Over the past thirty years, as Wesley J. Smith details in his latest book, the concept of animal rights has been seeping into the very bone marrow of Western culture. One reason for this development is that the term “animal rights” is so often used very loosely, to mean simply being nicer to animals. But although animal rights groups do sometimes focus their activism on promoting animal welfare, the larger movement they represent is actually advancing a radical belief system.
For some activists, the animal rights ideology amounts to a quasi religion, one whose central doctrine declares a moral equivalency between the value of animal lives and the value of human lives. Animal rights ideologues embrace their beliefs with a fervor that is remarkably intense and sustained, to the point that many dedicate their entire lives to “speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves.” Some believe their cause to be so righteous that it entitles them to cross the line from legitimate advocacy to vandalism and harassment, or even terrorism against medical researchers, the fur and food industries, and others they accuse of abusing animals.
All people who love animals and recognize their intrinsic worth can agree with Wesley J. Smith that human beings owe animals respect, kindness, and humane care. But Smith argues eloquently that our obligation to humanity matters more, and that granting “rights” to animals would inevitably diminish human dignity.
In making this case with reason and passion, A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy strikes a major blow against a radically antihuman dogma.
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“Like every antidemocratic ideology, this one [animal rights] is by definition antihuman, and like any antihuman ideology, it ultimately deteriorates into a nihilistic bitterness that is anti-life. . . . Wesley J. Smith knows too well that if the activists ever succeeded in their goals, if they established through culture or law that human beings have no intrinsic dignity greater than that of any animal, the world would not be a better place for either humankind or animals.”
Dean Koontz
About the Author
Wesley J. Smith, a Senior Fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute, is the author of the prizewinning Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, as well as Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World and Forced Exit: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and the New Duty to Die. He lives in Castro Valley, California, with his wife, the syndicated columnist Debra J. Saunders.
Award winning author Wesley J. Smith is a Senior Fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute. He is also a consultant to the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant for the Center for Bioethics and Culture. In May 2004, because of his work in bioethics, he was named by the National Journal as one of the nation's top expert thinkers in bioengineering. In 2008, the Human Life Foundation named him a Great Defender of Life for his work against assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Smith left the full time practice of law in 1985 to pursue a career in writing and public advocacy. He is the author or coauthor of eleven books.
His book Forced Exit: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and the New Duty to Die (1997, Times Books), a broad-based criticism of the assisted suicide/euthanasia movement has become a classic in anti-euthanasia advocacy and is now in its third edition published by Encounter Books in 2006. Smith's Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, a warning about the dangers of the modern bioethics movement, was named one of the Ten Outstanding Books of the Year and Best Health Book of the Year for 2001 (Independent Publisher Book Awards). His Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World, which he explores the morality, science, and business aspects of human cloning, stem cell research, and genetic engineering, appeared in 2004.
Smith's most recently published book is A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy: The Human Cost of the Animal Rights Movement, a critical look at the animal rights/liberation movement. The best selling novelist Dean Koontz writes of the book in the preface, "Wesley J. Smith knows too well that if the activists ever succeeded in their goals, if they established through culture or law that human beings have no intrinsic dignity greater than that of any animal, the world would not be a better place for either humankind or animals."
He formerly collaborated with Ralph Nader, co-authoring four books with consumer advocate. In addition, Smith co-authored (with Eric M. Chevlen, MD), Power Over Pain: How to Get the Pain Control You Need.
Smith has published hundreds of articles and opinion columns on issues such as the importance of being human (human exceptionalism), assisted suicide, bioethics, the morality of human cloning, the dangers of animal liberation, the anti-human elements in the radical environmental movement, legal ethics, and public affairs. His writing has appeared nationally and internationally, including in Newsweek, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, The Weekly Standard, National Review, The Age (Australia), the Telegraph (United Kingdom), Western Journal of Medicine, and the American Journal of Bioethics. He has also been published in regional publications throughout the nation and internationally in newspapers in the UK, Italy, Australia, and Canada.
Throughout his career in public advocacy, Smith has appeared on thousands of television and radio talk/interview programs, including such national programs as ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, CNN Crossfire, CNN World Report, the CBS Evening News, Coast to Coast, the Dennis Prager syndicated radio show, the Mike Gallagher syndicated radio show, Afternoons with Al Kresta, EWTN, CSPAN-Book TV, Fox News Channel, and CNN Talk Back Live. He has appeared internationally on Voice of America, CNN International, and programs originating in Great Britain (BBC), Australia (ABC), Canada (CBC), Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany, China, and Mexico.
Smith is often called upon by members of legislative and executive branches of government to advise on issues within his fields of expertise. He has testified as an expert witness in front of federal and state legislative committees, and has counseled government leaders internationally about matters of mutual concern.
Smith is an international lecturer and public speaker, appearing frequently at political, university, medical, legal, disability rights, bioethics, religious, and community gatherings across the United States, Europe, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, and Australia.
Wesley J. Smith is an attorney and author of several books, a fact which explains the lucid writing style, absence of rancor, and superb attention to detail and documentation. A previous review explained Smith's reasoning for rejecting the ideology of animal rights so I will focus on other issues.
The book is divided into three sections. The first addresses the ideology and non-violent aspects of animal rights (AR) activism. Smith explains how the AR movement frequently utilizes propaganda like techniques to sway the public to their cause. Part II reveals the more sinister side of the movement by detailing terroristic activities perpetrated by members of the radical fringe of the AR movement, such as the Animal Liberation Front. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of this section is how Smith carefully shows how mainstream AR activists have failed to harshly condemn violence and terror used to further their cause and in some cases even employed those involved in violent activities. The last section explains how animals have benefited humans and how adoption of the AR agenda will diminish humanity. Of particular note, is his careful discussion of the role animal testing has in medical advances which contradicts the repeated claims of many AR activists and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Smith is careful with his wording and avoids painting with broad strokes. He concedes examples of cruelty when he believes the evidence supports it. In my opinion, Smith's greatest contribution consists in his insight into the way AR activists manipulate the media, the public, and assault the judicial system in a take-no-prisoners attempt to implement their agenda. Those who are sympathetic to the AR agenda, should read this book, and carefully consider the implications of AR beliefs, before they convert. Smith's way of turning AR logic on its head will leave readers much to ponder.
Those unsympathetic to AR, should read this book to get the facts needed to learn how to identify AR political strategy in order to counteract it.
For too long there has been a total misunderstanding of exactly what the term "animal rights" means as opposed to "animal welfare". This book clears the air once and for all. No one can plead ignorance after having read it. I wish I could put a copy in the hands of every person I know who blithely prattles on about how much they support "animal rights" when what they actually intend to support is animal WELFARE. Domesticated animals are important in our lives on many different levels. Animal rights proponents would like to remove animals totally from the human-animal equation. This book is well-written and well-researched. And just begins this conversation.
A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy: The Human Cost of the Animal Rights Movement tells how the concept of animal rights has become part of Western culture, considering the history and evolution of animal rights ideology and also considering different causes and obligations to humanity. This survey provides a calm refute to animal rights over human rights and tells how a more balanced affection for animals can be fostered, instead. Perfect for any library debating animal rights and social issues.
