In response to Bruce Friedrich’s column printed Wednesday, I must take a moment to point out the grave inaccuracies in both his perceptions and argument against the College Republicans’ People Eating Tasty Animals event. First, Bruce pointed out that I was not at his forum/speech held at UF in October. While this is true, it does not negate the fact that he did not show up at my event, either. Bruce was quick to make harsh and thoroughly misguided judgments as to the intent of the event and my beliefs on the issue of animal rights.
For one, I thought this would all be established in the debate I agreed to have with him, so I am not sure why the pre-emptive and wholly false attack on the College Republicans was printed just days before the event. Bruce, although many people have refused to debate your extremist views, I am not doing it for you. I am doing it to set the record straight on what a conservative, rational human being’s thoughts are on the issue of animal rights in this country.
Let me go ahead and state it, then, in case there is any confusion on Friday: Neither I nor the UF College Republicans support animal cruelty. In fact, I am in favor of government measures to reduce animal cruelty practices in the animal industry, so long as they do not cause the cost of food to exceed affordability by the average American trying to feed their families in hard economic times. I love people more than animals, and I believe people’s rights are superior. That being said, I have a strong respect for the animal kingdom and nature as a whole, and I would never want to see, nor would I actively endorse, cruelty to any living thing.
But, Bruce, our method of accomplishing positive change differs greatly. You and your organization, PETA, spend millions upon millions pushing an extremist viewpoint with unobtainable goals (getting people to stop eating meat), and you call that dedication to the cause. I am going to work within the political system to make positive changes on this earth, including enforcing regulations on the animal industry to reduce animal cruelty practices. That is real dedication to the cause.
Bryan Griffin is the executive director of the Florida Federation of College Republicans
