Veganism is not a "sacrifice." It is a joy.
Gary L. FrancioneTags: wisdom animals justice inspirational-quotes joy veganism life-lessons nonviolence rights abolition ahimsa abolitionist vulnerable peace-movement peace-on-earth francione nonviolence-jainism peace-making
Being vegan is easy. Are there social pressures that encourage you to continue to eat, wear, and use animal products? Of course there are. But in a patriarchal, racist, homophobic, and ableist society, there are social pressures to participate and engage in sexism, racism, homophobia, and ableism. At some point, you have to decide who you are and what matters morally to you. And once you decide that you regard victimizing vulnerable nonhumans is not morally acceptable, it is easy to go and stay vegan
Gary L. FrancioneTags: veganism exploitation slavery nonviolence moral-obligation abolitionist speciesism moral-imperative
Any serious social, political, and economic change must include veganism.
Gary L. FrancioneTags: wisdom life education animals justice inspirational-quotes global-warming veganism health exploitation slavery racism nonviolence sexism extinction rights abolition ahimsa moral-obligation classism climate-change abolitionist sentience speciesism vulnerable peace-movement peace-on-earth heterosexism francione nonviolence-jainism peace-making moral-imperative ableist
Donald Watson, who founded The Vegan Society in 1944 and who lived a healthy, active life until passing on in 2005, maintained that dairy products, such as milk, eggs, and cheese, were every bit as cruel and exploitive of sentient animal life as was slaughtering animals for their flesh: “The unquestionable cruelty associated with the production of dairy produce has made it clear that lactovegetarianism is but a half-way house between flesh-eating and a truly humane, civilised diet, and we think, therefore, that during our life on earth we should try to evolve sufficiently to make the ‘full journey.’” He also avoided wearing leather, wool or silk and used a fork, rather than a spade in his gardening to avoid killing worms.
Let us instil in others the reverence or life that Donald Watson had and that he passed on to us.
If we are ever going to see a paradigm shift, we have to be clear about how we want the present paradigm to shift.
We must be clear that veganism is the unequivocal baseline of anything that deserves to be called an “animal rights” movement. If “animal rights” means anything, it means that we cannot morally justify any animal exploitation; we cannot justify creating animals as human resources, however “humane” that treatment may be.
We must stop thinking that people will find veganism “daunting” and that we have to promote something less than veganism. If we explain the moral ideas and the arguments in favor of veganism clearly, people will understand. They may not all go vegan immediately; in fact, most won’t. But we should always be clear about the moral baseline. If someone wants to do less as an incremental matter, let that be her/his decision, and not something that we advise to do. The baseline should always be clear. We should never be promoting “happy” or “humane” exploitation as morally acceptable.
Tags: wisdom life education animals justice inspirational-quotes global-warming veganism health paradigm-shift exploitation slavery racism nonviolence sexism extinction rights abolition ahimsa moral-obligation classism climate-change abolitionist sentience speciesism vulnerable peace-movement peace-on-earth heterosexism francione nonviolence-jainism peace-making moral-imperative ableist
The notion that we should promote “happy” or “humane” exploitation as “baby steps” ignores that welfare reforms do not result in providing significantly greater protection for animal interests; in fact, most of the time, animal welfare reforms do nothing more than make animal exploitation more economically productive by focusing on practices, such as gestation crates, the electrical stunning of chickens, or veal crates, that are economically inefficient in any event. Welfare reforms make animal exploitation more profitable by eliminating practices that are economically vulnerable. For the most part, those changes would happen anyway and in the absence of animal welfare campaigns precisely because they do rectify inefficiencies in the production process. And welfare reforms make the public more comfortable about animal exploitation. The “happy” meat/animal products movement is clear proof of that.
We would never advocate for “humane” or "happy” human slavery, rape, genocide, etc. So, if we believe that animals matter morally and that they have an interest not only in not suffering but in continuing to exist, we should not be putting our time and energy into advocating for “humane” or “happy” animal exploitation.
Tags: wisdom life education animals justice inspirational-quotes global-warming veganism health exploitation slavery racism nonviolence sexism extinction rights abolition ahimsa moral-obligation classism climate-change abolitionist sentience speciesism vulnerable peace-movement peace-on-earth heterosexism francione nonviolence-jainism peace-making moral-imperative ableist
I am opposed to animal welfare campaigns for two reasons. First, if animal use cannot be morally justified, then we ought to be clear about that, and advocate for no use. Although rape and child molestation are ubiquitous, we do not have campaigns for “humane” rape or “humane” child molestation. We condemn it all. We should do the same with respect to animal exploitation.
Second, animal welfare reform does not provide significant protection for animal interests. Animals are chattel property; they are economic commodities. Given this status and the reality of markets, the level of protection provided by animal welfare will generally be limited to what promotes efficient exploitation. That is, we will protect animal interests to the extent that it provides an economic benefit.
Tags: wisdom life education animals justice inspirational-quotes global-warming veganism health exploitation slavery racism nonviolence sexism extinction rights abolition ahimsa moral-obligation classism climate-change welfare abolitionist sentience speciesism vulnerable peace-movement peace-on-earth heterosexism francione nonviolence-jainism peace-making moral-imperative ableist
Welfare reforms and the whole “happy” exploitation movement are not “baby steps.” They are big steps–in a seriously backward direction.
Gary L. FrancioneTags: peace vegan veganism nonviolence abolition ahimsa welfare slaughter abolitionist humane peace-on-earth francione animal-products
If we take the position that an assessment that veganism is morally preferable to vegetarianism is not possible because we are all “on our own journey,” then moral assessment becomes completely impossible or is speciesist. It is impossible because if we are all “on our own journey,” then there is nothing to say to the racist, sexist, anti-semite, homophobe, etc. If we say that those forms of discrimination are morally bad, but, with respect to animals, we are all “on our own journey” and we cannot make moral assessments about, for instance, dairy consumption, then we are simply being speciesist and not applying the same moral analysis to nonhumans that we apply to the human context.
Gary L. FrancioneTags: wisdom life education animals justice inspirational-quotes veganism exploitation slavery racism nonviolence sexism rights abolition ahimsa moral-obligation classism abolitionist sentience speciesism vulnerable peace-movement peace-on-earth heterosexism francione nonviolence-jainism peace-making moral-imperative ableist
To say that a being who is sentient has no interest in continuing to live is like saying that a being with eyes has no interest in continuing to see. Death—however “humane”—is a harm for humans and nonhumans alike.
Gary L. FrancioneTags: wisdom life education animals justice inspirational-quotes veganism exploitation slavery nonviolence rights abolition ahimsa abolitionist sentience peace-movement peace-on-earth francione nonviolence-jainism peace-making
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