“When It’s Raised Right, It Tastes Right.” And This is Not Right.
Yesterday, I visited Whole Foods and my purchases were placed in this bag: Think about the message: When an animal, a commodity, an “it”–is “raised right,” “it tastes right.” And just about every large animal organization in the United States expressed their “appreciation and support” to Whole Foods for its “happy” exploitation program: This is […]
Human and Nonhuman Rights as Inextricably Intertwined: In a Nutshell
As animal advocates, we oppose speciesism because, like racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of discrimination, it uses a morally irrelevant criterion (species) to discount and devalue the interests of sentient beings. But our opposition to speciesism means that we do have a position on these other forms of discrimination. That is, we cannot oppose […]
Single-Issue Campaigns and the Adoption/Fostering of Homeless Nonhuman Animals
I am critical of single-issue campaigns (SICs). I am often asked if promoting the adoption or fostering of homeless animals is a single-issue campaign. The answer is that it is not and the question indicates confusion about what an SIC is and why SICs are objectionable. Although all welfarist campaigns can be characterized as SICs, […]
Sentience and Personhood
According to this article: India has officially recognized dolphins as non-human persons, whose rights to life and liberty must be respected. Dolphin parks that were being built across the country will instead be shut down. In a statement, the government said research had clearly established cetaceans are highly intelligent and sensitive, and that dolphins “should […]
No, They Don’t “Dig” Cage-Free Eggs
In addition to the connection between sexism and speciesism illustrated here: The birds do not dig being in a cage-free facility, which is like being in one large cage. They don’t dig the fact that they are bought from hatcheries that kill all the male chicks. The male chicks do not dig that much either. […]
A Brief Note on “Ag Gag” Laws
I think that the “Ag Gag” laws are not a good idea for a number of reasons related generally to the suppression and chilling of speech. But to listen to the large animal groups, one would think that the “Ag Gag” laws are a death knell for the animal movement. That’s just wrong. We don’t […]
Robert Jensen and Species Equality
According to Professor Robert Jensen, an otherwise progressive thinker: “[N]o one really believes the quip, “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy,” suggesting the equality of all life (or, at least, all mammalian life). To test that: If there were a rat, a pig, a dog, and a human child in […]
It’s Really Very Simple
If you are not vegan, then you are participating directly in animal exploitation. It really is that simple. If animals matter morally, then there is one and only one rational response: go vegan. Gary L. Francione Professor, Rutgers University © 2013 Gary L. Francione
My Participation in “The Conversation”
There is an interesting project called The Conversation: In Search of the New Normal. The project is described in part: The Conversation explores visions of our future and questions of the good. If you rolled an audio documentary, dinner party, and digital humanities project into a giant media-burrito, this is what you’d get: From April […]
A Note on “I Can’t” vs. “I Choose”
Many vegans say, “It’s not that I can’t eat animal foods; I just choose not to.” They get concerned that it’s negative to say that there is something they “can’t” do. Although I understand this, it really does not make much sense. Yes, of course I could choose to eat, wear, or use animal products. […]
The Abolitionist Approach and Farm Sanctuary Discuss “Happy Meat,” Abolition, and Welfare Reform
Introduction VegNews invited me and Bruce Friedrich, formerly of PETA and now with Farm Sanctuary, to discuss “happy meat,” abolition, and welfare reform. VegNews subsequently refused to publish the debate. So we present discussion here. The discussion proceeds as follows: I make an Opening Statement to which Bruce replies. Bruce’s Opening statement is followed by […]
A Thought About The Meaning of Love
***** If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about nonviolence to other sentient beings. But it’s also about nonviolence to the earth and nonviolence to yourself. The World is Vegan! Gary L. Francione Professor, Rutgers University
The Abolitionist-Regulationist Debate From Another Era: Sound Familiar?
During race-based slavery in the United States, there were those who said that they believed that slavery should be abolished eventually (whatever that meant) but who refused to criticize the institution of slavery openly and call for its end, and, instead, campaigned for more “humane” slavery. And there were those who believed in abolition and […]
My Interview On Philosophy Bites
Philosophy Bites is a site that provides podcast interviews of philosophers. Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy, which is an Institute of the University of London’s School of Advanced Study. On a lovely sunny day in July, I had the great pleasure to sit down with David Edmonds and Nigel […]
A Response To PETA’s Position On “Happy” Or “Humane” Exploitation
Ingrid Newkirk of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has written a PETA Alert concerning PETA’s position on “happy” exploitation. This Alert reads in part: PETA has pushed hard and will continue to push hard to reduce the sum total of suffering in the meat, dairy, and egg industries—because that makes a huge […]
Means And Ends
Some say that there is no real difference between: A. someone who advocates that we ought to abolish animal use and that the means to achieve that end is promoting veganism as a moral baseline and rejecting “happy” exploitation and B. someone who says they hope one day to to see the end of all […]
Our Choice
To those who support animal welfare: It’s not, as many of you claim, a choice of helping animals “today” or “now,” or letting them suffer while we achieve a much greater number of vegans. It is a choice of whether we are going to: A. put resources into expensive campaigns that go on for years […]
“Carnism”? There Is Nothing “Invisible” About The Ideology Of Animal Exploitation
There are some who claim that the ideology that supports animal exploitation is “invisible.” The basic idea is that animal exploitation is something that we are conditioned or caused to engage in because of some hidden or “invisible” ideology or psychological process that needs to be exposed. Variations of this position have been around for […]
Animal Rights: Marginalized By The “Animal Movement”
A number of writers have claimed that we need to support other than an abolitionist approach because that approach has been marginalized politically and has been unsuccessful. For example, in their book, Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights, Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka observe: A central task for the movement is to figure out […]
One For Your “Humans Are An Odd Bunch” File
(photo: Yahoo! News) This is Tracy Arnold. Her story is here. Ms. Arnold found what she claims is a man’s toenail in the sauce that she prepared. She did not know whether it came from a jar of pasta sauce or from the minced beef that she added to the sauce. She thought at first […]