Daily Mall,

I read your blog and is this the best you've got for a zinger?

You write, "The conclusion of Mr. Mauro’s simple-minded commentary includes the following question (which is hardly an editorial coup de grâce): “What depth of negativity causes (animal-rights activists) to overtly act with hostility and domination towards people with differing views? An animal-rights activist could just as easily ask: “What depth of (narcissism) causes (Mr. Mauro) to overtly act with hostility and domination towards people with differing views?”

Really?? That's akin to an 8 year old saying, "No I'm not, YOU ARE".


Your blog represents exactly what Mr. Mauro is talking about. There are activist "leaders" who will go to any extreme, including misrepresenting themselves, their qualifications and their data to get their way. Moreover, these "leaders" have in fact, been tied to organizations which advocate physical harm to other human beings. Yet those who share similar anti-hunting views never bother to verify what they are being told or by whom. As a result, they are being mislead with completely baseless information being represented as fact. Emotions take over and facts are no longer a consideration. So Mr. Mauro suggests we must have compassion for those who are not aware they are being lead like kids to kool aid.

You then take issue with Mr. Mauro's credential's, calling him a "charlatan" worthy of the same scrutiny he writes about. Fair enough. Mr. Mauro represented himself as "“chairman and co-founder” of three related organizations and the author of “three books on conservation, hunting and the outdoors.” Yes, those facts are correct. Unlike the so called "activist leaders"; Mr. Mauro is representing himself for what he is. He's not being looked into by the FBI; hasn't made terrorist threats and hasn't presented any facts that cannot be verified. Have you ever looked into the organizations he is involved in or read his books? Are you aware of the indisputable data used in the development of his books? Have you ever looked into the rest of the organization to see how it works and what it does? Have you ever looked beyond an opinion article or are you doing precisely what activists do when they are stumped? Ignore the facts and instead make personal attacks. For example, take the Stop the NJ Black Bear Hunt Facebook page. There are several areas where a hunter politely asks anyone "I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell us what viable, cost effective alternative you propose that will keep the population in balance while at the same time have the added benefit of reducing incidents between humans/bears as was seen in the 2003, 2005 and 2010 hunts." You will not find one answer to the question. That is the crux of the conservationist argument for the bear hunt, but no one seems to be able to comeup with a viable, cost-effective response. Instead, it's reaponded to with emotion.

As to "hostility and domination", I interpret that as people wishing death or harm to others (as many activists wish upon hunters in these facebook type pages). If Mauro wanted to be "mean" he would have posted the names of the illicit activists (which I can assure you they are real people), but he did not. Mr. Mauro did not threaten anyone's lives or even interfere with their right to protest. He did not call upon hunters to take action against activists. He expressed his opinion and urged compassion.

Yet you compare him to Jim Jones??? I will remind you that Jim Jones lead over 900 people to (in his words) "commit an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.". It is this very type of disgusting comparison which Mr. Mauro would call hostile.

My first instinct was to tell you to go drink some more kool aid, but I'll show a little compassion instead.

Why doesn't this 'compassion' you speak of extend to non-human animals?

Why is it "live and let live" until that means you have to stop killing?

Why is there a constant hypocrisy of "everyone's entitled to live how they want as long as they aren't hurting anyone" when 58 billion (yes, BILLION) creatures are killed unnecessarily for food alone each year?

And yes, it IS unnecessary. Unless you truly believe that vegans/vegetarians are mythical beasts like unicorns and dragons and secretly eat animal products to survive when nobody is looking.

Take your sentimentality, take your tradition, and take your skewed moral bias and try, for once, to hold it up to the scrutiny of logic and fact and apply it to something beyond selfish endeavors.

i am sorry you are upset that the bible considers your lifestyle of carnism a sin, don't get upset at me i am just the messenger. if you have a problem with the bible, curse and ridicule jesus and the judeo- christian god not me, you still have time to come to the lord , tomorrow may be to late, god be with you

Vegblogger is trying to be cool but you can see the waves of anger seething through the written words. It's like the highschool kid who thinks they have a good comeback but the adult sees it for what it is, a defensive reaction. Then you've got others trying to make a point but do so with the same lame stuff that Mauro is writing about. Then Mr. Hon trying to overthink his response. This is the funny stuff. The other comments are just freaky.

He writes "I include animal rights activists as negative people because they are not content to live their lives at peace with their world view, but instead work as despots to control those with differing ideas and values."

But this is not quite so cut and dry. Animal rights activists gain absolutely nothing from getting people to stop hurting animals. And that is exactly what they want. They see an injustice in the world and they want to help bring it to an end. It is no different than an abolitionist who fought to help end slavery, someone who tries to help end world hunger, or any other number of issues we face in the world. They see an injustice and they try to put an end to it and raise awareness about it.

For someone who wants to discuss negativity and say that animal rights activists are negative, I thought his article came across as being negative. He is negative and wants to change the way other people do things. He says he's against animal rights activists wanting to stop those who have different ideas and values, but HE wants to stop animal rights activists, who have different values and ideas of his own. So he's doing exactly what he is accusing them of doing! If he believes that people should all be at peace with the world and not try to instill change where they see an injustice, then all activists, volunteers, and others who try to make change should stop what they are doing. Sound good? I think not!

Animal rights activists are trying to help the world be more peaceful. There is no peace in killing, no matter how you do the deed. Peace comes from not harming other living creatures and helping the world to be more compassionate toward all living things, not just those that walk on two legs and foolishly rule the roost.

Furthermore, he opens his article by mentioning philosophers and compassion. Many philosophers were animal rights advocates and even vegetarians. Their thoughts on compassion were not just for humans, but for other animals as well!

"As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap the joy of love." —Pythagoras

These animal righters will try to sell you anything won't they. Amazing.

Looking over these response sure is enough proof that Mauro is on the money. It's good that somone has written what others have been thinking. Crazy stuff these animal folks have been telling us like hunting causing increases in the number of animals to all the terrorist stuff. I was wondering where these fancy sounding titles came from too, these folks just make them up as they go along. I'd like to read more stuff like this.

Mr Mauro and others here appear to be suffering from what the DSM IV describes as 'Animal Rights Derangement Disorder' disorder.

This crippling psychosis is very similar to the extremely contagious 'Vegan/PETA Derangement Disorder' disorder.

Symptoms include a pathological and debilitating fear of tofu, an uncontrollable full-body twitching whenever the word 'humane' is heard and an overwhelming compulsion to speak the words 'extremist agenda' over and over again.

the bible does not tell us not to smoke crack, so i guess it is ok to do so. your reasoning does not hold water you must look at entire bible, not one or two lines. unless you change your ways you will go to hell no mater what pat robertson, joel olsteen or your parents tell you. remember this until your dying day, you have been warned, you will have no excuse when you meet your maker, i pray god enters your heart
amen

No need to name names in this, the name of the organization you so diplomatically describe says it all - "Negotiation is Over".
The leaders of these groups are the Evil Twins to the Pied Piper, and are far more dangerous than most people understand. The FBI is not the only organization keeping track of these fools: the highly regarded Southern Poverty Law Center is very concerned. AR activists feel compelled by their delusional mental state to force others to take on their belief system or die, there is a line drawn in the sand for them, and they just can't allow anyone to 'harm' an animal. Now human beings, well that is a different story for these angry, depressed and hateful folks. Self-loathing needs to be shared, I guess.

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/11/03/animal-rights-activist-if-you-spill-blood-your-blood-should-be-spilled/

I also suspect that their diet is a big factor in the negativity. Lacking critical amino acids, Vitamin B12 (humans cannot always absorb B12 supplements, can only benefit from animal protein sources) causes depression, agitation, sleeplessness, difficulty with concentration and learning, memory issues, a host of nervous system and mental functions, including basic intelligence. There is a reason why there are very few 'lifetime' vegans.

Keep up the good work.

Hey, lazarus! I've seen your fake religious garbage on other web sites. Are you a paid sycophant, like Sarah_HSUS has finally admitted to being, or do you volunteer? The Bible does not tell us to become vegans -- in only one of many examples, when the Israelites were wandering in the desert for 40 years, G*d fed them with manna in the morning and quail (a bird, y'know) in the evening. Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac, but G*d, after testing him, gave him a sheep (an animal) to sacrifice instead.

Finally some honest commentary and it's also right on target.

Well, I think there is another aspect to the animal rights radicals, those who are desperately seeking to convince others, including legislators and law makers, that their position is the correct one in regard to animals. I think that aspect is that these people suffer from some kind of mental illness...an illness which makes them feel they absolutely MUST make everyone else believe like they do and live like they do. They are what used to be called "true believers" in that they think their belief is the only correct path to follow. Now, they don't just follow the path themselves, they work diligently to FORCE the rest of us to follow it too. That is clearly fascist and totalitarian and does not fit in our democracy...it is against everything democracy stands for...freedom of belief and freedom to act as long as one does not negatively affect others.