Where Loyalties Lie Truth May Not
By: Meloney Killpartrick, Beacon
Contributor
"Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke
a chain or freed a human soul."
—Mark Twain.
Self-serving opinions and bully tactics may work in the protected,
once honorable halls of Palmer but they will not sustain with
patients. As a patient and advocate of chiropractic care,
I have been saddened by the news of animal testing at Palmer
and sickened by the responses of many of the students and
administration. I see not the choice to develop well thought-out
reasons and arguments as to why they believe animal testing
is acceptable to them and necessary at Palmer. Instead I have
witnessed an unfortunate regression into gang mentality and
behavior which has developed into a hysterical backlash against
PETA and its campus supporters. We have all seen this political
maneuver during election time as scandal supercedes important
issues; our culture has been successfully conditioned in this
manner as is apparent by the monthly Beacon articles devoid
of the ethic of care that one would expect from future doctors.
PETA is not the issue; animal testing and, disturbingly, the
treatment of its opponents on campus are! Palmer is not an
island. It is not an exclusive house or club with exemption
from outside opinions, rules and laws. When there are those
who are not allowed to speak… when they are suppressed
or extinguished for fighting, even at personal expense, for
the ethic of their heart conscious, it is to the detriment
of all that is good. This has been witnessed countless times
throughout history when oppression is leader and contradiction
is silenced. It is easy for some to ignore the voiceless,
to regard animals as being of extrinsic value, yet conveniently
find them similar enough to use in research and compare them
to ourselves and find that research valid.
How do we make this distinction or separation? Many animals
have the ability to reason, plan and communicate; they certainly
have the ability to love, show courage, perseverance, pleasure
and pain. I cannot and will not ignore the value of these
beings. Do we want future generations to grow from the womb
of intolerance and callous detachment and disregard for all
inhabitants of the earth? There is a point when the quest
for knowledge costs too much, where the end does not justify
the means and what is lost outweighs what is gained. While
Palmer embarks on a new phase of animal testing, 50 percent
of medical colleges across the country have phased out their
animal laboratories.
This means, contrary to PETA opposition at Palmer, that they
are not the radical minority. There are hundreds of animal
rights and protective groups with millions of supporters.
Honorable is the person who will not quiet their conscience
under the force of pressure and continues to fight for the
voiceless. The same cannot be said of those who build their
opinions on the unsteady foundation of ignorance and intolerance.
If you are for animal testing, have the courage to stand up
and say so. Don’t stand cowardly behind scandal and
let that carry you into a senseless false bravado protecting
your school as if it were your own personal ego. Rather, I
hope you will clear the cobwebs from your quiescent conscience
and ask yourself whether greed, torture and murder are the
malignant mark you want to stamp on your profession.
"If you have men who will exclude any of God’s
creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will
have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men"
—Francis of Assisi.
