I don't believe that we're on the eve of destruction

[Tim Gier]

I've been wondering whether it is the case that ARZone has been losing members, not gaining members or having less participation from it's current membership since Carolyn posted my short essay "Bees Make Honey". According to a few people, that post was supposed to be the one that began the great descent of ARZone, expected as it was to precipitate the alienation of current and prospective members, cause general confusion among vegans everywhere, contradict the "spirit of veganism" and begin the destruction of the animal rights movement overall.

The essay was posted to ARZone on 26 May 2012. (Of course, one has to wonder why that post would be expected to do such damage to ARZone and the movement generally when the previously posted live interview with unrepentant vivisectionist Colin Blakemore did no appreciable damage to it, but that's another matter.)

Anyway, since the essay was posted, there's been no loss of membership at ARZone that isn't consistent with the pattern of loss over the past 30 months, the number of new members added in that time is consistent with the pattern over the past 30 months and traffic to the site continues to outpace last year's traffic at the same rate it has all year. If there's been any negative impact on ARZone, it can't be determined by looking at these numbers.

As far as I know, there's been no negative feedback from the general membership about these posts - that's not to say that people haven't disagreed with that essay or other items posted to ARZone, they have, but people have disagreed and objected openly and publicly on the forums that ARZone provides, either on the main site or on Facebook. Few people have complained that ARZone is doing a disservice to it members or to the movement and most of those who have complained continue to support the intentions and overall mission of the site.

ARZone's mission statement reads (in part):

"ARZone exists to help educate vegans and non-vegans alike about the obligations human beings have toward all other animals. By providing a space for a variety of blog posts, forum discussions, notes, videos and more, ARZone fosters a sense of community among its members. Through live online chats as well as through recorded audio podcasts with a diversity of people who work both within and outside of the animal advocacy community, ARZone supports respectful and rational discourse and intelligent dialogue about the most pressing issues facing us today."

It doesn't say that ARZone's mission is to promote one particular vision about of how people ought to live up to the obligations people do have. Nor does it say that ARZone's mission is "sell" the idea of veganism or that ARZone exists solely to act as a mentoring service for people who are trying to or thinking about living vegan. Obviously, that IS part of ARZone does, but just as obviously, ARZone's primary goal (at least as far as I can tell) has always been to openly and honestly explore all the various positions, theories, practices and rationales for "animal rights" as that term is broadly construed.

ARZone interviews people like Matt Ball from Vegan Outreach (who doesn't worry really about whether other animals have moral rights), Carol Adams (who think that rights can't do what's necessary to protect other animals), Capt Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd (an organization that has almost nothing to do with the rights of other animals), Bruce Friedrich and Dan Mathews of PeTA (an organization that advocates for legal but not moral rights) and so on and so on and so on. ARZone has also interviewed people, such as Gary Yourofsky, Peter Young and others who some would say promote violence or otherwise work at cross-purposes to the animal rights movement. ARZone has always gone to great lengths to consider the views of as diverse a selection of AR activists and advocates as possible and ARZone has never shied away from controversy - It has certainly never silenced others simply because some people think there ideas are "dangerous".

Given all this, to think that a couple of posts that consider hypothetical scenarios in which good people would be have to face implausible (although not impossible) situations would destroy ARZone - or do some sort of serious damage to the animal rights movement overall - is almost not worth even discussing. In other words, it's almost unbelievable to me that I'd feel it necessary to even write this post.

[Kerry Baker]

Hi Tim.  I suspect that people just get to a point where they need a break.  I am assuming here that many AR Zone members are active in their own countries, communities, and it is seemingly a never-ending struggle.  AR Zone members are not necessarily all on the same page when it comes to what it means to be vegan, and this is a choice that means constant learning. The major problems I think come with certain philosophies, like the arguments about TNR stray animal management. I have myself, as you are probably aware, got pretty angry over comments made in a couple of threads and with this membership there will be risks of attracting sock puppets and trolls.  In this respect AR Zone is 'enlightening' about the extent of the topics, but it is also something that brings fatigue.  I'd take this to be a lull, nothing more.  Keep going, it is broadening the knowledge base and that can only be good.

[Tim Gier]

Thank you Kerry. I think that you are correct. I believe that we all care very much about the work that we each are doing, and even though we may disagree about some aspects of AR thinking, we're each trying to make things better as best we can. "Burnout" is bound to be always a concern; it helps to have a community that we can come back to.

Kerry Baker said:

Hi Tim.  I suspect that people just get to a point where they need a break.  I am assuming here that many AR Zone members are active in their own countries, communities, and it is seemingly a never-ending struggle.  AR Zone members are not necessarily all on the same page when it comes to what it means to be vegan, and this is a choice that means constant learning. The major problems I think come with certain philosophies, like the arguments about TNR stray animal management. I have myself, as you are probably aware, got pretty angry over comments made in a couple of threads and with this membership there will be risks of attracting sock puppets and trolls.  In this respect AR Zone is 'enlightening' about the extent of the topics, but it is also something that brings fatigue.  I'd take this to be a lull, nothing more.  Keep going, it is broadening the knowledge base and that can only be good.