Are Animals People Too?

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have inundated the holiday airwaves with new ads featuring the music and persona of Sarah McLachlan. These seem to run each commercial break (often during the course of just one program) on major networks over the recent holiday season and into this new year. McLachlan's "Angel" or the sacred "Silent Night" plays over images of cute dogs and cats, making the commercial akin in spirit to those of organizations that help underprivileged or starving children.

While animal cruelty is a moral atrocity and a matter that should be dealt with seriously, these commercials are over the top. Simply by choice of music (especially "Silent Night"), the argument is made, however emotionally, that there is a spiritual tone in their plea to save these animals who have been left on the streets to die or have experienced abuse becuase their owners were inconvenienced or grew tired of them.

Might I interject and say there is an entire population of human beings who are being killed, not just left on the street, because they are considered an incovenience. I considered unborn children as I listened to the lyrics of Silent Night: "round yon virgin/mother and child/holy infant so tender and mild" played over images of dogs and cats! Does this make sense to anyone? How have we elevated animals to such lofty heights and yet kill unborn human beings so easily? The ad makes use of music meant to honor Christ's birth and majesty to further the idea of animal equality, however so subtle.

The commercial itself is really a tragic signal to me that two groups have now merged: the extreme left animal activists and the sympathetic animal lover. The message in this ad appeals to both. And its presentation and underlying message compliment much more radical attempts in recent years to give more and more rights to animals. Consider Britain's proposed "Animal Welfare Bill" of 2006, granting pets...oh, sorry, how un-PC of me...granting "companion animals" some of the very rights given to human beings.

It really says something about a culture when they continually devalue human life and dignity while simultaneously elevating the "rights" of animals. The recent ad by the ASPCA does highlight the very real and relavent problem of animal cruelty, but perhaps more critically, its delivery and tone show us that the radical animal rights movement is gaining ground.