Panel Discussion at AT&T Conference Center

In attending the animal panel at the AT&T Conference Center, I heard three very different perspectives on the topic of the treatment of animals by humans in several perspectives. The first speaker, who clearly stated that his topic was furthest from the panel topic, was Mr. Thomas Prasch. His part of the discussion covered a book rarely talked about from Darwin on the relation of animals and humans through the expression of behavior.



One of the key points of his argument shed light not only on the relation of animals and humans but on the similarity between races. He talks about how it is the cultural differences that cause a divide and not really biological differences. Most of his talk was read off his paper, and since I had previously read the paper I was annoyed and bored. I believe he could’ve made really good connections and use his paper to defend animal’s rights and make a case against animal cruelty but his disappointment in not being able to participate in the Darwin panel made him not want to be really active in any panel.




The second speaker, Professor Bump covered his favorite topic of discussion- the Alice in Wonderland books. He showed instance in the book and the movie in which the characters are portrayed with constant changing views towards animals. Some of the characters, especially Alice throughout the book seem to portray aspects of animal cruelty. I think one of the greatest topics of discussion was brought up by Dolphin’s question which led to discussing the differences between the White and Red Queens.



While the White Queen states that she does not harm animals she has no problem asking Alice to do the dirty work for her. The Red Queen openly expresses her dislike of animals; she is honest about her intentions and does most of the dirty work herself. I really liked looking at the differences in the movie and the books. The last person to talk was Professor Styles, I felt as if she chose to really use her time and talk about everything she wanted to get across about her paper.





Her paper discussed the book Dracula and the significance of vivisection. She also makes the comparison between Dracula’s obsession and necessity of human blood with that of humans need for animals through the use of a food chain system that seems to develop in which Dracula is at the top. I really enjoyed her power point presentation that summarized all the main points of her paper and I loved hearing questions from audience members. It all went by a little too fast, most of the time the presentations seemed rush which I don’t think allowed for me to really enjoy the conversation as I felt a little lost at times.