A short film of this risky rescue mission at Ridglan Farms and the brave activists who carried it out: shot in real-time by the documentary filmmaker Leighton Woodhouse.
Who can ever forget FAUCI Cutting the vocal cords of beagles so as not to listen to them Howl as they were actually eaten alive by hordes of sand fleas in a gruesome experiment
Most people don’t even know this. All scandals are blocked - that’s the main purpose of the “Israel lobby” as well. No thermo-nuclear Covid scandal has detonated in 6 years. It’s amazing.
Very well conceived and completed film that should get a wide distribution for inspiring activists to get real reformative action as a consequence of their risk-taking dedication.
Glenn, I have been an animal forever. When my 21 year old cat died, I became a vegan the next day.(the push I needed). You turned me on to white coat waste project and I send them money.. Most of my donations are to animals..shelters, no animal testing on products, nonprofits that try to show all the options they have for non animal testing that is actually better. I believe more people are becoming aware of animal cruelty and learning that all living beings have the right to live a normal life in their environments. Sanctuary’s for chimps who were tested on. I am positive for the future of animals. I could go on and on!
Eating meat cannot be defended from any aspect. Whether health, ethics, or the environment. Yet when the issue comes up people don't want to talk about it. They sorta put their fingers in their ears and whistle Yankee Doodle Dandy : )
See you at the next one too. I’ll be a better activist and team member next time. I learned a lot that day at Ridglan Farms. PETA protests didn’t prepare me for teargas and pepper spray. 🤣
This should show the people that serious, organized protests and demands by We The People in mass numbers, DOES WORK! Politicians and authorities respond when we stand up for a just cause. When the people call their representatives in mass, & leave hundreds, if not thousands, of messages for a concern over a bad bill or something, they sit up and take note. Makes em very uneasy & even activates some to take appropriate action.
I volunteer for the Humane Society here in Madison, where the response to the plight of the Ridglan beagles has been overwhelmingly positive and determined. Some feel this video on abused dogs assisted by humans is frivolous in light of the violence being perpetrated all over the world. One take away is not just a powerful example of organization focused on a moral good but the contrast between what we are willing to organize for, participate in (protesting for the humane treatment of animals), and the threats against our ultimate freedom (forfeiting one's life by exercising a right to free speech in Minneapolis). I felt guilty not adopting an older dog more shut down than the puppy we adopted, yet kindness anywhere can morph into momentum to do more significant things elsewhere. As Howard Zinn says, "Protest is always important... Small protests lead to large ones." We can't predict the positive secondary benefits of small acts of care; witness my ADHD daughter finding it easier to get to school because our Ridglan beagle's energy adds joy to an otherwise miserable part of the day.
I attended Madison for my college Years and have repeatedly written to them that I will never donate to the school as an alumni due to their experimentation on animal practices. If everyone boycotted that would also help even if not actually involved in the work.
This is admirable. Boycotts work. That's why your state passed a law prohibiting a boycott of Israel. How would you feel if they did the same regarding animal cruelty?
Well done! I wish something like that had happened for the ostriches in Canada. What we can learn from living animals is not about experimentation but about observation and understanding.
They’re only supplying them because people want to buy them. It’s easier to get people worked up about dogs in trouble than pigs or farm animals unfortunately.
Fascinating that so much effort can be put in to rescuing dogs when there are Palestinian detainees, accused of no crimes (including women and children) being raped and tortured in Israeli facilities.
Pretty common deflection tactic Glenn, I’m surprised. I’m using my voice to call out hypocrisy, which is more than most people watching that dog video are doing for Palestinians. The question isn’t what I’m doing. The question is why the same people who risk freedom for a dog won’t lift a finger or a camera for human beings being raped and tortured in Israeli custody. Don’t make your whataboutism for a moral high ground.
Do you personally know these activists? Do you have direct knowledge that they're doing less than you — which appears to be posting — to protest Israel's actions in Gaza?
How do you know they're not helping people too? It doesn't have to be an either or situation, plenty of people donate to a variety of causes or protest for different causes. Palestinians are not the only people who suffer. People all over the world undergo a variety of injustices. Why do you begrudge anyone helping defenseless animals?
Yes. It's not either or. But there is a moral hierarchy, starting with people, with the Palestinians at the top, possibly by far. Joe correctly points this out.
Not really. Animals are innocent and have just as much right to live as humans. Maybe more because they don't do the diabolical things humans do like genocide and destroying our own habitat...
Come on, Joe. You're posturing as though only you have a conscience about other human beings and the rest of us are so blinded by puppy love that we have never heard of human rights.
Talk about moral high grounds.
You speak of hypocrisy. There is no hypocrisy in being an activist in animal rights AND in human rights.
You say "I'm using my voice to call out..."
Well, don't. "Calling out" is neither impressive nor productive. It's self-congratulatory and useless.
Undercover footage from the factory farm industry. Mercy for Animals is one of the best organizations doing the good work of exposing the outrageous cruelty therein.
And don’t give me that “ I only eat organic beef, milk, poultry , eggs, fish, wild caught bison, elk and rabbits,etc.”
And by the way, the communities where these concentration camps are, have a higher incidence of domestic violence than other communities. The workers become inured to the suffering of animals, and often to other beings, including HUMANS!
Continue your good work regarding experimentation on dogs, but consider going vegan.
Rescuing dogs in America, is not even comparable to rescuing jailed Palestinians who are being held by heavily armed Israelis. It’s not even comparable. And if you wanna go there…. What about the people in the congo? Or Sudan? Or the Muslims in China or the political prisoners in Burma? I mean Jesus. At least these people are doing something to help. Your just typing out criticism behind a screen
Joe, I hear you, and I want to engage seriously because you're raising something real. But I'd push back on the framing that caring about one fight means neglecting another.
I've spent more than a decade on refugee and immigrant rights. Part of that work was booking flights out of Cairo for Palestinian families who had crossed 23 checkpoints through Egypt to reunite with family, years before the current horror. When COVID hit, those same people reached out to check on me. By the logic of your comment they shouldn't have — they had bigger problems. But they had humanity.
Humanity isn't zero-sum.
The thread connecting Ridglan, Gaza, and the demolition of US democracy is the same thread: institutional corruption that values profit and power over life. A DA captured by the industry he's supposed to regulate is the same kind of failure as a Congress captured by AIPAC, or agencies captured by the companies they oversee. One fight, many fronts. People are needed everywhere.
The video isn't a distraction from Palestine. It's evidence that sustained, organized pressure on a corrupt system can actually win. That's a lesson the Palestine movement needs too.
I'd also add that many of the activists involved in this movement, and some who were specifically involved in this action are passionate defenders of Palestine. As a matter of fact, the war in Gaza was a huge line of fracture within this activist community even though it has nothing to do with their cause.
So Joe is also just wrong on the facts. He assumes for some reason that because people care about dogs being tortured for profit that means they don't care about Gaza. It's exactly the opposite. People with the humanity to care about one tend to be precisely those who care most about the other.
Leighton, I can confirm it from the other direction. I was at Ridglan. It was my first exposure to animal rights activism in my life. I showed up because the corruption thread was undeniable — captured regulators, a DA who wouldn't act, agencies covering for the industry they're supposed to oversee — and yes, because I love dogs. Both things were true at once, and neither competed with the work I've been doing for refugees and immigrants for the last decade.
The people I met there came from everywhere. That's exactly why this coalition is dangerous to Marshall and animal testing as a whole.
"the war in Gaza was a huge line of fracture within this activist community". That's scary. They were united on the murder of dogs, but suffered not just a fracture, but a huge one over the murder of people?
Leighton — you just claimed I said people who care about dogs don't care about Gaza. I never said that. I said you made a film about dogs and not about tortured Palestinians. That's not an assumption about their hearts. That's a fact about your choices. If your activist friends care about Palestine, great — then why isn't their story on your camera? Your deflection doesn't answer the question. It just proves you don't want to.
First of all, you absolutely did say that people who care about dogs don't care about Gaza. It's in plain English right here:
"the same people who risk freedom for a dog won’t lift a finger or a camera for human beings being raped and tortured in Israeli custody."
More generally, this is just the stupidest argument in the world, one I already answered in response to your comment on my own substack. It's one you hear over and over and over again if you advocate for animals. "But there are homeless human beings! Why aren't you spending your time trying to house them?", screams someone who spends 12 hours a day on social media and has never seen the inside of a food bank.
Joe, why are you spending your time commenting on substack giving me shit for caring about animals being tortured when you could be on a street corner protesting US support for Israel? It's "grotesque."
Leighton — I don't know why you feel as though I am giving you shit, I am not. You just quoted me saying 'the same people who risk freedom for a dog' — meaning the specific activists in your film, not all animal advocates everywhere. That's not 'plain English' for 'everyone who cares about dogs.' That's you misreading (or misrepresenting) a specific critique as a universal one.
Then you immediately did the thing you're mocking: 'Why aren't you on a street corner instead of commenting on Substack?' That's your logic now — that caring about one thing means you can't do another. So which is it? Either people can care about multiple things (in which case my critique of your film's framing is valid), or they can't (in which case your question to me is valid — but then you're a hypocrite for making animal rescue films while Gaza burns).
You can't have it both ways. You don't get to call my argument 'the stupidest in the world' and then use the exact same structure against me in the next sentence.
I'm not against dog rescue. I'm against celebrating dog rescue as heroic cinema while people are being raped and tortured. If that makes you angry, maybe sit with why instead of misquoting me and demanding my protest schedule.
Yes, the point of that rhetorical question was to judge you by your own bizarre standards. I thought the irony was obvious but I guess it was lost on you.
You've told me that my decision to make a film about a dog rescue is "grotesque" because there's also suffering elsewhere. I don't know by what possible standard that is not giving me shit. Please don't gaslight me.
Anyway, I addressed your points in my reply to your comment on my own substack and you haven't answered them, probably because there are no good answers. Until you do so I'm done engaging. You don't get to cherry pick which arguments you respond to and which you ignore.
Jen — thank you for the good-faith engagement. I actually agree with much of what you said. Humanity isn't zero-sum. But my point was never 'don't care about dogs.' It was: the celebrated, filmed, heroic framing of this rescue is striking when Palestinian torture gets nothing. That's an observation about proportion, not a ban on animal rescue. Thank you again.
No one's saying that's not important and a tragedy. There's more than enough need for all the good we can do anywhere, for anything, when we see injustice.
So because people suffer somewhere no one is supposed to help animals? By that logic no one should ever help animals. There will always be be someone suffering somewhere, why does it have to be a choice between one or the other? Should animals receive no help at all? How petty.
Dog people amuse me. You're straw-manning me. I never said 'no one should ever help animals.' I said it's morally obscene to film a dramatic rescue documentary of dogs in real-time while Palestinian women and children are being raped and tortured in Israeli detention with no such outrage, no such films, no such 'brave activists' celebrated.
Of course there will always be suffering. That's not a license to celebrate the least urgent suffering while ignoring the most urgent. You want to rescue dogs? Fine. But don't produce a heroic short film about it and expect me to clap while human beings are being systematically tortured a few thousand miles away — and don't pretend that allocating your 'activism' to dogs instead of genocide victims is just a neutral choice.
It's not petty to point out that your priorities are grotesquely out of alignment. It's honest.
What are you doing on Glenn's substack, Joe? Clearly, your interests don't align, so maybe you should find somewhere else to criticise other people's humanity. And what is it you're doing to support the tragedy in Gaza please?
I'm on Glenn's Substack because I agree with him on Palestine, anti-imperialism, and basically everything that matters. So your attempt to exile me from this space based on a single disagreement — about whether dog rescue documentaries deserve the same heroic framing as human rights struggles — is just lazy gatekeeping.
As for what I'm doing for Gaza: I'm speaking up, sharing news, pushing back against hypocrisy, and refusing to let people change the subject. Same as you, I assume. So let's not play 'who's more humanitarian.' Let's stick to the actual point: celebrating animal rescues as cinema while Palestinian women and children are tortured is grotesque. If you disagree, say that. But don't pretend I don't belong here just because I'm not clapping.
Are Palestinians at the top of the moral hierarchy because that's what you decided? Why is any one segment of humanity higher than another. You say you're contributing by " speaking out". Since you resent a film about actually saving animals from cruelty just think how great it would be if you did more than speak out. Go over there and and get in the trenches and make a film of yourself in action.
Respectfully, but I think your off base. With the globalization of media and news, we see trauma and tragedy every day. This is not natural or normal. All of the great sage’s and spiritual leaders have said change starts with you. Change is like a ripple. Each choice we make, it ripples. I can bet $1000 bucks most of those dog rescuers would probably participate in Palestine prisoner rescues if they felt like they realistically could. But they can’t. So what these people are choosing to do is to effect positive change closer to home. Suffering is hard to watch. But the suffering of one person or being isn’t spiritually more important than the suffering of others. People trying to effect change that’s good and positive in a way that they are able to is never a bad thing. It’s not obscene at all. It’s just unfortunate that these is so much stuffing happening. But like Confucius said, each action ripples out. Everyday we choose to either uplift or criticism and bring down. So just remember the more positive interactions you have, the better the world will end up. And that includes what we type out on social media.
Respectfully, I think my own knee jerk reaction to the story might have been trauma informed so-to-speak. I agree with you, it’s soul crushing and devastating…
Dude, I totally understand where you’re coming from. I’m so sensitive and it’s so hard to watch all the suffering that is occurring around the world. Some times I sound off too. We are human, we care, it happens. I think having open discussions is actually so important. And the world needs people like you, passionate and who care. People should NOT say you’re dumb or blatantly be rude. You’re not dumb. You’re just upset and you have emotions and ALL of us have these moments. You’re good dude. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. ;-)
Thanks Erica… very much appreciated… you have no idea. I hope this kindness you’ve given me, ripples out into the universe ❤️ enjoy your week too and keep being an amazing person
Hey Joe, are you really this dumb? Is it not possible to fight for the Palestinians AND animals being cruely tortured/abused?
I guess we shouldn't care about the environment either or any another cause! If you don't care for this video and cause just move along and shut the fuck up!
No one said you can't care about both. I said it's fascinating — that was my actual word — how much celebration and cinematic effort go into dog rescues while Palestinian detainees are being raped and tortured with global silence. That's not an either/or. That's an observation about proportion, attention, and what society chooses to call 'brave.'
You called me dumb and told me to shut the fuck up. That's not an argument. That's you feeling exposed and getting angry about it. If my post didn't apply to you, you could have scrolled. Instead, you're swearing at a stranger. Take a breath. Maybe ask yourself why this touched such a nerve.
You are correct Joe. It's simple moral hierarchy. The fact so many can't see that, or don't want to, or actually become enraged when questioned is depressing in the extreme
Our morals cause us to feel bad. Or good. It feels good to have an unequivocal, or pure moral feeling. Bad if it's diluted. Interfere with people's feelings, and they're comin for ya
Imagine folks checking their knee-jerk reactions to comments, listening to a point and challenging their own worldview because of it. 🤷♂️ might be a better world.
Well insulting trolls/morons like you is how I get my kicks! ;) you're so enlightened that there's more important causess out there! Soooo special that this doesn't give you a little joy! You must be super fun at parties 🙄
Did the activists know that Mr. Woodhouse is a 'Back the Blue' enthusiast? My goodness, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him (not very far at all).
It is absolutely inspiring to see so many people from different backgrounds, ages and political persuasions come together in this brave and meaningful way for animal rights. 💛
I hope people realize that the animals they eat and wear are treated just as horrifically and it's a nonstop eternal holocaust....
Who can ever forget FAUCI Cutting the vocal cords of beagles so as not to listen to them Howl as they were actually eaten alive by hordes of sand fleas in a gruesome experiment
Most people don’t even know this. All scandals are blocked - that’s the main purpose of the “Israel lobby” as well. No thermo-nuclear Covid scandal has detonated in 6 years. It’s amazing.
Is there some anniversary when we might remind Tony?
I hope the momentum will continue through dogs and cats to eventually encompass an end to all animals being tormented this way.
Very well conceived and completed film that should get a wide distribution for inspiring activists to get real reformative action as a consequence of their risk-taking dedication.
GOD BLESS the warriors who never gave up and now the Beagles are FREE. What monsters we have in our own country. Now, they need to be experimented on.
Glenn, I have been an animal forever. When my 21 year old cat died, I became a vegan the next day.(the push I needed). You turned me on to white coat waste project and I send them money.. Most of my donations are to animals..shelters, no animal testing on products, nonprofits that try to show all the options they have for non animal testing that is actually better. I believe more people are becoming aware of animal cruelty and learning that all living beings have the right to live a normal life in their environments. Sanctuary’s for chimps who were tested on. I am positive for the future of animals. I could go on and on!
AS LONG AS THERE ARE SLAUGHTERHOUSES THERE WILL BE BATTLEFIELDS Leo Tolstoy
Eating meat cannot be defended from any aspect. Whether health, ethics, or the environment. Yet when the issue comes up people don't want to talk about it. They sorta put their fingers in their ears and whistle Yankee Doodle Dandy : )
See you at the next one too. I’ll be a better activist and team member next time. I learned a lot that day at Ridglan Farms. PETA protests didn’t prepare me for teargas and pepper spray. 🤣
This should show the people that serious, organized protests and demands by We The People in mass numbers, DOES WORK! Politicians and authorities respond when we stand up for a just cause. When the people call their representatives in mass, & leave hundreds, if not thousands, of messages for a concern over a bad bill or something, they sit up and take note. Makes em very uneasy & even activates some to take appropriate action.
I vote we just delete the owners and employees who work there.
I volunteer for the Humane Society here in Madison, where the response to the plight of the Ridglan beagles has been overwhelmingly positive and determined. Some feel this video on abused dogs assisted by humans is frivolous in light of the violence being perpetrated all over the world. One take away is not just a powerful example of organization focused on a moral good but the contrast between what we are willing to organize for, participate in (protesting for the humane treatment of animals), and the threats against our ultimate freedom (forfeiting one's life by exercising a right to free speech in Minneapolis). I felt guilty not adopting an older dog more shut down than the puppy we adopted, yet kindness anywhere can morph into momentum to do more significant things elsewhere. As Howard Zinn says, "Protest is always important... Small protests lead to large ones." We can't predict the positive secondary benefits of small acts of care; witness my ADHD daughter finding it easier to get to school because our Ridglan beagle's energy adds joy to an otherwise miserable part of the day.
I attended Madison for my college Years and have repeatedly written to them that I will never donate to the school as an alumni due to their experimentation on animal practices. If everyone boycotted that would also help even if not actually involved in the work.
This is admirable. Boycotts work. That's why your state passed a law prohibiting a boycott of Israel. How would you feel if they did the same regarding animal cruelty?
We need to do this for Palestinians and OURSELVES
The footage of the liberated dogs was heartwarming.
Well done! I wish something like that had happened for the ostriches in Canada. What we can learn from living animals is not about experimentation but about observation and understanding.
They’re only supplying them because people want to buy them. It’s easier to get people worked up about dogs in trouble than pigs or farm animals unfortunately.
Fascinating that so much effort can be put in to rescuing dogs when there are Palestinian detainees, accused of no crimes (including women and children) being raped and tortured in Israeli facilities.
What are you doing to rescue them?
Pretty common deflection tactic Glenn, I’m surprised. I’m using my voice to call out hypocrisy, which is more than most people watching that dog video are doing for Palestinians. The question isn’t what I’m doing. The question is why the same people who risk freedom for a dog won’t lift a finger or a camera for human beings being raped and tortured in Israeli custody. Don’t make your whataboutism for a moral high ground.
Do you personally know these activists? Do you have direct knowledge that they're doing less than you — which appears to be posting — to protest Israel's actions in Gaza?
How do you know they're not helping people too? It doesn't have to be an either or situation, plenty of people donate to a variety of causes or protest for different causes. Palestinians are not the only people who suffer. People all over the world undergo a variety of injustices. Why do you begrudge anyone helping defenseless animals?
Yes. It's not either or. But there is a moral hierarchy, starting with people, with the Palestinians at the top, possibly by far. Joe correctly points this out.
Not really. Animals are innocent and have just as much right to live as humans. Maybe more because they don't do the diabolical things humans do like genocide and destroying our own habitat...
If you don't see a difference between animals and people there is no place for me to engage with you.
Come on, Joe. You're posturing as though only you have a conscience about other human beings and the rest of us are so blinded by puppy love that we have never heard of human rights.
Talk about moral high grounds.
You speak of hypocrisy. There is no hypocrisy in being an activist in animal rights AND in human rights.
You say "I'm using my voice to call out..."
Well, don't. "Calling out" is neither impressive nor productive. It's self-congratulatory and useless.
Try using your voice to call in.
Ok new account… former member of Earth, Wind, and Fire 🫤
Hey Glenn. Checjk out the
Undercover footage from the factory farm industry. Mercy for Animals is one of the best organizations doing the good work of exposing the outrageous cruelty therein.
And don’t give me that “ I only eat organic beef, milk, poultry , eggs, fish, wild caught bison, elk and rabbits,etc.”
And by the way, the communities where these concentration camps are, have a higher incidence of domestic violence than other communities. The workers become inured to the suffering of animals, and often to other beings, including HUMANS!
Continue your good work regarding experimentation on dogs, but consider going vegan.
I think you'll find that Glenn is already vegan, as he's stated publicly, and repeatedly.
My bad. Apologies to Glenn, but why does he still annoy the hell out of me?
I can't help you with that, but if he annoys you, maybe you could stop watching him and reading his posts?
Rescuing dogs in America, is not even comparable to rescuing jailed Palestinians who are being held by heavily armed Israelis. It’s not even comparable. And if you wanna go there…. What about the people in the congo? Or Sudan? Or the Muslims in China or the political prisoners in Burma? I mean Jesus. At least these people are doing something to help. Your just typing out criticism behind a screen
The mistake humans make is thinking they matter more than other creatures.
Joe, I hear you, and I want to engage seriously because you're raising something real. But I'd push back on the framing that caring about one fight means neglecting another.
I've spent more than a decade on refugee and immigrant rights. Part of that work was booking flights out of Cairo for Palestinian families who had crossed 23 checkpoints through Egypt to reunite with family, years before the current horror. When COVID hit, those same people reached out to check on me. By the logic of your comment they shouldn't have — they had bigger problems. But they had humanity.
Humanity isn't zero-sum.
The thread connecting Ridglan, Gaza, and the demolition of US democracy is the same thread: institutional corruption that values profit and power over life. A DA captured by the industry he's supposed to regulate is the same kind of failure as a Congress captured by AIPAC, or agencies captured by the companies they oversee. One fight, many fronts. People are needed everywhere.
The video isn't a distraction from Palestine. It's evidence that sustained, organized pressure on a corrupt system can actually win. That's a lesson the Palestine movement needs too.
I'd also add that many of the activists involved in this movement, and some who were specifically involved in this action are passionate defenders of Palestine. As a matter of fact, the war in Gaza was a huge line of fracture within this activist community even though it has nothing to do with their cause.
So Joe is also just wrong on the facts. He assumes for some reason that because people care about dogs being tortured for profit that means they don't care about Gaza. It's exactly the opposite. People with the humanity to care about one tend to be precisely those who care most about the other.
Leighton, I can confirm it from the other direction. I was at Ridglan. It was my first exposure to animal rights activism in my life. I showed up because the corruption thread was undeniable — captured regulators, a DA who wouldn't act, agencies covering for the industry they're supposed to oversee — and yes, because I love dogs. Both things were true at once, and neither competed with the work I've been doing for refugees and immigrants for the last decade.
The people I met there came from everywhere. That's exactly why this coalition is dangerous to Marshall and animal testing as a whole.
"the war in Gaza was a huge line of fracture within this activist community". That's scary. They were united on the murder of dogs, but suffered not just a fracture, but a huge one over the murder of people?
Yes. See Oct 7th. No more replies for you, Richard, you silly goose. Bogart another stack’s Comments page 😉
Yep. They had it comin.
Leighton — you just claimed I said people who care about dogs don't care about Gaza. I never said that. I said you made a film about dogs and not about tortured Palestinians. That's not an assumption about their hearts. That's a fact about your choices. If your activist friends care about Palestine, great — then why isn't their story on your camera? Your deflection doesn't answer the question. It just proves you don't want to.
First of all, you absolutely did say that people who care about dogs don't care about Gaza. It's in plain English right here:
"the same people who risk freedom for a dog won’t lift a finger or a camera for human beings being raped and tortured in Israeli custody."
More generally, this is just the stupidest argument in the world, one I already answered in response to your comment on my own substack. It's one you hear over and over and over again if you advocate for animals. "But there are homeless human beings! Why aren't you spending your time trying to house them?", screams someone who spends 12 hours a day on social media and has never seen the inside of a food bank.
Joe, why are you spending your time commenting on substack giving me shit for caring about animals being tortured when you could be on a street corner protesting US support for Israel? It's "grotesque."
Leighton — I don't know why you feel as though I am giving you shit, I am not. You just quoted me saying 'the same people who risk freedom for a dog' — meaning the specific activists in your film, not all animal advocates everywhere. That's not 'plain English' for 'everyone who cares about dogs.' That's you misreading (or misrepresenting) a specific critique as a universal one.
Then you immediately did the thing you're mocking: 'Why aren't you on a street corner instead of commenting on Substack?' That's your logic now — that caring about one thing means you can't do another. So which is it? Either people can care about multiple things (in which case my critique of your film's framing is valid), or they can't (in which case your question to me is valid — but then you're a hypocrite for making animal rescue films while Gaza burns).
You can't have it both ways. You don't get to call my argument 'the stupidest in the world' and then use the exact same structure against me in the next sentence.
I'm not against dog rescue. I'm against celebrating dog rescue as heroic cinema while people are being raped and tortured. If that makes you angry, maybe sit with why instead of misquoting me and demanding my protest schedule.
Yes, the point of that rhetorical question was to judge you by your own bizarre standards. I thought the irony was obvious but I guess it was lost on you.
You've told me that my decision to make a film about a dog rescue is "grotesque" because there's also suffering elsewhere. I don't know by what possible standard that is not giving me shit. Please don't gaslight me.
Anyway, I addressed your points in my reply to your comment on my own substack and you haven't answered them, probably because there are no good answers. Until you do so I'm done engaging. You don't get to cherry pick which arguments you respond to and which you ignore.
Jen — thank you for the good-faith engagement. I actually agree with much of what you said. Humanity isn't zero-sum. But my point was never 'don't care about dogs.' It was: the celebrated, filmed, heroic framing of this rescue is striking when Palestinian torture gets nothing. That's an observation about proportion, not a ban on animal rescue. Thank you again.
No one's saying that's not important and a tragedy. There's more than enough need for all the good we can do anywhere, for anything, when we see injustice.
So because people suffer somewhere no one is supposed to help animals? By that logic no one should ever help animals. There will always be be someone suffering somewhere, why does it have to be a choice between one or the other? Should animals receive no help at all? How petty.
Dog people amuse me. You're straw-manning me. I never said 'no one should ever help animals.' I said it's morally obscene to film a dramatic rescue documentary of dogs in real-time while Palestinian women and children are being raped and tortured in Israeli detention with no such outrage, no such films, no such 'brave activists' celebrated.
Of course there will always be suffering. That's not a license to celebrate the least urgent suffering while ignoring the most urgent. You want to rescue dogs? Fine. But don't produce a heroic short film about it and expect me to clap while human beings are being systematically tortured a few thousand miles away — and don't pretend that allocating your 'activism' to dogs instead of genocide victims is just a neutral choice.
It's not petty to point out that your priorities are grotesquely out of alignment. It's honest.
What are you doing on Glenn's substack, Joe? Clearly, your interests don't align, so maybe you should find somewhere else to criticise other people's humanity. And what is it you're doing to support the tragedy in Gaza please?
I'm on Glenn's Substack because I agree with him on Palestine, anti-imperialism, and basically everything that matters. So your attempt to exile me from this space based on a single disagreement — about whether dog rescue documentaries deserve the same heroic framing as human rights struggles — is just lazy gatekeeping.
As for what I'm doing for Gaza: I'm speaking up, sharing news, pushing back against hypocrisy, and refusing to let people change the subject. Same as you, I assume. So let's not play 'who's more humanitarian.' Let's stick to the actual point: celebrating animal rescues as cinema while Palestinian women and children are tortured is grotesque. If you disagree, say that. But don't pretend I don't belong here just because I'm not clapping.
Glenn will be doing exactly what you and I are doing in speaking up for Gaza. It's not an either-or. Wherever there is harm it needs to be called out.
Are Palestinians at the top of the moral hierarchy because that's what you decided? Why is any one segment of humanity higher than another. You say you're contributing by " speaking out". Since you resent a film about actually saving animals from cruelty just think how great it would be if you did more than speak out. Go over there and and get in the trenches and make a film of yourself in action.
Respectfully, but I think your off base. With the globalization of media and news, we see trauma and tragedy every day. This is not natural or normal. All of the great sage’s and spiritual leaders have said change starts with you. Change is like a ripple. Each choice we make, it ripples. I can bet $1000 bucks most of those dog rescuers would probably participate in Palestine prisoner rescues if they felt like they realistically could. But they can’t. So what these people are choosing to do is to effect positive change closer to home. Suffering is hard to watch. But the suffering of one person or being isn’t spiritually more important than the suffering of others. People trying to effect change that’s good and positive in a way that they are able to is never a bad thing. It’s not obscene at all. It’s just unfortunate that these is so much stuffing happening. But like Confucius said, each action ripples out. Everyday we choose to either uplift or criticism and bring down. So just remember the more positive interactions you have, the better the world will end up. And that includes what we type out on social media.
Respectfully, I think my own knee jerk reaction to the story might have been trauma informed so-to-speak. I agree with you, it’s soul crushing and devastating…
Dude, I totally understand where you’re coming from. I’m so sensitive and it’s so hard to watch all the suffering that is occurring around the world. Some times I sound off too. We are human, we care, it happens. I think having open discussions is actually so important. And the world needs people like you, passionate and who care. People should NOT say you’re dumb or blatantly be rude. You’re not dumb. You’re just upset and you have emotions and ALL of us have these moments. You’re good dude. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. ;-)
Thanks Erica… very much appreciated… you have no idea. I hope this kindness you’ve given me, ripples out into the universe ❤️ enjoy your week too and keep being an amazing person
Activism anywhere promotes activism everywhere.
Activism anywhere promotes activism everywhere.
Hey Joe, are you really this dumb? Is it not possible to fight for the Palestinians AND animals being cruely tortured/abused?
I guess we shouldn't care about the environment either or any another cause! If you don't care for this video and cause just move along and shut the fuck up!
No one said you can't care about both. I said it's fascinating — that was my actual word — how much celebration and cinematic effort go into dog rescues while Palestinian detainees are being raped and tortured with global silence. That's not an either/or. That's an observation about proportion, attention, and what society chooses to call 'brave.'
You called me dumb and told me to shut the fuck up. That's not an argument. That's you feeling exposed and getting angry about it. If my post didn't apply to you, you could have scrolled. Instead, you're swearing at a stranger. Take a breath. Maybe ask yourself why this touched such a nerve.
You are correct Joe. It's simple moral hierarchy. The fact so many can't see that, or don't want to, or actually become enraged when questioned is depressing in the extreme
Thanks for seeing and articulating my point clearly Richard. Apparently I failed.
Our morals cause us to feel bad. Or good. It feels good to have an unequivocal, or pure moral feeling. Bad if it's diluted. Interfere with people's feelings, and they're comin for ya
Imagine folks checking their knee-jerk reactions to comments, listening to a point and challenging their own worldview because of it. 🤷♂️ might be a better world.
Yes Richard.....no one else here realizes there's a hierarchy of morals. Just joe 😂
Not you? What ya saying?
Well insulting trolls/morons like you is how I get my kicks! ;) you're so enlightened that there's more important causess out there! Soooo special that this doesn't give you a little joy! You must be super fun at parties 🙄
Likewise
Good luck not being murdered by the Israelies.
Any link to apply for adoption?
Here is one link, from the Beagle Freedom Project: https://bfp.org/rescue/
Did the activists know that Mr. Woodhouse is a 'Back the Blue' enthusiast? My goodness, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him (not very far at all).
🙄
Did you tip off the cops and let them know the activists were coming that morning?
It is absolutely inspiring to see so many people from different backgrounds, ages and political persuasions come together in this brave and meaningful way for animal rights. 💛