IV. Origins
Essay # III discussed an overview of the Dogmas and Canons that underpin the
activities of the Environmental and Animal Rights Movement. The seven
Dogmas were:
1.. Man is only an animal therefore all animals should have the same
rights.
2.. There are too many people in the world so the human population must
be
reduced.
3.. Humans should be forcibly relocated into urban centers and all else
returned to "nature".
4.. All natural (non-urban) areas should be restored to pristine or
"Native" ecosystem species.
5.. No means to achieving these ends are prohibited.
6.. All religions and ideologies and governments should be incorporated
into the Environmental and Animal Rights movement or be replaced.
7.. One all-powerful world government is absolutely necessary to change
habits, traditions, and lifestyles worldwide.
This Essay looks at where these tenets of this Movement originated.
While
the animal "rescuer" or the Nature Conservancy supporter or the
bureaucrat
slipping information to animal rights cohorts or the pre-vet student
appealing for legislation to ban the slaughter of privately-owned horses
might each dispute their belief in all these tenets, each of them is
contributing their incremental accomplishment to these ends. As they
continue to sympathize with and abet the Movement, clearly they come to
either accept these dogmas or they abandon the Movement. It is the
origins
of these dogmas that help us understand them and the Movement better.
1.. Ancient Origins
Every pagan temple or religious center in the ancient world from Europe and
Asia to Africa and the Americas and Australia and everywhere in between
shows evidence of drawing, carvings, statues, temples, and religious worship
directed at animals, plants, and natural features from volcanoes to
"sacred"
places either forbidden to all or only available religious leaders.
Myths
and legends are replete with "sacred places" (Wilderness?,
Roadless?,
"Wildlands"?, "Corridors"?, "Ecosystem"?,
"Landmark"?, etc.). There are
endless tales of "sacred animals" (Endangered?, Threatened?,
Keystone?,
"Companions"?, "Necessary"?, Whales?, Elephants?, Horses?,
Chickens?,
Alaskan Caribou?, Game Animals?, etc.). Plants from mistletoe to
large
trees ("Native Prairies"?, "Virgin Forests"?, Alaskan
Tundra?, Logging?,
Grazing?, etc.) have been worshipped and set aside for elites from time
immemorial.
2.. Recent Historical Origins
In the early 1800's the writings of Thomas Malthus wrote extensively about
how poverty and famine were natural outcomes of human overpopulation.
His
methods were considered "mathematic" and "scientific".
His influence on
western thought and the work of others like Darwin used the
"examination" of
animals as predictors of human fortunes and were seen by many to replace the
concept of God and creation. Man's future it was believed was better
placed
in the hands of these "experts" and their "specialties"
than in religions
and governments of the day. These beliefs persist in many forms to this
day.
Urbanization & Industrialization. - The growth of western industrialized
cities and their increasing isolation from rural populations as
industrialization brought new ideas and values to the fore presaged the
Red/Blue political map and value conflict we discuss in the US today.
Adding this to Malthus and Darwin there was a disenchantment with polluted
cities and abused citizenries. The combination of romantic notions about
animals (wild and domestic) combined with resentment for the rich and
aristocrats that owned rural estates and hunted and fished was then added to
a growing revulsion with butchering and cockfighting and tanneries and furs
(a sign of wealth) and the conditions of domestic animal husbandry. Soon
urban reformers and animal empathizers and social radicals coalesced into
movements like the Anti-vivisectionists in England and their counterparts in
urbanized parts of Europe and America. Arguments were manufactured as
public debates progressed and the belief in vegetarian diets as better for
human health were put forth by "experts" and "scientists"
in these
movements.
Land reforms were spurred by hatred of "upper" classes and their
rural
estates were common political targets. Public dialogues by radicals and
politicians often called for seizing and setting aside rural areas for the
public and "nature". Druidical beliefs and myths of a Mother
Nature (Gaia)
in ancient societies arose amongst those espousing the "protection"
of land
and animals as "natural" places "to restore the soul" or
"engender
meditation" etc. in pursuit of political goals of the day. Not a
small part
of these religious expressions was the outward sign of being a "new"
thinker
"unencumbered" by tradition.
Tales about hunters and trappers and circus trainers and farmers and dog
owners mistreating animals were likewise convenient political ammunition for
government imposition of urban radical ideas on rural countrysides that were
increasingly viewed as unessential. This has persisted to this day as
exemplified by the recent ban on foxhunting and trapping in England and the
assault on pheasant shooting and other forms of hunting throughout Europe.
The "worship" of "nature" recurred in 19th and early 20th
century writings
and commentaries. In the early 20th century GK Chesterton characterized
"nature worship" as an "unnatural thing".
Revulsion with European and American participation in the slave trade, and
romantic but mistaken visions about the disappearance of animals like
buffalo and passenger pigeons, and regret about the fate of American native
cultures and their religious beliefs led to a disillusionment with European
culture and colonialism. Out of this mix emerged the notions of
"ideal"
societies being simple and self-contained and the belief that only certain
"pre-Columbian" or "pre-Roman" or "pre-Colonial"
species of plants and
animals "belong" "there". "Scientists" and
other "experts" were only too
glad to capitalize on these ideas and reinforce such thinking often for
their own benefit.
Finally, early 20th century ideas about breeding humans for more perfection
(eugenics) and racist causes (Nazism) rehashed previous notions about
"too
many poor" or "too many of (fill-in-the-blank) people"
utilizing the ideas
of previous movements. Nazism spoke at length of the romance and need
for
"pre-Roman" plants and animals with the assertions of too many
Gypsies and
Jews and Slavs. Margaret Sanger coalesced ideas about too many people of
the wrong type with advocacy for abortion and birth control and more fluid
marriage arrangements. These ideas persist to this day.
3.. Modern Origins
There is no one phenomenon more worthy of examination regarding the
emergence of the world-wide Environmental and Animal Rights Movement than
the social turbulence and radicalism in the United States in the 1960's and
1970's. Social traditions, religious beliefs, and public behavior
underwent
terrific upheavals during this period. Stability and a sense of right
and
wrong were overturned in favor of discredited ideas from the past and a
"new
morality" based on "modern" thinking.
Consider how during this period the Federal government created new authority
over Endangered Species and Marine Mammals. This authority was the
result
of hysteria over possible loss of "species" or "diversity"
or "ecosystems"
and arguments based on the Dogmas cited here earlier reiterated and
embellished ancient myths and used the testimony of "experts" and
"scientists" not as information to be considered but as final words
much
like ancient pagan priests. Some of the results were the destruction of
the
obligation of the Federal government to only "take" land or property
for a
"public purpose" and the disregarded obligation to pay owners
"just
compensation".
During this same period the Federal government kowtowed to Movement Dogmas
and created new Federal authority over Animal Welfare and Wilderness
creation. The "rights" of animals and the acceptance of a
"sacred" land
unit set-aside tool employed by a ham-handed and remote Federal government
took Movement power and influence to new heights. All of these laws are
expanded by regulations, amendments, and contrived court decisions.
Again during this period we see the legalization of abortion (Roe v. Wade),
calls for drug legalization, no-fault divorce, public tax support for
increasing numbers of children born out of wedlock, fetal sex selection,
stem cell research utilizing fetal tissue, euthanasia, government control of
health care decisions over life and death, and a constant litany of
"discoveries" in Kenya and elsewhere that "prove" that man
is but an ape
that got the jump on the other animals and therefore (to use the antipode of
the animal rights argument) is deserving of no better treatment than any
other animal.