Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The ends do NOT justify the means.

Sorry I have been so silent lately. I've got the end of semester fever. Things have been crazy busy, especially with a family member getting married last month. I really wanted to comment on a recent news piece I heard about on the radio. I believe this article in Newsweek covers what the talk show hosts were discussing. Here is a bit of the article:

"University of California, Los Angeles, research ophthalmologist Arthur Rosenbaum stepped from his home one morning last June and discovered a firebomb had been planted under his white BMW. Cops evacuated the neighborhood, the bomb squad came, but the device's crude fuse had already fizzled. Rosenbaum's UCLA colleague, neuropharmacologist Edythe London, was less lucky. In October, a garden hose was shoved into a broken window of her Beverly Hills, Calif., home, flooding it, causing thousands of dollars in damage. And then on Feb. 5, a Molotov cocktail detonated on her doorstep, scorching her entryway but failing to burn down the house.

Who would want to target academics? Underground militant animal-rights activists took credit for the attacks, but despite an FBI investigation, no one has been arrested. UCLA officials complain that protesters--angry over the school's use of research primates--have continually harassed, threatened and vandalized the university, as well as its faculty and staff."

That's the gist of it. Click on the link to read more of the story. I love animals. I am very adamant that animal testing is morally unacceptable. Let me be very clear: What these animal activists did is not ok. It is NOT OK. It is NOT OK. It is NOT OK. The ends never justify the means when violence and harassment is involved. This is disgraceful and they should be ashamed of themselves. I don't care how important the cause (this goes for activists of any kind not just animals) violence is never the answer. I am thoroughly disappointed in my fellow animal activists. The point of living an animal friendly life is extending your realm of compassion to animals. This means you must have compassion on ALL humans as well. I don't know the religious affiliation of these thugs who did this, but this is especially true for Christian political activists. The actions of these individuals have disgraced the reputation of animal activists everywhere and hurt the movement. Yes, that's right, they are really hurting animals by their actions. I hope staff at UCLA will stay safe and unharassed in the future. I hope a peaceful dialogue can be had on both sides.

Let me leave you with some quotes from an amazing man of peace:
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
Martin Luther King Jr.