Which chat did this person witness?

[Tim Gier]

Corey Wrenn wrote a "critique" of ARZone based on her viewing of Peter Young's ARZone chat. 

http://www.examiner.com/vegan-in-roanoke/animal-rights-zone-promoti...

 

She writes:

 

"...the site is nothing more than just another welfarist organization that serves to confuse participants and detract from veganism and ending non-human animal use"

 

and

 

"It’s a place where animal rights celebrities can come in to receive a collective pat on the back.  And, it’s a place for advocates to soak in the celebrity sunshine and ignorantly accept welfarist or violent mantra in an atmosphere the stifles critical thinking".

 

I'd love to hear the opinions of ARZone's members about this. Is Wrenn correct about what ARZone is and do you all think of yourself as "ignorantly" accepting anything? 

[Tim Gier]

Hi Will,

It seems to me that she is saying that ARZone members are stupid, and too easily lead. It's an elitist position, I think, and not very respectful of other people.

[Tim Gier]

The line Wrenn and others keep repeating is that since ARZone sometimes hosts guests who are supportive of direct action that ARZone members will rush right out an do direct action, as if they can't think for themselves about whether direct action is something they really ought to do. I guess we're supposed to believe that ARZone members were duped into performing vivisection after we hosted Colin Blakemore too. Don't spend too much time trying to make sense of this Will, it pretty much just nonsensical rambling on Wrenn's part anyway.

[Lucas Hayes]

Didn't Gary Francione used to always say that he wanted to openly discuss and debate these issues? Personally, I prefer a much more nuanced discussion about these topics, as with arzone podcast discussions, as opposed to being expected to agree with and repeat one voice or risk being lumped in with those who don't deeply desire and strive for the abolition of exploitation.     

[Tim Gier]

Francione has always said that. I'll leave it to others to decide whether he lives up to those words.

[Tim Gier]

Thank you for what you've said about the podcasts. They're something new to ARZone and it's good to know that our members are finding them to be useful.

[Carolyn Bailey]

Hi Lucas,

Yes, Gary Francione has led others to believe he's interested in discussing these issues on a number of occasions. ARZone invited him to have an open debate with Gene Baur from Farm Sanctuary earlier this year, but he refused to take part in that debate.

ARZone invited him to join us on an ARZone podcast 3 weeks ago too, but he chose not to reply to that invitation, unfortunately. 

I guess, as Tim suggests, it might be good for others to decide how genuine he is in this regard. 

To be fair, I should make it clear that I don't believe Gary Francione had anything to do with this poorly researched article. Gary actually knows how ARZone works quite well, as he was quite a big part of ARZone in the early months. He was also very supportive of the work being done in ARZone and often spoke very highly of the site and the admins. 

[Tim Gier]

I agree with you Carolyn, Francione didn't have a direct hand in Wrenn's article. To his credit, Francione actually knows the difference between an argument and mere assertions; Wrenn evidently does not. Wrenn seems to think, based on her article and her subsequent comments to it, that endlessly repeating the same charges over and over again constitutes making a case for a particular position. Francione is a law professor and he'd never try to get away with such nonsense.

[Tim Gier]

Examiner.com pays people to write for them, based on the number of ad clicks each article generates. Anyone can sign up to write for them, they don't really care about anyone's qualifications or expertise, all Examiner.com cares about is ad revenue. The owner is a conservative billionaire who also owns an oil company, cattle ranches, sports teams and tax-payer supported stadiums.

[Tim Gier]

Excellent points Barbara. I agree, there is a clear agenda behind the article, and it certainly isn't an objective or fair one.

[Tim Gier]

Hi Roger,

 

The secret is out!! ARZone possesses the most powerful mind bending interactive website on the planet. Next thing you know, you'll be wearing a "fur" coat!

We have assumed control.... 

[Tim Gier]

Hi Sadia,

I agree that it would be good for Corey to come back into ARZone with an open mind to see what it's really all about. Perhaps then her opinions might have more credibility.

Thank you for you kind words about the work being done here. I share your gratitude for what ARZone provides.

[Brooke Cameron]

Unfortunately, I read this short article you linked to. I don't understand why anyone is giving significance to an article as poor as this one.

The author suggests that Gary Francione (in the comments of this article) is the only abolitionist to have appeared as a guest in ARZone. Seriously, why is anyone even discussing such an uneducated article based on nothing other than hatred and a biased opinion?

She even goes as far as to suggest that the entire abolitionist movement, who congregate in the great man's "forum" have banned the topic of ARZone in their "forum". The entire abolitionist movement, all of them, every single abolitionist in the entire world, congregate in a "forum" which has a little over 200 (TWO HUNDRED!) members, 6 or 7 of which are actually active in their "forum"? And people are discussing this woman's misguided, uneducated, unresearched and intentionally dishonest vitriolic diatribe?

Seriously ... why bother?

There are, and always will be, those amongst us who like to use sites like ARZone in order to elevate their own otherwise insignificant lives. It's just one of the problems that will continue to come about as ARZone become more and more successful and more and more popular.

It's a shame ARZone have to go through these constant attacks from this group of, what, about 6 or 7 people who are in their own "movement". But, really, who cares what these fools have to say anyway? I don't.