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Frequently Asked Questions


Isn't it counter-productive to criticize the work of animal advocacy groups that do a lot of good work for the cause?

Is this site in danger of implying that there would be nothing wrong with using animals if these places truly were like "Old MacDonald's farm?"


 HUMANE MYTH GLOSSARY
Abolition
Animal advocacy
Animal husbandry
Animal protection
Animal rights
Animal welfare
Animal welfare industrial complex
Animal-using industries
Co-option
Commodification
Conflict of Interest
Conscience
Conscientious objection
Critical thinking
Cruelty-free
Disillusionment
Doctrine of necessary evil
Happy Meat
Hogwashing
Humane myth
Humane slaughter
Neocarnism
Non-participation and Non-cooperation
Non-violent social change
Open Rescue
Path of Conscience
Plant-based diet
Privilege of domination
Speciesism
Suffering
Sustainable
Utilitarianism
Values-based activism
Vegan

 

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

-- Martin Luther King

 

“Every wrong seems possible today, and is accepted. I don't accept it.”

-- Pablo Casals

 

 



 


 Advanced Advocacy


To get an overview of both the challenges and opportunities facing today's animal advocacy movement, watch the four-part video presentation below, Let's Not Give Up Before We Even Get Started, and read its accompanying essay; watch Seasons of the Heart; and study Toward Justice for Animals. To learn more about the methods used by the animal-exploiting industry to co-opt animal advocacy organizations, read Invasion of the Movement Snatchers.


 
VIDEOS from HumaneMyth
 



    Invasion of the Movement Snatchers We should be concerned that today‘s animal movement so closely resembles the vision of moral compromise, division and debilitation put forth by an industry PR consultant....more  
 


 
    Magical Thinking or Historical Reality? The only thing standing in the way of the animal rights movement becoming a great social justice revolution is a poverty of imagination and a shortfall of personal conviction. It is up to all of us to transcend the cynicism of these times, and to reach for something higher. ...more  
 


 
    Toward Justice for Animals Helping animals now and in the future does not require collaborating with the animal exploiting industry, promoting "humane" animal products, or otherwise trading away the foundations of long-term change. There are far better ways that we can be confident will help, and not hurt....more  
 


 
    Compassion for Sale? In a time not so long from now, practicing compassion will for many come to mean buying and eating "happy meat," a purported win-win-win for the animals, the industry and its customers......more  
 


 
    Truthiness is Stranger than Fiction Many leaders in today‘s animal movement are supporting and even helping develop animal product labeling schemes and "animal compassionate" husbandry standards......more  
 


 
    Project for the New American Carnivore What does it mean when a major animal protection conference features a multi-million dollar rancher, a pig farmer, a turkey farmer, and others known for talking of compassion and animal welfare while at the same time profiting from their unapologetic killing of animals?...more  
 


 
    Meatopia on the March When the news broke that HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle would be seeking a seat on the board of Tyson Foods, one of the largest slaughterers of animals in the world, many thought it was a spoof put out by The Onion. ...more  
 


 
    Justice for Animals, Respect for Advocates When the animal-welfare industrial complex attempted to co-opt the national animal rights conference (AR 2012), a group of long-time activist were compelled to intervene....more  
 


 



 

Domination Games


Advanced Advocacy Practices


Use Language Mindfully
Develop Critical Thinking Skills
Resist Objectification
Expose conflicts of interest
Cultivate humility
Recognize Counterspin
Protect Online Dialog from Manipulation
The Humane Declaration
Toward Justice for Animals


Essays and Talks

Against All Odds
Compassion for Sale?
Hogwash! Or, How Animal Advocates Enable Corporate Spin


Books

Toxic Sludge is Good for You
The Sociopath Next Door
Moral Courage
Doing democracy
Losing Ground


Organizations

The Center for Media and Democracy: Sourcewatch

 

“A principle is a principle, and in no case can it be watered down because of our incapacity to live it in practice. We have to strive to achieve it, and the striving should be conscious, deliberate and hard.”     

-- Gandhi


“You have much more power when you are working for the right thing, rather than against the wrong thing. And of course if the right thing is established, wrong things will fade away of their own accord. Grassroots peace work is vitally important. All who work for peace belong to a special peace fellowship, whether we work together or apart."

-- Peace Pilgrim