[briant]

I am not a morose person, but I would rather not be here. I don't have any reverence for life, only for the entities themselves. I would rather see a blank space where I am. This will sound like fruitcake stuff again, but at least I won't be harming anything. -- Ingrid Newkirk, as quoted in Washington Post, 03 Nov. 1983.

This is the most telling comment. I think the bottom line is that many of these people have very low self-worth, and they hold the rest of humanity in the same low esteem.

[kcvl]

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine PCRM President Neal Barnard is also the president of the Foundation to Support Animal Protection, which shares a mailing address with PETA. Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s president, is listed as a “Director” of the same foundation. As of 1998, its assets were in excess of $2 million, and its tax filings list both groups as “supported organizations.” Specific amounts were not released for public inspection. Barnard is also PETA’s Medical and Scientific Adviser.

[kcvl]

Neal Barnard (a psychiatrist who writes books on nutrition) was once PETA's science advisor.