Some thoughts on the animal rights movement for anyone interested:
I agree with Gary Francione and the abolitionist approach.
That "Veganism is the only rational, logical response to accepting that it is morally wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering and death on animals."
I also agree that vegan education is the best way to advocate for the animals and the earth in general.
There are still a couple of areas that I am unsure about though and I'm willing to listen and be open to whatever thoughts anyone may have on this. Whether you are non vegan or vegan.
My question is: Is all welfare reform completely useless? 99% of the population still believe its ok to use animals - so what do we do about the *current* situation? Do we do nothing for the animals while we take on the long term goal of complete abolition?
I'm not suggesting we promote anything less than veganism but i just want to ponder this matter a little.
I can't help but think that if I were a pig I would prefer not to have my tail cut off or to be castrated without any anesthetic. I'd prefer to feel grass under my feet, even if just for a little while, than to be confined to a concrete cage so small I couldn't even turn around day in and day out. These are very urgent matters to me.....
Where I find a hole in Gary's theories is that welfare reforms 'make no difference' to the actual welfare. I disagree.. I think new welfare laws have the capacity to lessen the intensity of suffering greatly. Of course it's not ideal, but it is better than leaving them in their current horrendous conditions while we wait a very long time for complete abolishment.
My humble suggestion is that maybe a combination of approaches is necessary in acknowledgement of the entrenched speciesism in human beings.
For over 100,000 years we have survived from eating meat and using animals for various reasons. To put that into perspective, no longer requiring to use animals for survival is relatively new as is this evolution of 'morality' to include all living beings.
Another thing to consider is that our population has grown from 2.5 billion in 1950 to over 7 billion now and it increases by 2.3 people every second. It is due to population and scarcity NOT welfare advocacy that the current situation is so bad. Most people would be eating meat, dairy and eggs regardless of the welfare standard, not because they feel 'better about it' if it has a welfare label as Gary suggests.
Though I agree with him that this delusion that the animals are treated kindly is very wrong and that 'happy exploitation' is a fundamentally flawed concept - this does not mean that all welfare reforms are entirely counter productive, lacking in any purpose or progress.
It is matter of perception. There HAD to be this process. Animal products were never going to appear on the shelf and then miraculously disappear the next day. This transition is inevitable.
I guess, to summarise, I'm wondering what can we do right now to lessen the suffering?
Keep promoting and educating others about veganism - yes - this first and foremost.
But what about the their lifelong imprisonment and torture? Can we not also fight for laws to ease their suffering while we strive for total abolition?
I have lots of respect for Gary and fully agree with his core values and teachings but I'm yet to be completely convinced by all that he says regarding welfare and single issue campaigns (such as Blackfish). I want a vegan world as much as any other, but I worry how long that will take...
I know too many people who would consider themselves compassionate yet support animal abuse in their daily lives. I know too many intelligent, progressive thinkers who still disregard animal rights as of vital importance to civilisation. Too many environmentalists who refuse to see the link between animal use and the environment. Too many dependant on the killing for capital gain. Too many simply brainwashed and uneducated. Finally I know too many people who just don't give a damn.
This is why I believe welfare laws are important and we shouldn't waste so much time critiquing this transition. But that we should always promote veganism as the moral baseline... We need both.
