...when
you inform family and friends that you no longer eat animal foods and
that you are doing so because you think that it’s morally wrong, what
they hear is that yuu’re saying that they are immoral people. They take
offense. - Gary Francione and Anna Charlton
A recent discussion about my veganism has left a friend of mine feeling offended and defensive. Gary Francione is right about the implication of your telling someone why you choose not to use animal products. But here's the thing. Only those who are experiencing the moral schizophrenia associated with our cultural view of animals will feel offended. They are experiencing a cognitive dissonance between what their moral intuition is telling them is wrong and the fact that they participate in it. These are the people who do KNOW that animals are worthy of moral consideration. They just aren't ready to act on it. All vegans were once there. Veganism is a hard decision to come to given that we are culturally trained otherwise. Those who have no empathy are the ones to really worry about in terms of advancing the cause of animals.No vegan stops consuming animal products because they dislike the taste. Of course we like the taste! The thought of never eating carrot cake with dairy cream cheese frosting sucks! And finding vegan saxophone pads was difficult and might have a negative impact on my playing. But eating cake and using kangaroo leather pads isn't worth knowing that I'm participating in the torture and murder of other sentient beings who have the same inviolable right that I have to live and flourish. Our decision is based on the fact that the torture and death of other species in the name of our pleasure and convenience is wholly wrong. It was interesting to watch my friend go through almost every single "But" that Francione points to in his book. But the final "But" was that she would save her energy for those who cry real tears.
There is little disagreement in the scientific or philosophical community that animals do feel emotion. Animals expression of pain is different from humans', but that does not make it irrelevant. "Real" tears are expressed in many ways, even among those belonging to the same species. Underlying this statement is the speciesist prejudice that human pain is somehow superior to non-human pain. The notion of superiority has been used to justify all exploitation.
- WHITE superior to BLACK = RACISM
- MEN superior to WOMEN = SEXISM
- HETEROSEXUAL superior to HOMOSEXUAL = GAY/LESBIAN BASHING
- HUMAN ANIMALS superior to NONHUMAN ANIMALS = SPECIESISM
It takes a very long time and a lot of struggle to overcome deeply held prejudice. We continue to struggle to change the way we think about race, sex and sexuality. Speciesism is even more deeply rooted than racism, sexism and homophobia in many ways. It will take an enormous amount of effort and struggle to radically change the way we think about nonhuman animals. These struggles are far from mutually exclusive.
[T]he war on compassion has caused people to believe that they have to help humans first. As long as we treat animals as animals, as long as we accept there is the category "animals," both the treatment and the concept will legitimize the treatment of humans like animals. - Carol J. Adams, The War on Compassion
I know that my moral view on animals isn't going to be popular. Views that go against normalized, dominant power structures never are. Take racism and sexism fore example. People
have died in the name of expressing their view that racism and sexism
are morally wrong. People were offended when someone spoke out against them. For the same reasons many will feel offended and defensive about my views. *******
Most —but not all—animals do not cry when they are terrorized and made to suffer; most— but not all— humans do not cry when they see or hear about factory farms, animal laboratories, or hunting fields. — Mark H. Bernstein
They are not human,
but in the ways that matter most,
they are we. -
Mark H. Bernstein
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