To the extreme

Today I want to talk about extremes. About the extreme activism that is going on and about how adopting an extreme viewpoint may not benefit wildlife what so ever. Once again this is my opinion so feel free to disagree with me if you wish but keep it civil please.

People tend to dislike extreme reactions. It throws people off, it antagonizes them and sometimes it will probably yield worse results than a casual conversation.  An example of this is P.E.T.A . Ahh the great protectors of animals are always there to save the day. Now as I have touched on before, P.E.T.A often does a good job at making sure that animals are treated right and so forth. Why are they hated though? Well because most of their times their ways are radical and extreme enough to push people off the edge. Not to mention the fact that they often channel their energy on the wrong stuff. Lab animals are one of them. I understand that lab animals do not live in the best of conditions. They are often miserable and mistreated and will live a short life. But those animals are needed. Cosmetics aside, lab animals are needed to test new treatments, create a better understanding of the animal and it’s physiology, used for genetic experiments and onwards. A lot of the benefits people enjoy medically wise are a result of lab animals. Do I think that this warrants a poor treatment of animals? No. Can I tolerate it? Yes. This is up to each individual but in my mind there needs to be a set of priorities in what you would like to fix in the world. Advocating for no wildlife trade, animal welfare and being against captivity is all fine but you need to sort out which one should be your highest priority and focus on that. The world will not just wake up one day, abolish all the practices you deem as cruel and unnatural and continue going as it did.  If all animals are treated fairly then you will have a harder time buying beef as it will be scarcer and a lot more expensive. If lab animals are abolished then a cure for many diseases could be set back years and years. So tolerate what you can and channel your energy towards your priority goals.

 To continue with that you have to understand this: Extremists are not liked. Whether you are an activist for animal rights, animal abuse, conservation or the protection of wildlife, there are very few circumstances that being on the extreme actually helped.  There are like-minded people out there who try and reason with the “enemy” instead of going extreme. People who would rather talk and try and convince the Japanese out of whaling, reduce quotas and use science to determining whaling instead of going out and blocking  the Japanese fleet.  These people are often part of an NGO and will often try and fight the good fight to help conservation or animal rights along. Guess who is giving them a bad name? Extreme/radical organizations. People like to pigeon hole and stereotype and while it is not good practice most groups are usually placed in the same category as the more extreme groups.  It’s sad to see conservation organizations have their work undermined because no one takes them seriously due to the actions of another organization which acts much more extremely. 

And this is unfortunately another point which frustrates me. Extremist organizations are almost never satisfied unless the measures they see fit are implemented.  For examples many conservation organizations are willing to give out some ground in a dispute. They would prefer that a small portion of animals are hunted or harvested but the overall protection and survival of the species remain the same or similar. They would prefer that small areas of forests are cut down if it means that the remain forest is secured.  A compromise for them is often a victory enough. It’s a stepping stone to which greater things can be achieved and let’s face it, humanity as a whole will never have the same viewpoints. So for the conservation organizations, every victory counts.  Now imagine that a treaty has been signed protecting a large area of prime habitat with a lot of endangered species. In return an x amount of animas deemed appropriate by science, can be harvest throughout the year and an y amount of trees can be felled. This has been scientifically proven to have little effect to the habitat and hence the habitat will survive and thrive. Then along come extremists which protest and want the whole area protected and so on. This automatically gives the conservationists a bad name as greedy, puts the logging/hunting party on the defensive and achieves nothing more than create tension where it was just relieved. Hence more damage done that good.

If you want to be part of extremist groups then it is your own right to do so. I am simply underlining the damage that can be done by such groups. If you feel strong about a subject then the best thing to do is study more about it, support people working on the subject and try and educate more people through calm and peaceful means. Understand when someone just wants to kill animals and rest your case. Not all of humanity can be swayed towards your way.