October 9, 2012 Communications and persuasion Essay 1 Animal Rights

There are three major points that tell us whether a social movement should be considered a social movement organization or not. These are as followed: it must have a leader, it must have a vague goal, and it must have an organized structure. While those are the minimum for being called a social movement organization, the movement that most interests me is far more organized. As stated in our book Minimal organization is both necessity and reality for social movements (Stewert, Smith and Denton 4). It is common for protestors to try to become a movement when in reality they are more of a demonstration. The mass media is a guilty helper for these, pretend movements, by labeling them and treating them like movements. I do not have to worry about these false organizations with my movement however. The movement that I have chosen to research is an evolving and successful social movement organization called the Animal Rights movement. Animal Rights started making social and organizational differences in the late 60s early 70s, and they are still hard at work trying to make a difference in the present day. They have been very successful as an organization however they still have much to accomplish. According to the three elements of a social movement organization, Animal Rights fits into the SMO category. Animal rights have a specific goal in mind, they have many leaders, and

they are very organized as well as have many organizations that tackle different aspects. To make this movement a SMO, they had to go through four steps. They needed to find likeminded people that would stand with them on these issues, define who they wanted to be and what exactly it was that they wanted to do, create a hierarchy of leaders for the organization so that it could run functionally, and then take their ideas and relate to other people what their group was all about. By doing these things they took steps to set themselves apart as an actual social movement group instead of just a group of people with a common interest. Animal Rights is very good at inviting people with the skills they need to help their organizations grow. For example, they know exactly who to reach out to so that they can help certain animals in a shelter such as a person that has owned a particular breed before that just needs some special attention. They may put a sign in PetSmart saying they need volunteers to help with a certain shelters fundraiser to help dogs and cats find a home. Putting that sign in a store where you know that animal lovers will likely go, is inviting people with the skills and a passion for animals to help make this fundraiser successful. Defining an identity for the organization is to make the invitation to join specific. So putting out an invitation that says we need females around the age of 18-25 to volunteer for this certain fundraiser is confirming a certain identity. The next stage is called structuring an organization. This is where you take the volunteers that you have recruited to help and convince them to form a group that helps animals through a shelter on a daily for example. They may try to structure this organization to help the community and by their work there hopefully inspire even more people to join with

them. It is important especially for this type organization to inspire its future workers because it is that inspiration that drives them to make a difference for their cause. Relating to others is our last step into making our SMO successful. In this step the leader must organize something dramatic that will connect with other people in society and make them want to help. A possible route that could be taken would be to show them that there is no other right way to look at the situation besides their point of view. In the example we have been using, the organization may hold a parade with all the puppies for adoption on a float and walking beside it, showing the people that these dogs need people to love them as much as they want to love the people in return, but instead they are stuck in a shelter. This type of exposure could be used for not only trying to have these dogs adopted. If people did not feel like adopting one of the animals, maybe they could be persuaded to donate enough money to help support them so that they would not have to be put down before they had been placed in a good home. If enough money is raised, they may be able to save more lives or buy the shelter more medication, housings, or toys in order to improve the lives until they are adopted. Remember, however, that you must have a leader, a goal, and be organized for this to be an actual part of Animal Rights SMO. (176-179) There are many organizations and leaders of those organizations in the Animal Rights movement so I am going to break it down into two specific organizations within the movement and explain their leaders. According to the book there are some hoops you have to be able to jump through in order to be considered to be a leader in a movement. You have to be able to persuade people for your cause. A passion to see your cause succeed or a charismatic

personality can greatly help you on your way in persuading people to your cause. The leader has to be able to make decisions that affect the movement positively. Leaders are symbols of their organization therefore have to be able to uphold the life that they are portraying is correct. In my opinion The Humane Society of The United States and ASPCA are perfect examples the animal rights movement. The leaders of both of these organizations uphold all of the qualities of a good leader. On the main website for the Humane Society there are 18 leaders. Wayne Pacelle is the CEO president and Micheal Markarian Is the chief program and policy officer (HSUS website). For ASPCA the president is Ed Sayres, and Steve Hansen, D.V.M. is the chief operating officer (ASPCA website). It is also important in my opinion that these leaders be able to make smart financial decisions as well. Without being able to think of these groups as a company, then the organization will flounder without proper financial guidance and will not be able to affect any change for their cause. In order to see what these organizations believe, all we need to do is look at the reforms that they have worked to enact. The true colors of an organization come from its acts not necessarily its words. According to Lawbrains website Laws protecting animal rights proscribe certain forms of brutal and merciless treatment of animals in medical and scientific research and in the handling of and slaughter of animals for human consumption is HSUS phrase for protecting animals (Lawbrain). However we also see in this website the reason that we still have the Animal Right movement. Because of the work done by all of those within the Animal Rights movement, in the 1990s the United States government passed the Animal Welfare Act that said you can use animals for research as long as you dont give them a lethal dose as well

as other provisions for animal protection. The Animal Rights movement has been fighting organizations and laws that allow humans to test with animals in their research groups. The HSUS had so many accomplishments in 2011 that it would take an enormous amount of time to write about. I decided that I would explain briefly their success in animal cruelty/fighting section because that is what interests me the most (I would love to join and help fight against animal cruelty). HSUS goal for this section of the movement is proclaimed by this excerpt from their website. The End Animal Cruelty and Fighting Campaign takes action to stop animal fighting nationwide for good. Join us in working to strengthen laws to protect animals and to prevent abuses such as dogfighting and cockfighting. (National Humane Society) Some of the successes include programs being launched to help shelters care for mistreated animals, prosecutions being won against dog fighters with a famous one from a few years back against NFL quarter back Michael Vick, rehabilitation of survivors from fights or abuse, and many more. The issues that keep the Animal Rights Organizations like HSUS and ASPCA going are issues that involve violence, mistreatment, and straight up ignorance of animals that should be protected. There are many factors that keep these movements busy with trying to change the fate of these animals. In todays society the main problems that these groups are worried about are fighting of animals for entertainment, animal testing, neglect, shelter space, ignorance of owners, puppy mills, and blatant abuse of animals. These problems keep the movement going strong because there are millions of cases that need to be defended or solved.

The Animal Rights movement uses 5 major strategies to help it achieve its goals. These 5 strategies are quantity (who has the most), quality (comparison), value (ethics), hierarchy (argument about morality), and antithesis (common enemy within the group). HSUS is a perfect example of the first 2 strategies quantity and quality. Their first statement under information states that The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest and most effective animal protection organizationbacked by 11 million Americans, or one in every 28 (humane society website). By saying this, they are giving numbers to show how large they are as well as comparing themselves with other movements by saying they are the largest and most effective animal protection organization. Our next strategy is value or using moral code toward the movement. HSUS does this perfectly by using words like suffering and social change to get under people skin. They use graphic wording and pictures of animals suffering to make people feel bad therefore using others moral codes to get more followers. The last way they strategize is antithesis, which is having a common enemy. For example in the Animal rights organizations ASPCA and HSUS have a common enemy against puppy mills and dogfighting rings. They use these common areas to make each others organization stronger. They can help each other by combining their efforts to help the issues together rather than trying to stay apart. This allows them to present a united front against their enemies. You hear this often within many different organizations. Although Animal Rights is a very successful organization and have many people, leaders, and organizations working for them, they still have a lot of work to do. Unfortunantly I dont think that their work will ever be done. There are so many ignorant people in the world that

they will always have to fight and hopefully change. Also we have the issue of animals being used for research still going on since the 1990s and earlier. Yes this organization has been successful in promoting animals rights but I do not believe that the need for them will ever be gone because there will always be another abuse case or a fight to try and stop. As long as we have these issues this organization will strive to end them.

Work Cited Animal Rights. 7 January 2010 Lawbrain. Oct 9 2012 <http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Animal_Rights>. Bergh, Henry. American society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. . The Humane Society Of United States. Oct 9 2012 <http://www.humanesociety.org/>. Denton, Robert, et. al. Persuasion and Social Movements. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc, 2012. We are their Voice . ASPCA. Oct 9 2012 <http://www.aspca.org/About-Us>.