[Excalibur Online - opinion]

Practical and moral dilemmas plague the fight for animal rights

In the fight against animal cruelty, things often get so heated that many people feel it's safer to just step back and let the activists battle it out. The issues surrounding animal rights are overwhelming because animal products have been integrated into our lives in every way possible, including our diet, medicine, fashion and other facets so subtle that we may never even consider them. But most people do nothing because the transition to an animal cruelty-free lifestyle can be complicated and downright inconvenient.

While I can't claim to be a vegan or a vegetarian, I do choose to support and protect animal rights in other ways. So when I first came across Charles Patterson's book, Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, I was initially struck by two conflicting reactions: an eagerness to educate myself about this vast topic and a sense of skepticism, which was ready to cite it as another example of overzealous extremism.
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So, although there is evidence of animal exploitation at every turn, it seems there are also plenty of groups and individuals who are seeking out alternatives. You don't have to change the world, but each gesture makes a difference and can start a chain reaction that leads others to do the same. As Patterson put it, "there is more than enough violence in the world without our adding to it or putting our heads in the sand and pretending it doesn't exist."

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full story:
http://www.excal.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2164&Itemid=2