Last night, I went to see the 1988 film,
Gorillas in the Mist; it is part of an eco film festival they have at the movie theatre several times a year.
I have seen
Gorillas in the Mist many times before; I own it on DVD, but I went to the theatre to see it on the big screen, to support the cause, and to hear an animal rights lawyer speak at the end of the film.
The AR lawyer is animal welfare, meaning although he may be for all animal rights, he focuses on specific animals to
actively fight for. Most animal welfarists choose to specifically fight for mammals--especially large mammals, and he is no exception. His particular fight right now is for elephants.
I'm for all types of animal rights people working to end animal suffering and exploitation, but with animal welfarists, my question to them is:
How do you choose which animal to actively fight for?
For example, it would be like for children's rights; instead of fighting for the rights of all children, you just fight for the rights of girls, or children of a certain age, or fight for the rights of children with green eyes....This sounds absurd.
How would you choose?
This is why I'm an animal rights activist who actively fights for all animals; I would never want to pick a certain animal to fight for--I wouldn't know how to choose which animal to fight for anyway. I tend to promote animal rights by way of veganism: simply educating and encouraging people to not eat or use animal products in any way, as well as not supporting the exploitation of animals, like not going to places where animals are used for entertainment.
In this way, I can effectively help ALL animals.
