Animal Rights Protests:They Bring Out the Best and the Worst in People

Sometimes you can make a point more effectively as part of a group, along with people of like mind. One of the ways I do that is to stand on a sidewalk with others for an hour or two with posters and leaflets to inform passersby about the realities of animal exploitation.

I didn't know before I started participating in animal rights protests that you can picket without a permit-provided you're standing on public property, like a sidewalk, and not interfering with traffic, disturbing the peace, or offending public morality. Nevertheless, dealing with the cops-who-threaten-to-arrest-you-if-you-don't-pack-up-your-posters-and-leave is a ritual of almost every demonstration. But despite their initial bluster, they have to respect our civil rights and leave us alone.

So, OK, we're out there, we're holding posters that read, say, "Honk for the Animals" and "Don't Wear Fur", and we're getting the horn or the thumbs up from sympathetic passersby. That's the easy part. That's like preaching to the choir. But we also get the finger, the thumbs down, and unsolicited advice to "get a life" or "get a job". The variety of responses is what makes a protest fun. Following are some of the different personality types we encounter.

Angry and Arrogant:

They take exception to what they perceive as a serious threat to their belief that Homo sapiens is the only species worth caring about. For example, at one demo, a man in a pickup stopped at the light and leaned over his young child to yell out the window at us, "You f---in' a--holes!" Another guy on his way in to watch an animal circus became so incensed, seeing us standing there, that he loudly threatened to go home and shoot his dog. A scowling woman in a car showed her own poster at us, which proclaimed, "Take care of the babies first!"

Pious and Preachy:

A Bible thumper on a Harley once solemnly informed us that animal rights activists are all people haters, but even worse, they're pro-abortion. He also let us know that, although he personally would never harm an animal, only humans have the "grace of God" (i.e., are candidates for Heaven). I told him I wouldn't want to go to a Heaven with no animals. He then reassured me, rather illogically, that there are animals there (I guess they're just part of the celestial scenery).

Ignorant and Indifferent:

These people are constantly on the move to somewhere else, and so they glance quickly at our posters and away again-often smiling faintly-no doubt wondering why all the wackos are holding silly signs when there are so many more constructive things to do with one's time.

Jaded and Joking:

They can't believe that anybody would actually defend the rights of animals-they're ONLY animals, after all-so they smirk and wag their fingers at us, or they may announce how tasty their recently purchased fast food meal is and invite us to sniff it.

Fuzzy on the Concept:

These are the folks who just don't pick up on what we're trying to communicate. One lady thought we were handing out information about a special offer from Starbuck's when we were actually protesting their policy about rodeos. Another woman berated me for wearing a fur coat to a Fur-Free protest. She totally ignored the prominent sign pinned to the coat indicating approximately how many minks had died to create it.

Guilty as Charged:

Sometimes people who are wearing real fur will take one look at us and then go out of their way to cross the street, keeping their heads down, to try to fly under our radar. It rarely works.

On The Fence:

They've sensed for a while that there's something wrong about humans exploiting animals, but they can't quite put their finger on why it disturbs them until they notice us and read our literature-and often they have a kind of epiphany and join us, or later they start advocating for animals themselves.

Young and Curious:

Their minds are still open to new ideas. At one circus protest, two little girls came up to us accompanied by their mother. They showed us the money in their hands, and one of them said, "We were going to buy tickets to the circus, but we found out they hurt elephants." A little later a boy passed by after watching part of the show, and commented, "That circus was terrible. I'm glad you're here."

Our goal as protesters is to be polite but assertive-never angry or violent. We smile, we wave, we answer questions from the public and the media, and we challenge the arguments of those who disagree with us. It requires patience, humor, and thick skin. But if we can raise anyone's consciousness to another level and get people to think about issues that they may have never considered before, the animals win.