Insidecover story the HSUS Brain You can avoid becoming a Humane Society of the United States statistic. Here’s what you need to know. By David Martosko, The Center for Consumer Freedom ike many social Full disclosure, it turns out, is movements, the bad for business. world of animal When PETA co-founder Ingrid rights is Newkirk famously said, “A rat is difficult to under- a pig is a dog is a boy,” she wasn’t stand from the out- making chit-chat. She was de- Lside. And like most animal scribing a moral philosophy—she rights groups, the Humane Soci- and millions of people living in ety of the United States (HSUS) America believe a heifer has the would rather you stay in the dark. same moral value as your child. (Continued on page 18) National Meat Association 1 7 The animal rights religion Figure out what animals need, raise money Meet the outsiders “Animal rights” is a belief system with to give it to them, steamroll inconvenient For the first 50 years of its existence, the sacraments and high priests like Newkirk and people who get in the way, and remake the HSUS was a moderate, milquetoast animal HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle, and acolytes in world in Peter Singer’s image. protection group. It was started in 1954 by HSUS up-and-comer Paul Shapiro and Mercy Lather, rinse, repeat. For Animals founder, Nathan Runkle, among The problem is that it’s impossible to ask “Wayne Pacelle, Paul Shapiro, many others. It has its Bible (Animal Libera- heifers what they need. Actual animal be- and many other HSUS senior tion) and its catechism (unofficially, PETA’s haviorists make educated guesses, of course. staffers claim repeatedly, almost website). It also has its own very rigid Articles And centuries of trial and error have given us of Faith. Here are the three most basic ones: some insights into what they don’t need. But pathologically, that they represent 1. There is no higher calling in human life divining the wants of livestock is ultimately 11 million Americans—one than the elimination of suffering. a psychological game, like five-year-old chil- out of 28 people in the United It naturally follows from this that vegans dren assigning motives and emotions to their are more virtuous than the rest of us. imaginary friends. Over time, the “needs” States. That’s more than 25,000 2. Animals and humans have the same exact of those friends get more outlandish. At first members in every Congressional moral value. “my imaginary friend” needs a lollipop. Then Therefore, any tactic you would use to it’s a pair of shoes. But when it’s a room and district. The problem with this is save a person’s life, whether legal or il- weekly allowance, the game disintegrates. that it’s not true. Not even close.” legal, is justifiable if you’re trying to save This game of quiet incrementalism is stan- an animal’s life. dard stuff for animal rights strategists. dissident employees of the American Hu- 3. Using animals for any human purpose For cows with supposed “desires,” a quick mane Association who wanted something a always causes animals to suffer. trip to unconsciousness followed by humane bit more radical. So ending the suffering of animals re- slaughter may be the best deal imaginable. It By 1950s standards, they got it. Originally quires that we use fewer of them for sure beats nonexistence, anyway. But do all called the National Humane Society, HSUS food (and eventually none), effectively cows need unfettered access to pasture, and was more effective than AHA, whose advo- eliminating suffering by eliminating the a diet that’s free of corn? Does every heifer cacy mission was (and still is) split between sufferer. need to wean her young for six months? protecting animals and children. HSUS was Read it again. You’re looking inside the Do chickens need to congregate outdoors, more aggressive. It lobbied governments. It brains of both Pacelle and Newkirk. The two at the risk of succumbing to the elements got press. It organized marches. It pioneered are wired identically, even if they promote (and to their cannibalistic kin)? Do sows need the concept of cause-based celebrity spokes- their joint cause differently. the freedom to be unrestrained, even if their persons. Rule #2 gives animal activists the moral own health suffers? Do all livestock need to But underneath, HSUS remained a lum- authority to lobby for changes in the law. It avoid the veterinarian’s antibiotic needle, bering mammoth with a slow-moving internal also gives those who are so inclined the philo- even if it makes them vastly more likely to bureaucracy. Its dues-paying members were sophical “cover” to commit arson, make vi- become ill? more commonly elderly ladies than young cious threats, and call openly for the murder. Fast-forwarding a bit, do farm animals swashbucklers. The organization’s leaders And that bit about “eliminating the suf- need legal personhood, and the right to sue made gobs of money and got the kinds of ferer” is the linchpin of what HSUS is plan- you in court? Do they need assurances that perks normally reserved for ethically compro- ning for the coming decades. Find another they will not be eaten in the first place? mised politicians. explanation for HSUS Outreach Director Josh Except what animals actually need, it HSUS, in short, was animal rights “cor- Balk’s startling ice-breaker during a 2009 turns out, doesn’t matter as much as deter- poratized.” It still is, but a new generation of speech: “It is needed for farm animals mining who gets to decide what they need. leadership stormed into the executive suite that we get people to eat more vegetarian And who’s more likely to know the right an- in late 2003 and promptly took the training meals…We just have to reduce the num- swer: Meat-eaters or vegans? Active ranchers wheels off. ber of animals that are raised for food.” or passive philosophers? A Wyoming native, Wayne Pacelle is the first vegan to lead or someone from Connecticut (like Wayne HSUS and he hires mostly vegans for his in- What cows “need” Pacelle) who has never had a job in agricul- ner circle. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, Josh Balk wasn’t recommending vegetari- ture, works in Washington, DC, and admits vegans are vegetarians with a superiority anism for health reasons, or to save the plan- that “there’s no special bond between me and complex. They don’t touch meat, dairy, eggs, et. That would be too “anthropocentric.” He’s other animals”? seafood, animal-tested household products, doing it because he thinks that’s what the Put another way, should real-world stake- leather, fur, wool, or silk (have you seen how animals need. And if you believe the animal holders decide what animals need? Or should they boil the worms?). “Natural lambskin” rights dogma that suffering is unavoidable on it be outsiders—self-styled experts who don’t condoms are forbidden. So is honey. farms and feedlots, not being born starts to work with animals and would never think of Pacelle was asked during a 2007 Farm look pretty good. eating them? Bill hearing to identify the most humanely This line of thought is what drives the Believe it or not, the outsiders are win- raised pork or veal in the world—any prod- leadership of organizations like HSUS: ning. uct that actually met his standards of how 18 www.nmaonline.org livestock should be treated. Something he Pets are “re-wilded.” Predator species are left far greater grassroots support than it actually would consider eating. alone to kill what they can, including human has. Put “HSUS” and “11 million members” He didn’t have an answer. prey. We’re no more valuable than they are, into Google. You’ll see. after all (see Rule #2) and the human popula- Wayne Pacelle, Paul Shapiro, and many What HSUS wants tion is smaller anyway, because vegetarian other HSUS senior staffers claim repeatedly, It would be a gross oversimplification to eating can’t support the global population. almost pathologically, that they represent 11 say that HSUS’s leaders want everyone to But that’s all beyond the immediate hori- million Americans—one out of 28 people in think like they do, although that’s ultimately zon. What HSUS seeks first—what it needs the United States. That’s more than 25,000 what long-term success would look like to as leverage in order to reach its tofu-fueled members in every Congressional district. them. nirvana—are the political trinity of legiti- The problem with this is that it’s not true. In HSUS’s utopia, we limit ourselves to macy, money, and power. Not even close. vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes. Like other inside-the-beltway lobbies, In June 2010, Wayne Pacelle signed a We wear cotton and polyester. Wild animals HSUS has long inflated its membership num- fundraising letter that described his goal of are “liberated” from zookeeper “captors.” bers to present the illusion (and legitimacy) of growing his organization “from 1,200,000 to National Meat Association 1 9 2,000,000 members.” His own number—1.2 Those two numbers are more than 2,400 per- consist of the carrying on of propoganda [sic] million—departs from his P.R. spin by a fac- cent apart. or otherwise attempting to influence legisla- tor of nine. Lobbying your Congressman with the tion.” And HSUS’s 2009 tax return disclosed weight of 25,000 members in his district Fifty-six years ago, HSUS’s founders took that the group only prints 450,000 copies of puts your influence on a par with most labor that maxim seriously.