UNT Event to Tackle the Ethics of Using Animals

peta2 Staffer Will Ask Students to Consider the Ways in Which Institutionalized Violence Toward Animals Mirrors Human Oppression

For Immediate Release:
October 6, 2017

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

As part of a national speaking tour that has already landed at Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell universities, Hanh Nguyen of peta2, PETA’s youth division, will present a lecture at the University of North Texas (UNT): “The Machinery of Oppression: Deconstructing Violence Against Humans and Other Animals.”

When:    Monday, October 16, 5–6 p.m.

Where:    University Union, Rm. 381

Nguyen’s talk breaks down the common thought patterns that allow for the systematic “othering” of and discrimination against different groups of humans—as well as members of different animal species. The talk argues that both ethnocentrism (bias in favor of one’s cultural background) and anthropocentrism (bias in favor of the human species) deserve a critical eye.

“Just as groups of human beings have faced oppression because they have been perceived as different, animals are systematically exploited and killed by the billions simply because they have fins, feathers, or four legs,” says Nguyen. “peta2 is asking students to consider whether there is any justification for excluding nonhuman animals from the moral community that we all belong to.”

peta2’s motto reads, “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.” UNT’s event is cosponsored by Mean Greens for Animals.

Interviews with Nguyen are available in advance. For more information, please visit PETA.org.