Lee Hall (3)

Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror is a swift read, but a long mental journey. I feel the same sentiments as Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson when he writes in the book's foreward, "[The author, Lee Hall] thinks further than I have thought about certain areas, and I am thrilled to be able to follow her on this extraordinary mental adventure." Indeed, while reading the book, I was introduced to ways of thinking that are different from anything I have ever read in the literature, or heard at the conferences I've attended.

In this thin volume, Hall explores what the philosophy of animal rights was, is, and could potentially be. In Hall's view, the modern animal rights movement is actually an animal welfare movement in masquerade. For instance, the term `humane slaughter' is just as ironic as the idea that thousands of animals can be freed from cages each year only to be replaced by more animals in those very cages.

In a nutshell, Hall writes that "the guiding principle here isn't to help [animals], but to aspire not to interfere." If animals were not interfered with in the first place, they would not be subject to exploitation. The most basic step one can take to stop interfering with animals is to stop consuming animal products. The cessation of other interferences will soon follow. Essentially, Hall's vision is for the animal rights movement to become "the most comprehensive peace movement ever known."

One of the most striking points in the book is the idea that graphic images of animal exploitation serve to promote animal welfare not animal rights. The fact is we shouldn't need these graphic images to tell us all the horrors of animal use. All we need to know is that animals are being used against their will. And that is wrong.

Overall, of course, Hall denounces violence (unto other animals, unto other humans, unto ourselves, and unto the environment we all share). I fell right into stride with Hall on this idea. For those of us who don't feel we fit in with the passiveness of animal welfarists nor the violence of other activists, and who strictly oppose the exploitation of other beings, we have a comrade in Lee Hall.

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