SPARC was misrepresented

Zakk White’s column “Veganism Meat – and Logic – Free” misrepresented SPARC activities and provided a cursory interpretation of professor Tom Regan’s influential work.

In White’s defense, the SPARC Web site was only recently updated. That said, there is no scheduled protest planned for April 12. It is true SPARC has participated in a handful of protests in the past, but the central activity of the group is advocacy through leafletting and tabling.

Unfortunately, SPARC activities are currently limited by the hectic schedules of working adults, community volunteers and graduate students. SPARC welcomes undergraduate members willing to take on campus organizing and leadership roles such as webmaster.

Additionally, the subject of “speciesism” is best understood by those who invest time and effort into studying the history and evolution of the philosophy. Speciesism dates back to the work of Henry Salt, whose writings on animal ethics influenced Gandhi, Regan, Singer and others.

White states, “It seems strange to argue that the equality between races and sexes is the same as the equality between a person and a bird. They are not equal to us in the biological and moral sense.”

While he is clearly voicing a personal opinion, it is one that privileges one form of life over another and reinforces a hierarchy of social entitlements among sentient beings (e.g. speciesism).But, this information is not easy to process! Animal ethics and veggie lifestyles confront complex and controversial ideas which encompass global issues as well as personal and emotional ones.

I am thankful for the Technician’s attention to SPARC and White’s efforts to stimulate conversation on these issues.

Abigail Cameron

doctoral student, sociology

UNITY Conference deserved coverage

I just wanted to express my disappointment in the Technician for its lack of coverage on the UNITY Conference held this past weekend on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Despite our rivalry, I feel it is important to be involved with events across our community   especially when they are promoting the union of people alike.

The UNITY Conference is held annually in Chapel Hill and is a gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer identified people and their allies. This year’s theme was “Sweet T: Transgress, Transform and Transcend Gender and Sexuality.”

Usually, I would pride myself in the diversity throughout our University’s paper. The Technician is often very fair in its promotions and shows little bias throughout its articles; however, it can also be said that the Technician often overlooks events and ideas that concern the GLBTQQI community. As the University’s newspaper, I think it is important to equally promote and cover events from all different types of organizations, especially those that are only beginning to grow on campus.

The GLBT Center in Talley has just recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and I believe that is a big step for all people on our campus. Furthermore, the promotion of the UNITY Conference in our newspaper would encourage support around campus and hopefully, would have increased the conference’s attendance of NCSU’s students showing that we strive for equality and represent a University that cares about others. In any matter, I believe the environment at N.C. State could be more inclusive of all walks of life and it could easily start with the Technician.

Kelsey Lambdin

junior, women and gender studies

Agriculture affects everyone

Upon viewing the cartoon displayed in the Technician on April 7, it became very clear that consumers of the general public are so far removed from the agricultural process that they have no idea how the grand scheme of things affects everyone. Many students at this very University do not grasp the concept that their food does not come from Harris Teeter or Food Lion. In fact, drought situations do impact everyone not just those supposed “redneck farmers in the sticks.” I will touch briefly on two of the largest impact areas.

First, Agribusiness is the number one driver for the North Carolina economy. For many rural counties, the majority of the jobs stem from agriculture. If there is a serious drought crops can be lost and when harvest time comes any of those who would have been given temporary employment to supplement their incomes suffer as well.

Still not seeing how this impacts the average student or person? If there is a drought that results in lost crop then the prices go up because the supply is less. Say that crop was corn which will then ripples out to increase the cost of beef or livestock animals due to the price of feeding those animals increasing. At the grocery store, the consumer can expect to pay more because the finalized product that resulted cost more to make overall.

I hope that this helps to speak out against the negative stereotypes portrayed in the cartoon done by Illinois native Conrad Plyler, who may not have grasped the ultimate role agriculture plays in the life of every single person that is living and breathing.

Courtney A. Parnell

CALS Agri-Life Council President

senior, biological sciences