New age marketing

David Cantor, long time Animal Rights advocate, has again showed his hand. I attended the Animal Rights 2003 conference in Washington DC in June. The movement has moved into colleges and universities across the country recruiting members. Locations of secondary education are a haven for young people, typically ladies, who are “searching for a cause”. That is why David Cantor has chosen to target Land Grant Universities in search of members for his new animal rights group. Here is what he had to say this week in a letter to Iowa State University, read entire letter here.

"I would love for students to understand our campaign and get involved to
the extent that they can," he said.

"Teaching people to make animal products is infinitely worse than any other
major could possibly be," Cantor said.

"If animal agriculture remained the way it was in 1862, it would not be a
target of animal rights activists. Period."

His history is a bad as his logic. The number of bison in the 1800’s exceeded the number of bovine today. The Indians were more than just a little dependent on animal products for their survival. People lived in sod houses with no electricity, no phone, no cars and kept snakes in the ceiling to control insects. Life expectancy was about 42, considering that millions of Americans that died from Malaria, Tuberculosis, Measles or Typhoid. The population was 31 million and it took 60% of the population to feed the people, lest we not forget that 3.5 million of the 31 million were slaves. So it is probably not a stretch then to consider Cantor a racist.

Here is an Abraham Lincoln quote from 1862 which also endorses this theory?

Speaking of farmers, Lincoln said, “It also follows that that interest is most worthy of all to be cherished and cultivated -- that if there be inevitable conflict between that interest and any other, that other should yield."

A quick history lesson from the University of Illinois:

Although pioneer farms were much more diversified than today's corn and soybean farms, corn was grown on considerable portion of cropland acres because it gave high and reliable yields and the mature crop could stand in the field all winter without spoilage or much loss to wildlife. However, corn's low price per bushel did not justify transporting it very far and consequently much of it was used to feed livestock on or near the farm where it had been grown. Thus, by 1860, the Midwest was becoming the nation's livestock and feed grain producer, complementing the agricultural and industrial specializations occurring in other regions.

It seems that despite our advances in technology, many things remain unchanged.