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Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society, Inc.
38 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, New York 12572 USA -
845-876-2626
Vegetarian - Vegan - Animal Rights - Health - Nutrition - Environment
The mission of the Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society, Inc. is to promote the vegetarian ethic in the Mid-Hudson (New York) region, educate the community and aid anyone in the pursuit of a totally vegetarian (vegan) cruelty-free and healthful lifestyle.
Newsletters - Winter 2006 Issue
Animal Rights pioneer to keynote Meat-Out
The Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society is honored to have Tom Regan as our speaker for the Great American Meat-Out.
Professor Regan is professor of philosophy at North Carolina State University and author of the seminal work, “A Case for Animal Rights,” marked a major advance in the philosophical underpinnings of the animal rights movement. This book brought the discussion of animal rights to new levels of serious attention within scholarly circles.
Since then Tom Regan has written or edited more than twenty books and numerous articles on animal rights philosophy including his recent works “Defending Animal Rights” and “Empty Cages.”
The following excerpt from the anthology, “In Defense of Animals” (edited by Tom Regan and Peter Singer) speaks for itself:
“What’s wrong fundamentally wrong with the way animals are treated isn’t the details that vary from case to case. It’s the whole system. The forlornness of the veal calf is pathetic, heart-wrenching; the pulsing pain of the chimp with electrodes planted deep in her brain is repulsive; the slow, tortuous death of the raccoon caught in the leg-hold trap is agonizing. But what is wrong isn’t the pain, isn’t the suffering, isn’t the deprivation. These compound what’s wrong. Sometimes often - they make it much, much worse. But they are not the fundamental wrong
“The fundamental wrong is the system that allows us to view animals as our resources, here for us - to be eaten, or surgically manipulated, or exploited for sport or money. Once we accept this view of animals - as our resources - the rest is as predictable as it is regrettable. Why worry about their loneliness, their pain, their death? Since animals exist for us, to benefit us in one way or another, what harms them really doesn’t matter - or matters only if it starts to bother us, makes us feel a trifle uneasy when we eat our veal escalope, for example. So, yes, let us get veal calves out of solitary confinement, give them more space, a little straw, a few companions. But let us keep our veal escalope.
“Whether and how we abolish [the use of animals] are to a large extent political questions. People must change their beliefs before they change their habits. Enough people, especially those elected to public office, must believe in change - must want it - before we will have laws that protect the rights of animals. This process of change is very complicated, very demanding, very exhausting, calling for the effort of many hands in education, publicity, political organization and activity, down to the licking of envelopes and stamps.”
We hope that reading the above will inspire you to save the date and make a reservation. Getting involved is now even easier than when Tom Regan wrote these words as stamps and envelopes are now self-stick, but the issue is vast and important. Come to the event, learn how you can be part of the solution. Professor Regan is an outstanding and compelling voice. Please make every effort to attend, and bring your friends and family.
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