, and an op-ed written by Mary Tyler Moore
who serves as the campaign's honorary chair. Organizations interested in
lending their support to the campaign can download an endorsement form.
Teresa D'Amico
Media Coordinator
FARM SANCTUARY
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Dog
(C) 1999 Dawn Ireland - dawn_ireland@prodigy.net
There is no mistake in the spelling of dog
For God in heaven knows those four paws
That furry face and wagging tail
Ears perked up
Waiting to sail
Across the clouds at His side
Romping, barking the Kingdom wide
Dancing with angels every day
God's best friend is but a lick away.
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Memorable Quote
"After they had
accustomed themselves at Rome to the spectacles of the
slaughter of animals, they proceeded to those of
the slaughter of men,
to the gladiators.
~
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
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Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl 33673-7053
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal Rights Online=-
&
Advisory Board Member, Animal Rights Network Inc.,
not-for-profit publisher of The Animals' Agenda Magazine
http://www.animalsagenda.org/
The Animals' Agenda Magazine: WebEdition
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