We pay a terrible price for indifference

As a political liberal and animal-rights activist, I feel obligated to respond to David Spangler’s letter [“Who Defines ‘Dialogue’?”, March 13]. There is nothing fascist about peacefully calling for our society to respect life. In fact, I see it as my responsibility to community and family to speak out against cruelty and injustice. Further, the letter points out a few instances of activists who have made threats or broken the law. The Davids, however, have never been anything but dedicated community activists who stand consistently against animal cruelty. Making even an indirect link to the Davids with such law-breakers is disgusting and demands an immediate apology. [See editor’s note below.]

The world we have created, especially since the Industrial Revolution, is one in which nature is subjugated to the whims of financial gain, irrespective of the social, moral, environmental or individual costs. This path of pure selfishness has led to a culture that has taken animals from the forests, put them in cages and pumped [them] up with antibiotics just to keep them alive. Our natural places dwindle every day, the temperatures rise, pollution infects more streams and lakes, and at the center of it all is the loss of respect for living creatures. We humans are quickly destroying this planet and leaving a ruined legacy for our future generations. We animal-rights folks don’t ask for a totalitarian society—we ask that people give consideration for a moment [to] the terrible price of indifference to animal cruelty. The letter ends by warning of animal activists’ “Absolute Rightness,” which is one hallmark of fascism. But we claim only one such rightness—that of the sacredness of life.