Just The Facts Please

Just The Facts: Animals are property under human supremacy

animals are here with us, not for us

animals: with us, not for us

By law, animals are property with no immunity from abuse

By Judeo-Christian ethic, animals exist for human use

For a self-styled superior class to maintain power, others are judged inferior and dominated by force and subjugation.

The same framework that lets human supremacy own and kill animals, lets white male Christian supremacy persecute “lower value” humans. Social constructs based on species, race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation are false artifacts. We seek self-will, rights, and equity for all animal and human beings. We oppose acts of cruelty, violence, bigotry and hate.

Kinship Circle

Just The Facts PleaseDominion, Property & Truth. This movie expresses Kinship Circle's core beliefs on animal use and abuse, plus how to argue against it with logic and credibility.

Self-Will & EquityBasic Moral Justice. As a human being, you have a fundamental right — though flawed by social injustice and systemic inequality — to not be enslaved, tortured or murdered. Yet 8.7 million other species have no standing within a primary code of ethics. By law, animals are property. By Judeo-Christian ethic, animals exist for human use. It's hard to fight for absolute compassion in a world that objectifies nonhuman animals, blind to each individual's self-interest, character and will to live. Animal rights ought to be recognized, within the greater heirarchy of discrimination and power imbalances, by one simple truth: Animals are here with us, not for us.

Unfortunately, this concept lacks traction in human-centric society. In the meantime, billions of animals suffer daily in usage industries such as meat/dairy, entertainment (zoos, aquariums, rodeos, exhibits), animal experimentation, hunting, fur/leather… A more prompt rationale focuses on humans’ fav topic: themselves. Present facts about how animal-free choices for research, food, household goods…are more human-focused, health-conscious, economic, and climate-safe. Kinship Circle educational materials use studies, stats, quotes and news to show how animal use harms people, along with animals. This movie gives tips to make your own literature, or choose the right stuff for optimal impact.

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TRANSCRIPTJust The Facts Please

Hello, I am founder and president of Kinship Circle, a nonprofit focused in Animal Advocacy, Education, Disaster Rescue. This transcript represents presentations at national animal rights conferences in Florida, Los Angeles and Washington DC. Knowledge can be a pathway to change. Kinship Circle gives activists tools to speak, write and communicate on behalf of animals:

Action Campaigns › Alerts, News, Updates ( Archives
Education › Literature, Articles, Videos. Over 50 animal issues for use in humane education, student projects, presentations, letters, essays, presskits…
Videos › Look, Learn, Share

Just The Facts Please provides the cliff notes for effective literature and messaging: How to create convincing arguments, or how to select the best materials for optimal impact. All Kinship Circle literature is downloadable in high resolution, to print and distribute or share digitally. The fact sheet Writing With I-M-P-A-C-T offers great tips for writing in general: Letters, articles, literature, etc. It breaks down methods to write cogently via: Content, Style, Words, Grammar. A helpful brush-up for any form of messaging.

Kinship Circle Literature Covers Animal-Use & Advocacy Topics

Animals are individuals, with self-interest and sel-will

Photo: ASU Primate Lab Experiments, Rise For Animals

Dairy farm calves are taken from mothers hours after birth

Kinship Circle edu literature, to speak on behalf of animals

Fundamental » Use accredited studies, stats, quotes, news. Try to limit direct quotes or opinions from other animal rights organizations as your definitive source. Instead, trace an AR group's conclusions to their original source — such as a court case, government or industry records, eyewitness testimonial or affidavit. Overly citing other activists can dilute an argument in the public arena. While most government websites are shuttered during Republican autocrat-style regimes, access to public information will hopefully return as long as U.S. democracy remains intact. In the meantime, use search engines to draw facts from:

Animal use-industries or institutions themselves
Official oversight/inspection agencies; watchdog groups
Online statistical databases
Reports in legtimate news media (social media is not a legitimate news source): Often first place you find out about new study, i.e., a breakthrough method to test chemicals without using animals.
Industry journals, papers, interviews, incident reports
Public records via Freedom Of Information request

Dog fighting is linked with gambling, drugs and violence

Humans are harmed from inaccurate animal experiments

CAFOs churn out greenhouse gases and contaminate land, water, air

Data Cast » Harming animals hurts humans too. A society built upon the blood of others doesn't exist in a vacuum. Casual acceptance of violence to animals numbs empathy and nurtures brutality. Try to depict how animal abuse breaks legal norms, undermines human health and safety, or wastes money and resources.

ILLEGAL AND/OR HABITUAL ANIMAL CRUELTY
For example, venues such as animal fighting, circuses, traveling animal shows or exotic pets may use illegal tactics to obtain wild animals, and subdue them via painful and abusive training methods. Stress the cruelty inherent in forced submission of wild animals — but also any practices that break laws set for conservation, commerce, transport, animal welfare, etc.

HUMAN HEALTH, WELL-BEING, SAFETY
Humans are particularly harmed from the vast, adverse effects of animal research and animal agriculture. Humans rely on agribusiness for safe food stores and medical science for treatments without unforeseen toxic or lethal outcomes.
- ANIMAL RESEARCH: The animal model presumes an effect in one species occurs in another. Yet science says genetic, metabolic, physiological and psychological traits vary significantly from species to species. A drug metabolized in a pig, dog or mouse doesn't look like the same drug in a person. With human-based research — lab-grown human organs, organs-on-chips, 3D-printed organs, etc, along with cognitive computing — scientists don't need to extrapolate info from animals to people. Guesstimates give way to a more predictive science.
  
  The FDA cites Adverse Drug Reactions as the fourth leading cause of U.S. death. Approved drugs undergo animal tests for safety and efficacy. Animal-tested drugs now compete with heart disease, cancer and stroke — the very diseases they seek to cure — in “prevalent causes of mortality.” (NIH National Library Of Medicine. Twenty-First Century Global ADR Management: A Need for Clarification, Redesign, and Coordinated Action. 2023 Jan;57(1):100-103. PMID: 35951160; PMCID: PMC9368697.)
  
  Conversely, valuable therapeutics for humans are discarded if data from animals proves unsuccessful. “Treatments that fail to work or show some adverse effect in animals may be abandoned, even if they may have proved effective and safe in humans if allowed through the drug pipeline.” (NIH National Library Of Medicine. The Flaws And Human Harms Of Animal Experimentation. 2015 Oct; 24(4): 407–419. PMCID: PMC4594046. PMID: 26364776.) SEE:
  › Medical Research Minus The Animals
  › Animal Testing: You Paid For It
  › Doublespeak: Pet Foods That Test On Animals
  › Animal Experimentation
- ANIMALS USED AS HUMAN FOOD, ANIMAL AGRICULTURE: Overwhelming dietary, scientific and medical data details how consumption of animal flesh and byproducts (meat/dairy) impairs human health: Heart disease, cancers, diabetes, obesity, and foodborne illnesses (Salmonella, E. coli O157:H6, Campylobacter, Listeria, Norovirus, Hepatitis A, etc). Factory farms and live outdoor markets also facilitate virus outbreak such as COVID-19, Ebola, H5N1 bird flu, etc. Infectious disease linked with animal agriculture poses on ongoing threat of global pandemic. Zoonotic diseases are transmitted to humans with direct or indirect proximity to farmed animals or animal “products.”

ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE, HUNGER
- CLIMATE: Meat production churns out more greenhouse gasses each year than every car, truck, plane and ship combined, according landmark study by FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization of United Nations). A 2024 Climate Home News newsletter reports: “Estimates of livestock's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions vary, ranging from 12%-20% of the global total — mostly in the form of methane from ruminants like cows and sheep, and carbon dioxide (CO2) released when forests are cut down for pasture. ”
- POLLUTION: At Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) animals are intensively confined in crates and pens by the thousands. Waste, disease, chemicals and drugs seep into water, land and air — contaminating drinking water and atmosphere. Land erosion from industrial farming further degrades our planet.
- HUNGER: Meat production depletes non-renewable natural resources and is unsustainable. It contributes to hunger crises here and worldwide; grains are used in vast quantities to fatten farmed animals, rather than feed starving people.

MORE REPERCUSSIONS FROM ANIMAL-USE INDUSTRIES
- Fiscal waste, misuse of taxpayer dollars
- Fraud and corruption, falsified public information
- Violence link: capture, imprisonment, torment and killing

Circuses abuse wild animals to make them perform tricks

Some 120 million mice and rats are used yearly in labs

Shelter Animals Count: Over 359,000 dogs and 330,000 cats euthanized in 2023

Use accredited facts and validated proof in animal right messaging

Compelling Dialogue » Facts. Accreditation. Validated Proof. It's not enough to describe animal conditions in a particular business or activity. People tend to listen defensively, disbelieve, and soften the truth with an “it can't be that bad” attitude. Back your claims with credible industry- and/or government-related sources. Use scientific studies from entrusted institutions.

LEAVE PERSONAL OPINIONS AT THE DOOR
Try to avoid name-calling and personal attacks against animal abusers. Do they deserve it? Likely. But others may not listen to the animals’ plight if they feel manipulated or you come across as unhinged. Effective messaging reads/sounds like a news report: Here are facts, as reported.

USE COMPELLING IMAGES
Frame the facts with images that speak for themselves in terms of animal suffering and cruelty. Use images/video that convey an animal's daily life inside factory farms, research labs, fur farms, circuses and rodeos… Bring pics into a personal realm via close-range emotion captured in an animal's eyes — pain, surrender, fear. It's wise to not overdo violent and gory images that can alienate some people.

AVOID MELODRAMA
For descriptions about what happens to animals, dodge the extra adjectives and melodrama. For example, a young chicken debeaked or a primate experimented upon are horrible events all by themselves. Unadorned language conveys truth. Overwrought, dramatic accounts can prompt the average person to doubt their veracity.

Sow and piglets in farrowing crate at factory farm, We Animals Media

Beagle used for stem cell experiments in this AP/File photo

Writing With Impact, For Animals (c) Kinship Circle

Fur is the annual slaughter of some 100 million animals

Search & Record » Use Search Engines + Save Sources. Set-up animal files and store pertinent links by topic. IE: For animal experimentation, save links for published studies at National Institutes of Health (NIH) Library Of Medicine. Reference U.S. Department of Agriculture for stats/info about animals farmed for food. Or try USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for animal welfare inspection reports. For global figures, try data sources such as: Sentience Institute; Our World In Data; etc.

Whatever animal topic you research — agribusiness, animal experiments, puppy mills, shelter euthanasia, zoos, rodeos, fur farms, etc — look for credible and unbiased statistics on animals used, plus welare/inspection reports.

Investigate: The more you search, the better you get at finding facts. Extract clues and key words from news stories, social media and animal orgs + note what sources they cite. Try Reverse Look-Ups: Got an email or phone number? Search that to learn or confirm it's identity + relevant info related to that person's position, group or business.

Timeliness: Cite most recent data available. While earlier findings are fine, try to weave in facts within the last five years of a present date to maintain relevancy.

Save: Keep frequently used resources on hand as a basis for research.

Source » Of Information.

Do your best to cross-reference and confirm information.
Always cite sources for anything published as fact.
Animal Rights Literature: It's not just what you say, but who it is attributed to that has the most clout and influence.

Writing Tips » The Essay Approach. Background research can sprawl for pages. How do you organize key points for well-reasoned and influential communication? Consider use of The Essay Approach to streamline data into succinct and dynamic messaging.

THE ESSAY APPROACH: INTRODUCE ● ARGUE ● PROVE ● CONCLUDE
1. INTRODUCTION: For action alerts, literature, articles…clarify your main subject with a creative and concise lead-in that draws attention and compels people to want to know more.
2. THESIS: Express the main objective of your piece, a summary of your argument.
3. TOPICS: Now prove that argument. Support your thesis with to-the-point paragraphs, each with a topic sentence + facts, stats, quotes and/or studies to back it up.
4. CONCLUSION: Exit with a powerful recap and sense of urgency.

TONE DOWN DRAMA & HYSTERICS. Strong images and a frank account of what happens to animals speaks louder than emotional rants, extra ADJECTIVES, and !!!!!!!!!!! Frenetic messaging feeds stereotypes about AR activists and “bleeding-heart libs” — a perfect set-up for trolls and haters.

HIGHLIGHT ANIMAL-FREE & HUMAN-BENEFIT OPTIONS. After descriptions of animal-use cruelty and waste, always mention superior methods such as human-relevant medical research, plant-based diets for better health, etc.

NEVER CALL AN ANIMAL IT OR THAT. Use selfhood pronouns such as he, she, whom, they… Dominion language objectifies animals with words like it, that, owned, creating a property and ownership relationship between animals and humans.

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TRANSCRIPTJust The Facts Please

Kinship Circle seeks rights and equity for all beings

Brenda Shoss founded Kinship Circle, an animal rights/rescue nonprofit

Animal use permeates every part of a person's daily life. Animals are captured or bred, intensely confined, overdosed, mutilated and slaughtered for everthing from food, medicine, research and fashion…to makeup, household goods, and entertainment venues. But the uninformed may not believe you. Must be staged. Fake news. Exaggerated. It's human nature to balk at complicity in a gruesome reality. People commonly don't want to know. They don't want to give up goods and activities they're accustomed to. Herein lies the challenge: How do you get others to see commodified animals as unique individuals, with their own whims, habits and relationships within social structures?

Most animal rights activists are abolitionists at heart. We already know each animal self-defines how he or she lives within an animal community. No other being belongs to us as “property,” but rather, lives alongside us. The term “welfare” stems from a dominionist notion that humans own all creation, and thus decide which animals deserve humane treatment. Kinship Circle does not rally for bigger cages, more toys in the research lab, or other tokens to mollify animal use/abuse. We urge replacement of animal-use altogether, with modern animal-free technology and goods. Unfortunately, we live in a hierarchical world where human supremacy is default for legal, religious and social structures. So as we reveal animal cruelty, we must simultaneously show how animal usage also harms humans. To engage your audience, use intriguing images and a fact-based argument with verifiable attribution.

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Kinship Circle

In kinship, not dominion, each individual is seen. We do not use the rhetoric of slavery. To define animals as unique beings Guardian, Caregive, Him/Her/They… replace Owner, Own, It… Until moral equity and justice serve all — no one is free.