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Special Edition:
Hall of Fame
At AR2005 in Los Angeles, Matt
Ball and Jack Norris were inducted
into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall
of Fame, joining previous inductees
Cleveland Amory, Gene and Lorri
Bauston, Howard Lyman, Ingrid Newkirk,
Peter Singer, and Henry Spira. The
following is Matt's acceptance text,
which is taken from A
Meaningful Life; Jack's
speech will be presented later.
Some of you
might be wondering why Jack and
I are listed together. Isn't that
cheating? I’d have to say our election
to the Hall of Fame is recognition
of the efforts of Vegan Outreach,
and not for one or two people. Obviously,
with thousands of activists distributing
booklets and thousands donating
to print more, there are too many
to honor or thank here, but just
quickly, I’d like to mention just
a few of those who have been indispensable
to our efforts: Anne Green, Lauren
Panos, Jon Camp, Joe Espinosa, Michael
Greger, Michael Tucker, George Eisman,
Steve Kaufman, Bruce Friedrich,
Gaverick Matheny, and Peter Singer.
All these people believe in the
mission of Vegan Outreach, which
is this: To make everyone and anyone,
in any situation, the most effective
advocate for animals possible. I’d
like to use this opportunity to
list a few facts we have recognized
and principles we have espoused
since we started working together
in 1990:
1. Approximately 99% of the animals
killed in the United States each
year are slaughtered for food. If
you remember just one thing, remember
this: ~99% of the animals killed
in the U.S. this year -- about ten
billion land animals -- will be
killed to be eaten.
2. When we choose to do one thing,
we are necessarily choosing
not to do other things. This is
not a judgment on anyone’s approach,
but a simple recognition that we
have very finite time and resources.
Believing we can or must do everything
for every animal is unrealistic.
We have to make choices about how
to use our time and money to prevent
the most misery for the most animals.
3. Every person
we meet is a potential major
victory for the animals! Convincing
just one person to stop eating animals
-- or even simply convincing one
person to cut their meat consumption
-- saves many hundreds of animals
over the course of a lifetime, while
creating pockets of change around
that person.
Recognizing these facts has led
us to work hard to provide the best,
most powerful tools possible, so
we can provide the animals a clear
voice, and allow us each to have
the biggest impact we can possibly
have. But there are many factors
that go into being the best advocate
for the animals we can be. So to
conclude, I’d like to share just
two lessons about advocacy that
took me many years to learn:
1. Veganism is only a tool to reduce
suffering and save animals. Period.
Veganism is not a list of ingredients,
or a religion. It is not an exclusive
club or a label to prove our superiority.
Being vegan is part -- and only
a part -- of what we can do to reduce
suffering and save animals.
2. More important than any individual
choice we may make or position we
hold is the influence we have on
the choices of others. The animals
don’t need us to be right,
they need us to be effective,
to create real and lasting change.
To this end, our literature and
arguments are not the most important
tools we have. Rather, what is most
powerful is our example.
To have the greatest impact for
the animals, we must be the kind
of person others would like to know
and emulate. For all those suffering,
unseen, on factory farms, we must
be polite, humble, and joyous --
in short, we need to be the opposite
of the angry vegan stereotype.
To paraphrase Martin Luther King
Jr., The arc of history is long,
but bends towards justice. We recognize
that the brutal exploitation and
slaughter of billions each year
is the greatest injustice today.
With that recognition and the right
tools and approach, we have the
potential -- each and every single
one of us -- to bend history further
towards justice, and profoundly
and fundamentally change the world.
I am truly and deeply honored to
work with you for animal liberation,
the moral imperative of our time.
Thank you.
Note: If you've
missed an issue, you can get
caught up here.
 Vegan
Outreach
P.O. Box 38492
Pittsburgh,
PA 15238-8492
VO
is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization;
all donations
are tax-deductible. |
