THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 24, 1995 TAG: 9511230032
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Regarding the ``He Said, She Said'' column published Nov. 12 (Real Life): Many animal-rights activists are vegetarians and choose personally not to support the raising of animals for food. Yet they would accept the killing of animals for nourishment more than the killing of animals for fashion.
Female columnist Kerry Dougherty says, ``It's ranch-raised minks that gave their little lives so I could have this gorgeous coat. Little rodent-like animals that wouldn't even have been born if it hadn't been for the fur industry.''
Ms. Dougherty makes it sound as if the minks made a choice to give their lives. In fact, they were snatched out of closed-in, small pens and clubbed to death. I don't think they were raising their paws to be next.
Ms. Dougherty said, ``I''ve always suspected that the anti-fur-industry stuff is really a thin disguise for anti-rich-people sentiments.''
Where does she get the idea that the demographics of the animal-rights movement is split across personal-income lines? Rich and poor alike choose not to support this grotesque adornment of the physical body. Whether or not people have basic compassion for life is not contingent on how large their paychecks are.
Ms. Dougherty needs not only an education in the manner in which animals are raised and killed for their fur but also a spiritual mentor to educate her in what makes a real woman - inner beauty and a spiritual sense of one's self-worth.
Ms. Dougherty closes by saying, ``When I'm enveloped in mink, I feel like a million dollars.''
Pretty sad that it takes wearing a dead animal's outer layer in order for a person to be content with his or her inner layer.
SUSAN JOHNSTON
LISA RIDDLE
Hampton, Nov. 13, 1995 by CNB