Practical - Index > To Do - Index > Activism > Essays

Joe Miele's response is below

"Clueless" Animal Rights Activists
by Virginia H., August 2005

The dissention in the ranks of animal rights advocates is one of the primary reasons sighted by outsiders for ignoring all of us. There are many examples every day. Here's just one.

Joe Miele's circulation of negative information about animal rights activists continues. This time he poured fuel onto the fire of destructive information from other media sources about Jim Willis (that information was wildly misleading at best, as we've later learned). We're accustomed to this sort of "search and publicize all negatives" from the Center of Consumer Freedom, and others against animal rights.

Please read the interview at the link he provided and draw your own conclusions. Here's what I noticed: The interview was 4 years old. Joe could have said "Jim Willis has defended responsible breeders." Instead, Joe chose to say "Jim Willis is a steadfast defender of ...."

WHY does Joe go the extra mile to paint a negative picture of Jim Willis. And WHY, when Jim needs support the most from his fellow AR advocates, does Joe find something negative to say and feel compelled to run it up the flagpole. To what end? What is the intent?

Joe has said, when asked about this, that he didn't write the articles from which he was quoting. But his quotes hurt the AR movement and give fuel to those against our movement. Thus, these actions can hurt animals. His defense is the same as that of a person wearing fur and saying, "But I didn't kill it." Joe should know better.

April 2005

Perhaps you'll appreciate the irony of an animal rights activist (me) criticizing an animal rights activist (Joe Miele) for circulating an article criticizing and animal rights activist (Alicia Silverstone).

Perhaps not.

Joe Miele's circulation of an article critical of Alicia Silverstone (see below) calling her "clueless" was widely circulated by Joe through animal rights support groups such as Penzelda and AnimalsInNeed.

It is widely known that few people have done as much to help animals as Alicia. Yet, with one (admitted) mistake, she is lumped in with callous celebrities such as JLo. Shame on animal rights groups for thinking that this criticism doesn't turn off people to our movement. Nobody wants to join a movement that requires perfection to avoid personal attack from their own.

And none of us, even vegans such as myself, are perfect (I recently learned the bakery that I frequent is owned by a man who supports his son's hobby as an avid hunter to far-off locations).

Circulating Joe's letter has turned people away from our movement (six have written us, calling our entire movement "hypocritical" and "impossible"). Losing support will cost animals their lives.

To what end did the circulation of the article serve? Even if the result of criticizing Alicia was a million e-mails and letters to her, complaining about her faux pas, those e-mails and letters couldn't accomplish anything (except dishearten). Alicia was aware of her mistake. Activists' time was wasted. This also costs animals' lives.

Hello Virginia:

I noticed that you seem to have a problem with some of the things I post to animal rights e-mail lists.  That's fine, as long as the information you quote is correct.

On your page
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Shop--ToDo/Activism/Clueless_activists.htm you say some things that are not true.  From this page I quote "Joe Miele's circulation of negative information about animal rights activists continues."  You then paste half my e-mail.  To be fair, you should post the rest of it which also contains pro-breeder statements made by Mr. Willis.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/9458/health.html

" Good breeders, if they don't look beyond their own circle, won't know what I am talking about, because they are breeding for both conformation and temperament. Unfortunately, because they are good breeders and are home-raising a limited number of puppies, they are not the major supplier of Basset puppies in the US, and that's a sad fact now true for every breed."

"Nurture is critically important, which is why I advise getting an older puppy home-raised by a competent breeder, and why I think puppy mill-born dogs transported long distances to mall pet shops is one of the WORST recipes for creating companion animals."

Perhaps posting this would undermine your argument?

Jim Willis is the source of this negative information, not me.  The words are attributed to him and it is he that you should take issue with for supporting breeders.  Mr. Willis is indeed a steadfast defender of "responsible breeders."  In private correspondence I had with Mr. Willis several months before the tragic fire, Mr. Willis continually defended his position that we should support "responsible breeders."  When confronted with the statistics that prove the tragedy of companion animal overpopulation, Mr. Willis refused to accept that all breeding is irresponsible and should never be condoned.

If you have evidence that Mr. Willis has had a change of heart on this subject, I would be happy to see it.  I will then issue a retraction of my earlier e-mail.  If you do not, then I would appreciate you removing the line where you wrote: "Joe Miele's circulation of negative information about animal rights activists continues."  Mr. Willis is not an animal rights activist, and your very web page is the source of the information.  If you did not wish it to be circulated you should not have posted it to a public web site.

Also, you incorrectly wrote " Joe has said, when asked about this, that he didn't write the articles from which he was quoting."  This is incorrect and I would appreciate it being removed it from the web page.  No one asked me anything about the Alicia Silverstone article (which is factual in content) nor did anyone question me on the Jim Willis quotes (which are also factual, if your web page can be trusted as a source).

If you take issue with the things I write you can always come to me directly.  I will provide you with references to back up my statements.  If you choose not to do this and instead to write things about me on your website, make sure you have your facts straight.

I look forward to any evidence you have that proves that Mr. Willis does not support breeders, and I also look forward to your removing the incorrect information about me that you posted to your website.

Peace,
Joe Miele