When “Intersectional Justice” Means Promoting Meat, Fish, Dairy
The latest organized rejection of veganism as a moral baseline is found in the position of certain people who call themselves “intersectionalists.” In an earlier essay, I discussed how these “intersectionalists” were promoting a brand of moral relativism (at least as far as animals were concerned), and that they were combining this relativism with an […]
Imagine If There Were a Real “Animal Rights” Movement
Imagine how different things would be if there were an animal movement that: (1) focused on use and not treatment; (2) that promoted veganism as a moral imperative; and (3) did not promote (and fundraise off) welfare reforms, “happy exploitation,” reducetarianism, single-issue campaigns, etc. Industries that promoted animal exploitation would respond by trying to keep […]
Challenging Peter Singer’s Paternity Claim
I Peter Singer initially gained fame by popularizing utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s idea that just as race should not be used to exclude humans from the moral community and justify their enslavement, species should not used to justify treating animals as things. Singer borrowed the term “speciesism” from psychologist Richard Ryder and argued that using […]
The Vegan Society Senior Officer of Advocacy and Policy Rejects Veganism as a Moral Baseline
In my essay on “intersectionalist vegans,” I carefully documented explicit and overt speciesiesm on the part of a number of figureheads in the intersectionalist movement. Whatever else anyone wants to say, it is crystal clear that, for example, Breeze Harper, a member of the Board of Black Vegans Rock (BVR), rejects veganism as a moral […]
The Meaning of “THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it.”
Many welfarist vegans and intersectional vegans do not seem to understand the ideas behind the idea that “THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If we want it.” It’s really quite simple. There are three central ideas here. First, this expression denotes that veganism is a moral choice and that it is one we can make today—right now—if […]
Chris Hedges and I Talk About Veganism
Here is a discussion on veganism that I had with writer, journalist, and political theorist/activist Chris Hedges ********** 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. If animals matter […]
Essentialism, Intersectionality, and Veganism as a Moral Baseline: Black Vegans Rock and the Humane Society of the United States
I. The Problem of Essentialism Racism and sexism represent moral evil. Racism and sexism involve a societal acceptance of essentialism, or the idea that biology or some other personal characteristic alone determines moral value. A good definition of essentialism appears here: Essentialism is the idea that there exists some detectible and objective core quality of […]
A Case Study in the Futility of Animal Welfare Reform: The Animal Aid Pig Farm Campaign
Animal Aid, a UK group that promotes welfare reform, has a new campaign. Animal Aid wants your help (and donations) to stop a large pig farm from being approved and built in Lincolnshire. Here is a screenshot of the description of this campaign: Click to enlarge. If this campaign is successful, the facility will be […]
Abolitionist Vegan Advocacy/Education Tips: On Health
Remember that when you are speaking to a nonvegan, you are dealing with someone who thinks that consuming animal products is as natural–and necessary–as breathing and your challenge sounds as bizarre as a suggestion that they stop breathing! This is one reason why it is important to know enough about the nutritional aspects of veganism […]
Abolitionist Intersectionality
Principle Five of the Six Principles of the Abolitionist Approach states that the rights of humans and nonhumans are inextricably intertwined. Treating any sentient being as a thing is morally unjustifiable. All forms of exclusion and discrimination are interrelated. All forms of exclusion and discrimination constitute violence. Abolitionists reject them all. Some who talk about […]
Sexism and Racism in the “Animal Movement”: A Reply to Ruby Hamad
December 20, 2015 Ruby Hamad Daily Life www.DailyLife.com.au Dear Ms. Hamad: I read your essay about racism and sexism in the “animal movement.” You state: This is the core of what is wrong with the mainstream vegan community today. So many of its adherents refuse to make the connection between human oppression and the exploitation […]
Our Grassroots Movement is Growing
The corporate “animal movement” is big business. Every year, it brings in hundreds of millions of dollars. How does it do that? By selling the idea of “compassionate exploitation.” The “movement” sells the idea that life can go on as usual and people can continue on as before–as long as they give a donation so […]
OUR NEW BOOK: “Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach”
Our new book is now available. You can get it as a Kindle or paperback edition here. This book is about a revolution–a revolution of the heart. The exploitation of animals is pervasive, entrenched, and horrific. In this book, we reject the idea that animal use is morally acceptable if people treat animals “humanely.” We […]
“Selfie Morality”: The Moral Rot of the Animal Movement
I identify as “selfie morality” the phenomenon of characterizing substantive disagreement or criticism as “oppression,” “aggression,” “bashing,” “hating,” “shaming,” or “bullying” without providing any substantive response to the criticism. Selfie morality is nothing but narcissism. And it is inherently speciesist. So, for example, when abolitionist vegans make a reasoned argument that the moral status of […]
There Is No Third Choice
There are two and only two choices: Choice 1: You stop eating, wearing, and otherwise using all nonhuman animals; Choice 2: You continue to participate directly in exploiting nonhuman animals. There is no third choice. You are either vegan or you are participating directly in animal exploitation. “But wait!” the welfarists cry, “Even if you […]
An Open Request to PETA, Farm Sanctuary, HSUS, Viva!, and Others
You all claim to reject “happy exploitation.” But John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, claims that you (and possibly others) were “stakeholders” in the actual creation of the Whole Foods “happy exploitation” standards. You can listen to Mackey speak here. Mackey claims that you worked with the meat industry to set the “happy” standards “a […]
A Lot of People Are Angry with Me–and They are Right
They are angry that I am what they call an “absolutist” who maintains that we cannot justify *any* animal use. They are right. I am an absolutist in this regard–just as I am an “absolutist” with respect to rape, child molestation, and other violations of fundamental human rights. Indeed, I would not have it any […]
The Problem: “Animal Advocates” Who Promote Animal Exploitation
[Note: Click to enlarge images.] Mercy for Animals, an animal welfare organization, claims that “The Problem” is “Animals suffering miserably on factory farms.” Wrong. The problem is identifying the problem as “factory farms” and not animal use or exploitation–wherever it occurs and however supposedly “humane” or “compassionate” or “merciful” it is. Misidentifying the problem has […]
A Movement That Moves Backward
When I wrote “Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement” in 1996, I argued that the animal rights movement was becoming a “new welfarist” movement. That is, the movement claimed to embrace animal rights and abolition but it promoted the idea of using traditional welfarist reform to get to abolition. I argued […]
McDonald’s “Cage-Free” Eggs, Peter McSinger and the McAnimal Movement
In 2012, the European Union “ban” on conventional battery cages for laying hens came into effect. I wrote a blog post and discussed how, even though this supposed “ban” was not a ban on battery cages at all and required only that producers use “enriched” cages for laying hens, and even though conservative welfarists acknowledged […]