Peter Singer Talk Draws 1,400! - By Rachael Behl

Some 35 years ago, Peter Singer was a graduate student at Oxford when he had a fateful lunch with a vegetarian student who exposed him to the horrors of modern factory farming. Before that moment, Singer was like most other people, simply unaware of the cruelty. It was a wake-up call to suffering that Singer had never imagined and it would eventually lead him to write Animal Liberation and become widely known as the founder of the animal protection movement. The student could not have known their lunch would help to spur a revolution.

CAA was proud to have Peter Singer in Minneapolis for a lecture on March 23rd. The evening attracted the largest audience in the history of the Ted Mann Concert Hall for a lecture (more than 1,400 people), spilling into overflow seating. Some 200 unfortunate others had to be turned away. Singer explained the core of his philosophy, which says that moral consideration should not be doled out based on group membership, like belonging to a particular race, sex, or species. To exclude animals from our moral sphere is speciesism, a concept discussed in Animal Liberation.

When I spoke to Singer after lunch at local vegan favorite, Evergreen Chinese Restaurant, Singer explained existing animal welfare groups needed radical ideas. But, he makes a clear distinction between radical ideas and radical tactics, adding it is never good to be lumped in with terrorists.

Singer thinks the animal protection movement made a mistake in the 70's and 80's by concentrating its resources and energy on animal experimentation. The number of animals used in research is a mere fraction of the animals farmed for food (more than 10 billion farm animals in the United States are killed for food each year). He said it is a mistake the movement has learned from and there are hopeful signs.

“In the US, we're better focused on farm animals, and working together with other anti-factory farming interests, like environmentalists, family farm supporters, etc... In the US media, there has been more criticism of factory farming in the last 3 years than in the previous 30,” Singer said.

When asked what he thought of the work of CAA, he replied “Excellent! A wonderful group of people, with a very sensible and practical approach.” As far as our own cage-free egg campaign, Singer thinks improvements in animals' living conditions are crucial and he hopes we keep working towards the goal. While there is no one way to end animal suffering, concentrating on the most widespread animal abuses is imperative.