“We’re against killing any animals…except innocent humans”

Posted by Marc Hodak on August 4, 2008 under Revealed preference | 2 Comments to Read

In case you haven’t heard this before, it’s the serious, bona fide position of the Animal Liberation Front, a group that is legitimately referred to as domestic terrorists.

They or their compatriots firebombed the home of a UCSC researcher while he, his wife, and two children were asleep. The family had to escape from an upstairs window. The Mercury News picks up from here:

While a spokesman said he didn’t know who committed the act, the Woodland Hills-based Animal Liberation Front called the attacks a “necessary” act, just like those who fought against civil rights injustices. Spokesman Dr. Jerry Vlasak showed no remorse for the family or children who were targeted.

“If their father is willing to continue risking his livelihood in order to continue chopping up animals in a laboratory than his children are old enough to recognize the consequences,” said Vlasak, a former animal researcher who is now a trauma surgeon. “This guy knows what he is doing. He knows that every day that he goes into the laboratory and hurts animals that it is unreasonable not to expect consequences.”

The article then captures the appropriate response to such a rant:

Clark, the Santa Cruz police captain, said it was “unconscionable” for anyone to defend such acts: “To put this on par with any of the human rights issues is an absolute insult to the integrity of the people who fought and went through the human rights movement. This is what people do when they have an inability to articulate their point in any constructive way. They resort to primal acts of violence. Any reasonable person would need a logic transplant to begin to understand this level of degraded thinking.”

I’m with the police on this one.

The media, on the other hand, are due for a correction. This person they generously refer to in the present tense as a “trauma surgeon” is no such thing. He has apparently not been employable as any kind of doctor since 1998. Even the PCRM, a fairly radical, but non-violent, animal rights group, distances itself from Vlasak.