I firmly intended to go to the event, hosted by Students Protecting Animal Rights, or SPAR, with an open mind. I’m a lifelong carnivore, but I don’t consider vegetarianism to be an unreasonable lifestyle. I will admit, however, that I half expected the event to be a “preach to the choir” affair, where everyone agreed with everyone else just how cruelly animals were treated by the vile farmers.

That’s why I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed to witness what I did.

During the question-and-answer portion of the event, a guy from MSU’s College of Agriculture asked everyone in his cohort who shared his passion for animals and agriculture to stand, and I was blown away. The agriculture contingent and those who chose to be associated with them easily comprised more than half of the people in attendance. Dozens of students from the College of Agriculture came out in an effort to respectfully share their opposition to PETA and SPAR’s views.

Instead of obnoxiously protesting, they listened carefully to what Mathews said, offering up insightful, thought-provoking questions and valid challenges to his arguments.

Now, don’t think that I walked into this event biased. Despite attending a high school that once prided itself on Drive Your Tractor to School Day, one would be hard-pressed to classify me as anything but a city boy. I once covered a 4H fair for a newspaper, and it was quite the fish-out-of-water affair. When a girl asked me during the presentation if I was on the agriculture “side,” I responded truthfully and unequivocally “no.”

But boy, were they impressive. What won me over even more was that they were the antithesis of PETA in terms of advertising, image and appeal. PETA passed out glossy pamphlets full of good design, shocking imagery and celebrity endorsements (Tobey Maguire is a vegetarian, isn’t that awesome?) in an effort to woo the young and hip, while the agriculture group’s fliers, admittedly, didn’t have that same cool factor.

Well, members of the College of Agriculture, consider me wooed anyway. What the agriculture group lacked in flashiness, they more than made up for in preparation, personal experiences and convictions — as well as facts and figures that served as effective counterpoints to Mathews’ rhetoric. Their desire to respond in force and defend their passion and livelihood from possible misrepresentation was inspiring.

To give credit where it’s due, I will say I also came away with a better understanding and respect for vegetarians and vegans. I think it’s a shame that those who practice that lifestyle often are written off as animal rights fanatics — even though there are a number a different reasons people choose to abstain from meat. The vegetarian position deserves a second look by those who automatically associate all vegetarians with PETA, and I see nothing intrinsically wrong with the lifestyle.

I also found Mathews to be surprisingly calm and levelheaded for a man who was an integral part of the Holocaust on Your Plate campaign, which compares cows led to slaughter to the millions of Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust — something I have major problems with. I believe I came away with a better understanding of the Animal Liberation philosophy, which consequently allowed me to better form my own views — views that, admittedly, are mostly in opposition to PETA and SPAR.

In an effort to raise animals to the level of humans, I feel PETA only ends up demoting humans to the level of animals. To quote the Elephant Man, “I am not an animal, I am a human being!”

It was that human dignity and reason that was on display last Thursday — on both sides — and I’m sure that the animals who come under the care of these students and their peers will be in very capable and caring hands.

I again want to congratulate the students from the College of Agriculture for a job well done in setting an example for all of us.

SPAR, too, deserves recognition for bringing in a speaker and fervidly sharing their views. I learned a lot last week, and I have every reason to believe that everyone at the presentation — whether PETA members or agriculture students — was a person for the ethical treatment of animals.

Dan Faas is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at faasdani@msu.edu.