Thanks for the encouragement and for this website, I wasn’t aware of it until someone posted it as a link in a comment on my article. I’ll keep my eye on it from now on – it looks like a great resource.

http://www.satyamag.com/sept06/edit.html

The other one was just the first hit on the Google search and does contain the letter Singer sent to Whole Foods, but this one is much more relevant.

Regarding my ‘shorthand labels’ to describe ‘complex things’ – this is very difficult to avoid in such a short article. I could have easily written a 1 000 word article on the differences between animal rights and animal welfare and covered the differences more thoroughly; however, I don’t think the article would have been as interesting. In my thesis, as well as in longer articles of course I will have more space to give these differences the justice they deserve. Regarding Peter Singer’s views, again in such a short article it is hard to do his theories justice – I will obviously go into much more detail in my thesis and possibly in longer articles. However, his ‘appreciation and support’ for the “humane” animal products promoted by businesses such as Whole Foods, as well as Singer’s quotes used by Newkirk do demonstrate that Singer does support the promotion of animal welfare:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/600bvdwr.asp

This was my only point – I didn’t claim that this was Singer’s only contribution to the movement. For example, I first heard about the term “speciesism” from Singer’s work, which I think is a vital concept in linking animal exploitation with other forms of exploitation and discrimination. In the context of the article, I was pointing out that Singer’s views (which include, but are not limited to, pro-welfarist views) were more likely to be picked up by groups promoting animal welfare than theorists who reject welfarism and argue that animal rights activists should be spending all of their time campaigning for animal rights rather than welfare.

My hope in writing the article was not to fully cover Singer’s philosophy (there was merely a passing reference to Singer), but to get both people within and outside the animal advocacy movement to think seriously and critically about animal rights, welfare, and the animal advocacy movement. I hope I have achieved this.