[Vision2020] Vision2020 Digest, Vol 2, Issue 372

[Megan Prusynski]

D-
Saundra did not e-mail me, she doesn't even know me. A friend of mine  
who was saw Saundra's message on the Vision2020 site forwarded it to  
me because they knew I was interested in animal rights, and foie gras  
is quite a hot issue in the animal rights movement right now because  
Chicago banned it in April. So please don't make accusations against  
her for bringing the issue to the attention of residents in Moscow  
because she wanted me to react this way. You sure seem to enjoy  
making assumptions.

I appreciate your constructive criticism of my and PETA's activist  
tactics, but I assure you that I am more interested in educating the  
people of Moscow what foie gras is and showing them the cruelty  
behind it than picking on a specific business. West of Paris just  
happens to be the only place that serves/served foie gras in this  
town, in case you hadn't noticed. I don't mean to "undermine" the  
economic fabric of Moscow, nor attack anyone for their religion. If  
that's the reason people boycott it, well so be it, but how is that  
my fault? Objecting foie gras doesn't seem that outlandish to me, it  
seems like a damn good reason to protest actually. But maybe that's  
just me...

Just because I work for an organization does not mean that I agree  
with every tactic of every campaign... but I do support what PETA  
does and I think their mission is noble, consistent, and necessary in  
this world. They're not trying to dehumanize human beings by pointing  
out similarities between the way the Nazis treated Jews and the way  
our society treats animals, they are just asking people to widen  
their circle of compassion just a bit and open their eyes to the  
needless suffering of animals. I thought Kelsey did a very good job  
of answering your concern on the show this morning, with a beautiful  
quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. to illustrate her point. Just for  
the record, she also mentioned that she is Christian and that she has  
a friend who attends CC... not everyone opposing foie gras in this  
town has ulterior motives.

PETA's campaigns are basically putting democracy in action, and I  
know a lot of their marketing techniques are risque or  
confrontational, but they approach the problem from many angles, and  
I believe that's what works. From the very local and small restaurant  
serving a particularly cruel dish to the biggest animal testing  
corporation in the country, change happens from the bottom up as well  
as the top down. I have been involved in voicing my concerns about  
factory farming and other animal rights issues to my senators and  
representatives, to major corporations, etc. Sometimes activists must  
pick their battles, and this may be one of the first of many local  
issues animal rights activists and Compassion Speaks will address.  
We'd certainly love any help & support we can get, because there's an  
awful lot of work to be done. :)

Anyhow, I appreciate the apology, thank you.
~megan

-------------------------------------------------
Megan,

I do owe you an apology. I was incorrect to assume that you are doing  
this because you disagree with a man's religion. It is clear to me  
now that was not your intent. However, it was the intent of the  
person that notified you by email of the Foli Gras. That person  
notified you in the hopes that you would respond in the way that you  
have.

I hope you are aware, the person that emailed you that email was  
doing so in an attempt to pit you up against a group of people she  
has dedicated a great deal of her time and energies against. You will  
also find that a great deal of the people that are supporting your  
cause are only doing so because they dislike and want to cause harm  
to a man and his business just because of his chosen religious  
affiliations. In effect, you are being used for someone else's  
sinister and discriminatory purposes. I think it is unfortunate they  
are using you for that purpose and you are allowing them to just to  
get new members and any type of support. It is kind of like if you  
were protesting a business man that also happened to be Black, would  
you want the KKK tagging along too? I think not. I think you are best  
served by axing not attaching this people to your group that are in  
it for other reasons.

I think fighting to lessen animal suffering is a noble and worthy  
cause, I don't think anyone is going to disagree with that. Where I  
disagree with you is not what you are trying to do, but how you are  
attempting to achieve those goals. My point of making the claims  
against all Moscow eating establishments and food service companies  
being involved of animal cruelty was not a plea that you protest all  
meat serving restaurants but to point out the futility of your  
strategy that will not result in the outcome that you want.

Not one duck will be saved for boycotting or threatening a local  
businessman, and it hurts that business and Moscow to be boycotted  
and is unfair to single one out when all establishments are  
committing the same offense. There is more demand for the duck then  
supply, in fact, suppliers cannot even keep up.

The goal should be to get everyone in Moscow on board, here and all  
over Idaho to change laws regarding the treatment of animals, for the  
animals interests, the environment, and the health of the consumers.  
Calling Idahoans who hunt and fish Nazis and murderers, and raising  
the level of import of the slaughter of mindless cattle to the  
equivalency of the Jewish Holocaust I think is an offensive tactic  
that turns people away from helping you and accomplishing your goals.

I don't think you are a hypocrite Megan. But I think myself and  
anyone else that says torturing a duck is wrong so don't eat at West  
of Paris, but they then go and eat meat, which undoubtedly did come  
from a slaughter house elsewhere, is a hypocrite.

I think focusing in on the misery of one animal, like a fish,  
chicken, or a duck, is a bad idea. I think focusing in on all the  
animals, and working to make a change as a whole, on a legislative  
level, that improves the overall conditions, is the way to go. I  
think you will find that a popular idea among even meat eaters.  
Asking people to boycott West of Paris, but ignoring the same  
mistreatment of other animals they eat is asking people to be  
hypocrites, sadly, many Doug Wilson obsessives  will comply, but not  
many others.

And thanks for taking my call on Tim's show. I appreciated having the  
opportunity to talk to you in person.

Best,

_DJA





Megan Prusynski <megan at meganpru.com> wrote:
Donovan,
I really don't appreciate your accusation that I am choosing to "pick
on" West of Paris because of Mr. Foucachon's connection with NSA/
Christ Church. As I mentioned on the show, I found out about the foie
gras and voiced my opinion against it before I even knew where the
restaurant was or who it was associated with. Do not start putting
words in my mouth or call me a hypocrite, that is just rude.

I am not trying to single out this restaurant for any other reason
than that they had foie gras on the menu. I find it to be a
particularly cruel and unnecessary practice, although cruelty is
rampant throughout the meat industry, foie gras sticks out to me for
a number of reasons. One is that it is completely unnecessary. As my
good friend Kelsey pointed out on the show, people can argue that
eating meat is necessary for survival (I don't believe this, but
people can argue it), and it is clear that foie gras, which is a
delicacy, is NOT necessary. Secondly, I find it particularly
appalling, and one of the more gruesome aspects of factory farming,
and I have never heard of it being served here, so I thought with the
restaurant just opening up that it would be an opportune time to let
them know that foie gras is not welcomed by members of the community.
Certainly even meat-eaters or people not normally concerned with
animal rights can attest to the fact that this is unnecessary cruelty.

Also, as mentioned on the radio interview, we ARE making efforts to
protest other restaurants, and protested in front of KFC twice in the
last year because the way they raise their chickens is exceptionally
cruel. I personally advocate vegetarianism at any opportunity and
don't support the meat industry in any way shape or form, but in this
town there are no places offering ONLY vegetarian food, so I have to
eat somewhere, and the Co-op is a far better alternative (and one of
the only places I can get organic produce) than any other grocery
store in my opinion, so I shop there, and they do have more options
for us herbivores than any other store in Moscow. Also, Compassion
Speaks, the student animal rights group, just started last year and
hasn't had much of a chance to recruit a large number of people yet,
so we will certainly make an effort to branch out and protest the
meat industry at large. But I think it's pretty unrealistic to assume
we can protest every business selling meat and actually get them to
discontinue it. Foie gras, because it is a delicacy and very
expensive, isn't nearly as big of a deal to remove from a menu, we
simply want to let West of Paris know that there are some in the
community that don't support the practice of force-feeding animals
and inducing liver disease. Also, it's a great way to educate people
about what foie gras is (many don't even know) and use this issue to
bring larger animal rights issues into the forefront and open
people's eyes. Hopefully we will have many more protests,
demonstrations, etc. to follow that keep animal rights issues in
discussion. You are certainly welcome to e-mail Kelsey at
compassionspeaks at hotmail.com and join us at KFC. :)

For you to insinuate that I am "singling out" Mr. Foucachon is just
ludicrous, and I do hope that you will consider apologizing for your
accusation that I am discriminating against him.

By the way, thank you for calling in, as I am pretty sure that was you.

peace!
~megan


Message: 3
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:30:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Donovan Arnold
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fwd: Is there a correlation between
"ForeGras"Killing Babies!
To: Tom Hansen , "'Saundra Lund'"
, vision2020 at moscow.com
Message-ID: <20060827223049.75447.qmail at web38109.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Mr. Hansen,

That article says else where it happens earlier on as well. It
WELL by the late gestation, which means it starts long before. I
chose that particular passage because it is clear enough even for
you to read. There is plenty of other professional research
conducted to suggest that fetuses experience pain as early as seven
weeks into development--which is before most abortions take place. I
suggest you do some Googling.

Planned parenthood DOES NOT offer assistance in raising a child if
a parent cannot afford to raise one. Most of their site is dedicated
to not raising a child, not parenthood.

I am glad you listened to Tim's radio show. I hoped you learned
something. And to answer your questions, yes, the Co-Op does
purchase items from companies that practice what PeTA considers a
violation of animal rights. But that isn't a hard definition to meet
considering that PeTA considers eating animals, even fish, a
violation of their rights too.

While I am opposed to unnecessary cruelty to animals, I am also
opposed to targeting and picketing one local business man because we
object to the owners religion. I have no doubt that Megan herself,
did not target West of Paris on her own accord, somebody vehemently
opposed to them pointed out the Foie Gras issue in the hopes that
she would target this man, she has unwittingly complied. I find this
behavior appalling and hypocritical. And no I am not a member of
Christ Church, and I think eating liver is gross.

To target a man because he has a religion we disagree with is
discrimination.

To cast a stone at a man for a crime (purchasing goods from
companies that abuse animals) we are all committing ourselves is an
abomination and a new height of hypocrisy in our community.

Best,

_DJA

=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
http://www.fsr.net
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================




Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo!  
Small Business.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20060827/5ecb1161/attachment-0001.htm