Podcaster says animal rights loons are bad, gets threatened

[the_leander]

The following written tirade is an unedited companion piece for a section I recorded for the latest Pod Delusion . It's something I've been wanting to get off my chest for some time now. Please send all hate mail and death threats to the email address at the bottom.

Animal Rights Protesters: I Protest!

As a doctor of neuroscience who is also a comedian, I've had more than my fair share of bizarre experiences. But I have to say, it’s weird, sitting down to write something that you know in advance will probably cause you a great deal of unnecessary hassle from people who probably will see a few key-words in it and make wild conclusions completely in defiance of the actual views contained within it. But it’s come to the point where I have to get this off my chest. I can’t go on living a lie any more, I have to be me. Here goes…

I am trained and experienced in animal testing, and I am not ashamed of this fact. There, I’m out.

Recent events have compelled me to make this admission. Firstly, there is increasing speculation over an animal rights campaign and protest targeted at my former workplace. Good, hard-working people who have done nothing wrong, who are actively trying to further scientific and medical understanding, are now having to undergo extra security checks and procedures as their personal safety is under threat. Also, there was the recent news story about the protesters jailed for their hate campaign targeting Huntington Life Sciences. Oddly, so familiar is this occurrence that a quick google search brought an almost identical story from over a year ago.

Full story here.

The followup is here.

The podcast is well worth a listen and is a lot better than the post.

 

[cecilia]

I just read the article (right now), but I love some of his comments...quote worthy to be sure!

{bleep} you! {bleep} you and the tofu-based gluten free horse you rode in on!

:roflmao:

excellent point here:

Also, to me there is something quite inspiring and, ironically, uniquely human about opposing members of your own species on behalf of another. You don’t get that anywhere else, I’ve yet to see Lions taking on other lions in order to defend the grasshoppers, and I doubt I ever will outside the realm of a CGI summer kids movie.

In college and grad school (experimental psychology) I did some work with animals so i know what he's talking about here:

Firstly, I've worked in animal labs, and I've yet to meet anyone who, despite the accusations and implications, actually enjoys animal experimentation. Pretty much everyone who does it manages to develop a necessary sense of detachment, but it's never easy. As I always strive to point out, the vast majority of scientists are actually people, and we don't like psychopaths or sadists any more than the next person.

I never tortured animals. Never wanted to. in in grad school the professor who's lab I worked treated the pigeons so well they were given medicine if they got a little pigeon cold. She didn't even want to clip their wings.

A suffering animal is, scientifically, pretty much useless in most cases. Pain or discomfort have a complex physical, biological basis, so an animal in distress is going to provide unreliable results and throw off the data obtained in any experiment that studies anything other than pain.

BINGO!
it simply isn't logical to hurt animals for the fun of it. Not if you are a true scientist.

mass murderers hurt and kill animals for fun. scientist do not

The vast majority, 90% plus, of experiments on mammals are performed on rodents, rats and mice.

when i was in grad school the 'joke' was that the most common Subjects in experimentation are rats, pigeons and college students (and the first two are the smart ones). and it's funny because it's true.

Why are battery farms and slaughterhouses generally let off the hook? Places where animals suffer in far greater numbers and in far less humane conditions that laboratories so that people can have greater choice in their cuisine?

DING DING DING!!!! we have a Winner!