Harriet Ritvo on Animal Rights and Mind Control

[1] 

According to The Animal Estate ,

The connection between Englishness and kindness to animals was forged during this difficult and uncertain period in the development of the humane movement. It was probably not so much as description or celebration of current reality--that would have smacked seriously of wishful thinking--as a rhetorical strategy with several purposes.[2]

Harriet Ritvo seen before (above) and after (below) furthers her analysis of rhetorical control as she discusses what she describes as,

The complex relationship between sympathetic concern for animals and manipulation of people was clearlly expressed in the only genre of eighteenth century literature that focused repeatedly on humane issues.[3 ]

 

And to think she resembles a humane woman... 

 [3]

Harriet Ritvo, seen above, authored The Animal Estate, a critique on the morality of England during the Victorian era. 

She furthers the analysis of this odd method of manipulation when she writes, "The connection between cruelty to animals and bad behavior to humans proved compelling and durable."[4] I find this an interesting aspect of Victorian literature. It's fascinating how the Victorians are coming up with ways to control people, rhetorically, through animal kindness. But I think rather than it being a thought out method they plotted to manipulate the masses, it was more of a feature of their immobility and pastoralism associated with their social constructs and need to survive. It's no secret that various, unorthodox practices and modes of thinking were present during the Victorian era. And when you start comparing some of the trends like animal cruelty, you start to see patterns that somehow morph themselves into today's world.  But, in my opinion, these things didn't emerge from the thematics of the dominance of men during the time, thought that certainly did exist.  Rather, it emerged from an enlightenment or moral consciousness of the general society. There was some immoral behavior taking place under those Victorian dresses that covered them from neck to toe. And the burly hunters who sought to control the women came up with creative ways to do so, including animal kindness . Below is a picture of something I wrote about just hours earlier. It seems to be Darwin, embracing a new kind of man in the Victorian era. I gather that he is  suppose to be 'a-typical', as is Darwin is so well noted for being the theist who dared to discover that God didn't exist. 

 

So the mind control game of the Victorian era was on. And the RSPCA helped draw a line between the lower class. Those [lower class] within the era having been perceived as needing some sort of discipline. The emotional tone of the RSPCA drew attention as it sought to demonize owners of polo ponies and the cropping of their ears.

 [5]

I've never been one to ponder one's rights or actions associated with clipping ponies' ears or making stipulations about how to treat their animals. I am, however, deeply disappointed that I have yet to kiss a donkey. Perhaps one day when I when it feels right, I'll find the right donkey to kiss. Until then, I'll be content with eating BBQ chicken, Fried chicken, Ribs, darkened ribs, t-bone steaks, pork chops, rabbit, squirrel, mocking bird, octopus, water fowl of all sorts, peacocks, rats, kangaroos, donkeys, pigs, horses, cats, frogs, fish, beaver and cole slaw. Of course, I do agree, in spite of the Victorian era's manipulation of me, that animals should still be executed in a more humane way. That is, if we are to execute them we should do it swiftly--like Hardy's Jude the Obscure when he kills the pig, "Upon my soul I would sooner have gone without the pig that have had to do this!" [6]

1 http://web.mit.edu/shass/soundings/issue_99f/images/pic_bullets_ritvo.jpg
2 Ritvo Harriet, The Animal Estate (Cambridge: Fellows of President of Harvard College, 1989)129
3 http://web.mit.edu/hnritvo/www/new_portrait_ritvo.jpg

4 Ritvo Harriet, The Animal Estate (Cambridge: Fellows of President of Harvard College, 1989) 131

5 http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1160/964237089_69b5ccd315.jpg?v=0
6 Hardy Thomas, Jude the Obscure (New York: Norton & Company, Inc.,1999; 2nd Ed.) 53