In a restaurant in China, two customers choose their dinner from cages full of cats and dogs. A fluffy white cat is whisked away to the kitchen, where the cook scalds, skins and drowns it.
With this dramatic example, activist Tom Regan made a case for animal rights last night at Baker Center Ballroom. And while his introduction provoked an emotional response from the audience, the rest of his argument focused on logical considerations.
We're going to go kicking and screaming toward animal consciousness
he said to the audience. It's a journey for us.
Regan described three groups of animal rights thinkers: Da Vincians, who inherently respect animals; Demascans, who are converted through some event or epiphany; and muddlers who need proof in order to change their minds.
A self-described muddler Regan once worked as a butcher, bought his wife a mink hat, ate fast food hamburgers and attended the circus.
But I woke one day
and I looked in the mirror and saw an animal rights activist looking back at me
he said.
Regan, author and North Carolina State University philosophy professor, distinguished between moral and legal rights and asserted that moral rights logically apply to animals.
Two of Regan's books, The Case for Animal Rights and Empty Cages
were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, said Ohio University sophomore Alex Csicsek, president of the Athens Animal Rights Coalition, an OU student group.
In response to biblical questions about humans' dominance over animals, Regan argued there are two ways to interpret the word dominion.
God has dominion over us
but that doesn't mean he puts us between two slices of bread for a sandwich
he said.
During the lengthy question-and-answer session that followed his speech, Regan addressed controversial issues.
Animal testing should end - a conclusion that logically follows from applying moral rights to animals, he said. Even human gains from animal research, such as lifesaving cures, are ill-gotten gains.
Though inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Regan said he supports activists' less passive acts of civil disobedience, such as liberating imprisoned animals. But he denounced vandalism.
I'd like to do some damage to Ted Nugent's SUV
he said. But I'm not going to.
Animal rights activist Ritchie Laymon said she came from Columbus to get revitalized.
He's such an eloquent speaker
she said.
The event, funded by the coalition and the Student Activities Commission, cost about $2,200, said OU sophomore Noelle Elbert, the coalition's treasurer.
