Dear Colleagues:

We always hear the word “humane” used in conjunction with the state of affairs that will exist if only this or that welfare reform, which is the subject of this or that campaign by this or that large animal welfare corporation (and for which your contribution is needed “for the animals”), is adopted.

As anyone who reads this blog or my other work knows, I think that the standard of the “humane” treatment of animals, which are chattel property, will generally be limited to that level of protection necessary to exploit the animals in an economically efficient way. To say it another way: with rare exceptions, we spend money to protect animal interests only when an economic benefit results.

A review of the history of welfare reform indicates that most of the reforms that have been implemented fit this model and that these reforms do little more than increase production efficiency. The reforms do very little to increase the protection we give to animal interests. The primary benefit of “humane” reforms is that they make humans feel better about exploiting animals.

So let us be clear that when we propose that a reform will make animal treatment more “humane,” what we really mean is:

1. the reform may result in slightly less torture than exists at present but animals will still be tortured (and in many cases, the reform will not even result in less torture);

2. the reform will generally make animal production more efficient by reducing production costs;

3. the reform will do nothing to move animals away from property status and will, in fact, enmesh them further in it;

4. the reform will make humans feel better about animal use.

It’s a win-win proposition. Producers benefit by increasing profitability and being able to claim that they “care” about animals (look at Whole Foods). Animal groups can solicit donations both for the campaign and as a reward for the supposed “victory,” and can play hero.

Only the animals lose.

If you are not vegan, go vegan. It is very easy, better for health and for the planet. And, most important, it’s the morally right and just thing to do.

The World is Vegan! If you want it.

Gary L. Francione
©2010 Gary L. Francione

Dear Colleagues:

I posted an essay about the remarks of Viva! as reported in The Sunday Mail (a U.K. paper), concerning the sale in the U.K. of meat from animals slaughtered in the halal method.

A “Reply from Viva!” was posted on Opposing Views, where my essay was reprinted:

Reply from Viva!

Gary, you may be interested to know that The Daily Mail did not talk to Viva!. What they did was take a quote from our website. Ritual slaughter without pre-stunning has been proven to be crueller, but we are against all slaughter. Humane slaughter, of course, does not exist.

At every opportunity we try and push veganism as the most ethical choice to protect animals. However, you have to understand that the media has it’s own agenda. If we had spoken to The Daily Mail at the time (we have spoken to them since), we could push veganism until we’re blue in the face. They will print what they want to print. Please keep that in mind before criticising us or other groups in the future. Thank you.

- Justin Kerswell September 21, 2010 11:06AM

I confirmed that this reply was, in fact, from Viva!

Here is my response:

Dear Justin:

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, it does not address my concerns except to reinforce them.

Islamophobia and Halal Slaughter

Assuming what you say is true (and I do) and that The Sunday Mail did not talk to Viva! and took the quote from the Viva! website, then the matter is actually more serious in that the xenophobic remarks attributed to Viva! cannot be characterized as some statement taken out of context, but rather represent a considered policy statement from Viva!’s website. In light of the rampant Islamophobia in the U.K. (and elsewhere), it might be a good idea to remove that statement from your website. It does no good to say that Viva! supports multiculturalism when it makes remarks like these, particularly given that we both know that animals who are stunned are often, if not usually, not stunned properly. So I am confused as to why you think it useful at all to draw a distinction between halal slaughter and conventional slaughter.

Moreover, the statement attributed to Viva!, which you do not disclaim: “Consumers can do their bit by boycotting places that persist in selling meat from unstunned animals,” sends an explicitly clear message that the problem is halal (or kosher) slaughter and that the solution is to boycott meat from unstunned animals. A much better statement would have been: “Consumers who care about these issues should consider whether they should be consuming any animal products at all because all animal products are the result of the torture and unjustifiable killing of nonhuman animals.” As I say, Viva! missed an opportunity to educate here. Again, given that stunned animals are often not stunned, the distinction you draw fails on its own terms and not only in terms of the larger context that the problem is animal use and not particular animal treatment or animal exploitation by a particular group of people.

Viva! and Veganism

Your statement that “[a]t every opportunity we try and push veganism as the most ethical choice to protect animals” is simply not accurate.

The fact is that Viva! actively promotes vegetarianism on its websites (as Viva! has branches in several countries) as a morally coherent alternative to being an omnivore and characterizes veganism as something optional that people can do if they choose to go further. To the extent that Viva! distinguishes flesh from other animal products, it perpetuates the idea that there is a morally coherent distinction among them and we both know that is nonsense. Dairy and other non-flesh products account for as much, if not more, suffering than flesh and all animal products, however produced, are the result of animal death. Promoting vegetarianism rather than veganism is logically no different from promoting eating meat from spotted cows instead of meat from brown cows. The reasoning that Viva! employs is precisely the same that has been used to support the campaigns in favor of things like not eating veal. There is no difference between veal and other animal flesh or between flesh and other animal products.

The Viva! UK website sells books that contain recipes with animal products and advertises restaurants/inns that serve animal products. How can you say “[a]t every opportunity we push veganism” when you sell books with recipes containing animal products and promote places that serve animal products? That’s a rhetorical question. By promoting these books and businesses, you make a clear statement to the public that there is a distinction between flesh and other animal products.

Not only does Viva! promote the notion that vegetarianism is a coherent alternative to being an omnivore, Viva! also perpetuates the nonsense that going vegan is difficult or “daunting” (Viva!’s word as used in a comment by Viva! on its Facebook site) and that vegetarianism is some sort of gateway. This sort of position does nothing but reinforce the propaganda that veganism is some extreme position that can be achieved only by the Herculean. It is precisely that sort of position that puts the public off veganism and contributes to the large number of “animal people” who have never gone vegan. If we are clear that veganism is the moral baseline, then we ought to state that and those who are not ready to go vegan will take whatever interim step they choose but at least the message will be clear.

If Viva! really promotes veganism, why does it make statements on its website that “Viva! opposes all slaughter and we promote vegetarianism as the only truly effective way to prevent animal suffering”? We will not stop suffering merely by becoming vegetarian. If veganism is really your agenda, and not some optional (and “daunting”) lifestyle change, why do you make such statements, which merely confuse people? As things presently stand, any reader of Viva! websites would come away with the impression that vegetarianism is a perfectly fine moral position; that meat is “worse” than dairy; and that veganism is an option–and a difficult and “daunting” one–but not a moral baseline. How many Viva! members patronize the restaurants/inns that you advertise on your site and consume milk and cheese at those places? How many Viva! members have purchased non-vegan cookbooks from Viva! and have made meals with animal products?

Those who really do seek the abolition of animal exploitation should stop participating in the “veganism is sooooo difficult” propaganda and reject the notion of vegetarianism (or other single-issue campaigns) as a “gateway” to veganism. (For more on this topic, please listen to my Commentary on the topic and read my follow-up essay, my general essay on “gateway” arguments, and my essay, “Vegetarianism First”, which was published in “The Vegan.)

Finally, your sites emphasize factory farming as the problem, as if the issue were how these products are made and not that they are made at all. This contributes to public confusion about these issues and reinforces the notion that the issue is treatment and not use.

My Requests to Viva!

1. In sum, I remain concerned that, particularly in the current climate, your comments about halal slaughter are Islamophobic and I ask that you clarify these statements on your website to make clear that the problem is not halal slaughter but all animal use. I ask that you put all exploitation in the same boat and not design a separate boat for Muslims (or Jews).

2. I request that if veganism is your real agenda, that you come out and say so and stop perpetuating the fantasy that meat is in some way “worse” than dairy or other products.

3. I request Viva! stop characterizing veganism as some difficult or daunting thing. It is not. In fact, veganism is really quite easy and, these days, people can find vegan alternatives to just about any animal food that they like. How about a Viva! “veganism is easy” campaign?

I reiterate: if you make veganism a clear moral baseline, those who are concerned about this issue may choose to do less but at least they won’t be able to point to Viva! and claim, quite accurately, that you have placed a stamp of approval on the choice to continue to consume “less bad” animal products.

4. I ask that Viva! please stop selling cookbooks that promote the use of animal products and stop advertising restaurants/inns that serve animal products.

Thank you.

Gary

Gary L. Francione
Professor, Rutgers University

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Postscript added September 26, 2010:

In an aditional reply by Viva! posted on Opposing Views, VIVA! states:

In every instance our definition of vegetarian is vegan – in-so-much that we advocate veganism as the most ethical of all diets, but recognise that people get there at their own pace.

That assertion is factually incorrect. Viva!’s materials and websites constantly and consistently make a distinction between “vegetarian” and “vegan.” Viva! does not define “vegetarian” as “vegan.”

Moreover, if Viva! wants to advocate veganism, there is no need for linguistic confusion–just use “vegan.”

And as I stated above, we can recognize that people will “get there at their own pace” but not concede that the “there” is anything less than veganism. At present, Viva! is sending the message that there is a morally coherent distinction between flesh and other animal products. There is not.

Finally, I see that as of today, Viva! is still selling cookbook that have non-vegan recipes and promoting restaurants/inns that serve non-vegan food. That speaks volumes.

Dear Colleagues:

I am always saddened when an issue comes up in the news and animal advocates pass up the chance to educate the public about veganism because they want to jump on the new welfarist bandwagon and make people feel better about animal exploitation instead.

The British newspaper, The Mail on Sunday, ran a story today in which it reports that a great deal of the meat served in Britain is halal, or slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law. Halal is similar to Jewish ritual slaughter, kashrut and involves making a deep cut on the animal’s neck, severing the jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides but leaving the spinal cord intact. Animals slaughtered in this way are not stunned and halal and kosher slaughter have been criticized as being cruel and as causing more pain and suffering than the stunning method of slaughter, which is supposed to render the animal unconscious before the actual killing occurs.

Many people in the U.K. are upset to think that the meat they are eating came from animals who were not killed “humanely.”

I would suggest that no animal consumed by anyone in Britain or anywhere else on the planet was treated and killed in a manner that could be called “humane” without making an obscene misuse of that word.

So the story afforded animal advocates the opportunity to explain to a concerned public that there is no such thing as “humanely” produced meat; that all meat—and all animal products—come from nonhuman animals who have been tortured under the very best of conditions. And we cannot justify killing animals under any circumstance when the only justification we have is that they taste good.

Did animal advocates seize the opportunity?

Nope.

Instead, they characterized the issue as one involving a practice of a particular religion. For example, Viva!, was quoted in the article:

Other practices which may be undertaken for religious reasons, such as polygamy or the stoning of adulterers, are not permitted in the UK.

Religious freedom does not override other moral considerations and the suffering caused by this form of slaughter is so severe that it cannot be allowed to prevent action to be taken. Consumers can do their bit by boycotting places that persist in selling meat from unstunned animals.

I find it terribly sad that Viva! chose to characterize this as an issue of a Muslim practice concerning how animals are slaughtered rather than that they are slaughtered at all. Unfortunately, Muslims do not have a monopoly on mistreating animals and Viva!’s comments encourage Islamophobia, which is already rampant in the U.K. and U.S. And, as mentioned above, Jews use a similar method of slaughter and the stunning method that everyone thinks is so much better than what either the Muslims or Jews use is also really quite horrible.

It is nothing more than sheer fantasy to believe that there is any significant difference between halal meat and “humane” meat. It all involves torture and death. It is simply dishonest to perpetuate the idea that we can simultaneously regard animals as members of the moral community but can continue to eat them and products made from them.

Everyone who consumes animals is, I am afraid, in the same boat as it were. There is no special boat designated only for Muslims or Jews. By criticizing halal or kashrut, we pretend that there is a morally significant difference and that those who eat meat from stunned animals are morally superior because they care more about animal welfare. We once again participate in the favorite new welfarist activity of trying to make people feel good about animal exploitation as long as it is done “humanely” and with regard for “animal welfare.”

I should say that much of the meat sold in the United States, particularly in the Northeast, is kosher slaughtered so the same issue exists on this side of the Atlantic as well.

In any event, the solution is not to ensure that you buy meat from stunned animals or boycott places that sell halal or kosher meat.

The solution is to ask yourself: if I care about this issue; if I object to torture and needless killing, why am I eating any meat or any animal products?

The response is either to acknowledge that you do not really care, or to start thinking seriously about going vegan.

It is a shame that groups like Viva! persist in insisting that veganism is too daunting for the average person to understand. It is not, and this patronizing position becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and facilitates the characterization of veganism as “extreme.”

What is difficult to understand is how a social movement that supposedly objects to animal exploitation can refuse to promote veganism as a moral baseline and is instead content to promote “happy” meat and animal products over those produced on factory farms or to perpetuate the idea that there is a meaningful moral distinction between flesh and other animal products.

If you are not vegan, go vegan. It is very easy, better for health and for the planet. And, most important, it’s the morally right and just thing to do.

The World is Vegan! If you want it.

Gary L. Francione
©2010 Gary L. Francione

Dear Colleagues:

Yesterday, I posted a blog essay about the need to promote veganism as a baseline moral principle and to reject the negative (but very self-serving) attitude of large animal groups that omnivores simply cannot understand the vegan message. This morning, our site received an email, which was forwarded to me directly, from Professor Andrew Hunt, who is a historian at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Professor Hunt stated:

Hello: I’m a professor of history at the University of Waterloo. Last year at this time, I was an omnivore who loved just about every type of meat under the sun. Now, I’m a vegan (and have been for about 10 months), and Gary Francione played a big role in that transformation. I listened to him and–instead of transitioning through vegetarianism–I went straight to veganism.

I do not know Professor Hunt personally. I have never met him. Before I wrote to him to ask his permission to quote from his email, I never had any contact with him.

Contrary to the propaganda of these organizations, people can understand the arguments in favor of veganism. People can take moral ideas seriously. People can be educated. People want to learn. People can change. Professor Hunt not only became a vegan; he has started a website that promotes veganism, nonviolence, and the connection between human rights and animal rights.

I get many messages like this. They keep me going. Creative, nonviolent vegan education can and does work.

It is not necessary to promote vegetarianism and given that there is absolutely no coherent moral distinction between flesh and other animal products, animal advocates should not do so. And all of the “happy” meat/dairy/other products propaganda has nothing to do with helping animals or achieving abolition. It has to do with making humans feel better about exploiting nonhumans.

The World is Vegan! If you want it.

If you are not vegan, go vegan. It’s easy. It’s better for you and for the planet. And, most important, it is the morally right and just thing to do.

Gary L. Francione
©2010 Gary L. Francione

Dear Colleagues:

Today marks the beginning of a new and important campaign for the animals:

No Factory-Farmed Small Fish Friday

The goal of the campaign is to encourage people not to eat factory-farmed fish on Friday and, instead, to consume other animal products, in order to raise public awareness about the plight of factory-farmed small fish.

Why fish?

Although it is true that all animals suffer and the suffering of each animal is her or his suffering and is something that s/he does not want to experience, and although we cannot, without begging moral questions, rank the suffering of one animal over that of another, we decided to focus just on fish and not any other animals and to propose not eating factory-farmed fish rather than proposing veganism.

Our reason was simple: the public is simply not intelligent enough or emotionally prepared to confront the fact that all sentient beings are…well…sentient. That is, all sentient beings, by virtue of being sentient, do not want to experience pain, suffering, distress, and other negative states. So although in this sense all sentient beings are morally indistinguishable, we decided to draw an admittedly indefensible distinction between fish and other nonhuman animals because we need to bring the public into this gradually. The truth might shock them and overwhelm their cognitive capacities so we decided that it was better to pretend that eating fish is morally distinguishable from eating other animal products, or wearing or using animal products.

This cutting-edge campaign, focused on small, factory-farmed fish, is really a “gateway” campaign, part of an overall strategy aimed at eventually proposing veganism as a moral baseline. Based on present circumstances, we will do that in about four centuries from now, but we will have to go very easy even then. We are presently planning to announce “No Factory-Farmed Small Fish Thursdays” sometime in 2020. A revolution starts with the first step!

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