A network of animal rights blogs has revealed its latest creation. The Negotiation is Over blog, the Thomas Paine’s Corner blog, Stephen Best and the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, have come together and
…formed the Alliance for Progressive Science (APS) to attack Pro-Torture on both scientific and ethical grounds.
– Negotiation is Over blog (Warning: AR Extremist Website)
Just to clear up who “Pro-Torture” refers to:
The transatlantic Pro-Test – more accurately characterized as Pro-Torture — network seeks to generate mainstream support for vivisection
The Alliance for Progressive Science exists purely to attack Speaking of Research and Pro-Test for Science. How progressive!
This alliance exists to perpetuate the same misinformation about animal research that the AR community has been spreading for years (among other “facts” the article mentions the previously debunked myth that 9/10 drugs that pass animal trials fail in humans). Their introduction is littered with references to Speaking of Research and its founder – clearly our growing movement is causing them some concern:
We need to unite our community to address the imminent threat that the new vivisection activists present.
While Pro-Torture forces are small, weak, and amateurish, they must not be underestimated.
The movement also intersperses its more violent agenda – casually referring to the concentrated harassment of researchers as a normal tactic of the moment.:
Animal rights activists now have an obligation to acknowledge and counter the new breed of vivisection champions. Their reaction to our alliance indicates that relentless exposure, interspersed with targeted aggressive campaigns against individuals, has put them in a defensive, reactionary mode and exposed their weaknesses.
So let us look at this network of animal rights groups (and cosignatories of the Alliance of Progressive Science):
- Camille Marino – a rising star of the animal rights networks, with her alarmingly named “Negotiation is Over” blog. She seems desperate to become the next ALF (Animal Liberation Front) Press Officer.
Emotion & passion drive action; not sterile debate. Attitudes change when people engage and feel. BE DISRUPTIVE. UNRAVEL COMPLACENCY. IT’S OUR JOB. We need to obliterate the status quo — not tolerate it; not become a part of it. Be loud! Be unafraid! Be Militant! [link]
- Jerry Vlasak – An AR Extremist and press officer of the ALF who openly advocates the murder of researchers
If vivisectors were routinely being killed, I think it would give other vivisectors pause in what they were doing in their work […] And I don’t think you’d have to kill — assassinate — too many vivisectors before you would see a marked decrease in the amount of vivisection going on. [link]
- Stephen Best – An animal rights philosopher and senior editor of the militant animal rights blog, The Thomas Paine’s Corner, who would – according to his lectures – save a dog before a human. Not that we should be surprised – misanthropy reigns supreme when your fellow compatriots think the murder of researchers something to consider.
What Dr. Best is saying is that the personal pleasure his dog brings him trumps the value of your mother, your child, your spouse, your sibling, and he’d rather see any one of them burned to a crisp than lose his dog. Assuming, of course, that they haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Best and impressing on him that they are every bit as worthy as is his dog.
Animal Crackers Blog
However Best’s extremist views are more clear from his essay where he endorses
…a form of abolition that (1) defends the use of high-pressure direct action tactics, along with illegal raids, rescues, and sabotage attacks; [Link – Warning AR Extremist Blog]
- Jason Miller – The Anti-Capitalist-Anarcho-Vegan, founder of the Thomas Paine’s Corner Blog and newest Press Officer of NAALPO (sorry Camille, seems Jason beat you to it). He was one of the first activists to rant about the formation of Speaking of Research.
Quite a collection of characters – we urge you to do your own research about them.
Nonetheless this new group simply shows us the size of the task ahead – to explain to the public the vital role of animals in medical research at a time when animal right groups are purposely promoting disinformation in the public domain. We hope everyone gets involved with Speaking of Research to counter this pseudoscience.
Regards
Speaking of Research
Speaking of Research 
And what exactly would be the problem if one saved a dog instead of a human? Why should he save the human? The human might be evil! Elaborate please.
Lol, the ‘roads built by slaves’ argument. That does not hold up, because slaves no longer build roads, but animal experimentation is still used to bring benefits to medical research now.
How many people would use the roads if slaves were still building them?
This new AR group is proof if any were needed that Speaking of Research and Pro-Test UCLA are making a difference in the debate.
If you don’t want to look at the AR extremist sites listed above you can find the announcement of the formation of the new group along with commentary from AMP at:
http://www.kintera.org/htmlcontent.asp?cid=95747
The AR extremists fill their screed with all the expected bluster and misinformation*, but I was struck by their reference to the fact that “Pro-Test activists advocate fearless defense of their agenda” and that “Pro-Test forces have rallied their base, organized spirited protests, spread their message”. Clearly the extremists are rather piqued and worried that their attempt to use intimidation and violence to silence research advocates and stop research has failed.
Well done to all those involved with Pro-Test for Science, especially Dario and David, you’ve shown them what real courage is!
*also some rather basic errors, for example FBR designed and paid for the billboards they mention and UCLA commissioned the newspaper ads.
It continues to amuse me that people like those mentioned in this post continue to rant against…well everything but animal research in particular yet are perfectly willing to take advantage of the benefits gained from it. And they don’t see the hypocrisy in their actions, instead they constantly bring up the lame arguement of using roads built by slaves. If they could kindly tell me exactly which roads to which they refer I would gladly avoid them. Currently I drive to work on an interstate, which I know was built by well paid contractors so I’m safe there.