a-pocketful-of-mumbles:

It’s about the newly, quietly passed, AETA, or Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act.  It is now illegal to do ANYTHING that has “the purpose of damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise”.

Now, the thing is this is obviously understandable in the light of certain members of PETA who take things to extremely radical measures, and certain activists actually doing physical harm or property damage (Most famously Lauren Gazzola and her attack on the lab Huntingon Life Sciences, as mentioned in the article). However, that was covered by the old law AEPA which stood for Animal Enterprise Protection Act.  The old law covered property damages, bodily injury, and death.  I completely agree that action like that SHOULD be persecuted and that taking the law into your own hands and causing physical damage is unacceptable.  

However, this new law, AETA, covers ANY action that causes and animal enterprise to suffer economic loss. It has, understandably so, caused many PEACEFUL animal rights activists to back down and reconsider their choice to protest.  Since now they can legally be sued for any economical damage their protest might cause to any animal enterprise, i.e. the meat industry, zoos, dairy farms, restaurants, fast food, grocery stores, even school cafeterias. 

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America, please. Can we please conserve our energy and save real legal action for those people who are actually doing some harm in this country? I hardly think that people who are trying to spread awareness about the incredible cruel treatment of animals, that many people ARE in the dark about, is causing anyone immediate harm.    PROTEST IS NOT TERRORISM. THIS LINE CANNOT NOT BE BLURRED ANY FURTHER.

As the film I just posted, Bold Native, deals with, it’s amazing how anyone who is interested in fighting for the freedom of animals can be treated as a terrorist. Combine this with the new defense authorization act which allows the government to do whatever they want with anyone they deem a “terrorist”, whether a citizen or not, and we have a pretty scary situation if a person can be arrested just for protesting or trying to convince people not to purchase products from certain unsavory companies.

Whether you care about animal rights or human rights or the supposed freedoms your country was founded on (and still pays lip-service to), you should be terrified of these developments. Hell, I’m even a bit worried about posting anything about the animal product industry on my blog now.

If you are someone who currently partakes of the products that this industry produces, don’t you think there’s something terribly bothersome about the fact that this industry is so well and unquestioningly protected by the government that people who speak out against it or even particular companies can now be locked up indefinitely, tortured, and possibly even “disappeared”? What are they hiding? What do they not want you to know? Why do they feel the need to exert their power and change the laws of this so-called democratic country? If there’s nothing wrong with what they do, why are they so obviously scared shitless of anyone exposing the truth behind their business?

If you use any animal products (an act so ubiquitous in this cruel culture we’ve created that I might as well just say “if you’re reading this…”) you owe it to the animals who suffer and die unnecessarily for your benefit to take some time and think really hard about what/who you’re supporting, and what they’re keeping you in the dark about to ensure your continued support.