Thought of the Day: Human Rights and Animal Rights–Inextricably Intertwined
This was originally published on November 26, 2016 on the Abolitionist Approach Facebook page. ********** 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 morally, veganism is […]
Thought of the Day: Domesticated Animals
This was originally published on November 25, 2016 on the Abolitionist Approach Facebook page. ********** 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 morally, veganism is […]
Free Webinar on Abolitionist Vegan Advocacy–November 27th
We’re excited to invite you to our very first live webinar where Anna Charlton and I will be discussing our book Eat Like You Care. If you think animals matter morally, whether you’re vegan or nonvegan, you won’t want to miss this. It’s free and open to everyone. Hear the answers to some of the […]
The Animal Rights Movement: Moving Backwards
Here is a video of the talk I gave at George Brown College in Toronto, Canada, on August 12, 2016: ********** 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. […]
Essay on Domestication and Pet Ownership
Our essay on domestication and pet ownership was published by Aeon. It’s generated quite a bit of controversy, including being the subject of a comment by Wesley Smith in the The National Review. The Abolitionist position on domestication is also explored in other posts on this site, including here and here. ********** If you are […]
A Plea To Feminists Who Are Vegetarian But Who Still Consume Dairy or Eggs
Please rethink your position. Dairy products represent a fundamental violation of the rights of nonhumans. Dairy is not morally distinguishable from meat. Indeed, dairy represents a violation of rights that should be of great concern to feminists: Cows are repeatedly and forcibly impregnated using a device called the “rape rack.” Their babies are taken from […]
Animal Rights and Slavery/Rape Analogies
Ever since the early 1990s, I have been arguing that the regulation of animal exploitation is not only immoral (if it is morally wrong to exploit animals, it is wrong to promote the supposedly “humane” exploitation of animals), but is, as a practical matter, doomed to failure because the property status of animals means that […]
Advocacy Tip: Judge Action, Not Individuals
You cannot have a useful discussion intended to change the behavior of another if you approach that other person as someone who is evil. That’s just common sense. So always make sure that the person with whom you are talking understands that you are focusing on the immorality of animal exploitation as an institutionalized practice […]
The Importance of Veganism in Economically Deprived Communities
In economically deprived communities in the United States, health problems hit people harder than they do in other places because, despite Obama Care, there is still a tremendously inequitable distribution of health resources. Therefore, it becomes even more important to educate people in those communities about how animal foods are harming them, and how a […]
Animal Ethics: Simple Common Sense
Many animal advocates seem to think that if you deliver a vegan message to someone who is not willing to go vegan immediately, that person won’t do anything at all. These animal advocates conclude that we should, instead, promote cage-free eggs, crate-free pork, and reducetarianism. On what is this assumption founded? Common sense tells us […]
Guest Essay: Dear Vegan Feminists, Where Are You? An Open Letter
This essay was originally post on Ecorazzi.com. A troll appeared and posted a number of problematic messages. The matter was reported to Ecorazzi and they removed the post for the time being until they return from the Chicago Vegan Food and Drink Festival. In the interim, the essay is available here. ********************************** Dear Vegan Feminists, […]
The Speciesism of “Plural Approaches”
In response to a critique of welfare reform and other approaches that actually promote animal exploitation, some supposed animal advocates say that we need “plural approaches.” They say that, in addition to promoting veganism as a moral baseline, we need to promote “happy” exploitation, and moral relativism (e.g., veganism is a matter of “our journey” […]
Harambe and the Chicken
Many people are very upset about the killing of Harambe, the gorilla imprisoned in an Ohio zoo. They ought to be upset. It was wrong to imprison Harambe. It was wrong to kill him. But what happened to Harambe is no more wrong than what happens to all of the animals we use for food […]
Veganism as a Moral Imperative
Principle Three of the Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights is that veganism is a moral imperative: Abolitionists agree with welfarists that animal exploitation is not going to disappear “overnight” and that we need to take incremental steps—what welfarists call “baby steps”—to get to the goal of abolition. But abolitionists reject welfare reform campaigns and single-issue […]
“Silencing” Fellow Advocates
Casey Taft, who co-owns Vegan Publishers with his spouse, has written an essay in which he attacks a “well-known advocate” for “silencing fellow advocates.” He is well aware that the essay is being interpreted to refer to me and that is precisely what he intended. I have several responses: First, Taft claims that I “silenced” […]
Guest Essay: This is Why New Welfarists Should Stop Equivocating on Moral Principles Concerning Animals: A Response to Mercy For Animals
Mercy for Animals has posted a rather breathtaking essay entitled, This Is Why Vegans Should Stop Being Mean to Vegetarians, in which MFA characterizes as “mean” those who promote veganism as a moral baseline or imperative. Here is a response from Dr. Frances McCormack, who is also one-half of the Grumpy Old Vegans. In order […]
Incremental Reform in the Human Context Is Not Analogous to Welfare Reform and Single-Issue Campaigns in the Nonhuman Context
A question we received: If we think that the prison-industrial complex is wrong and we want to abolish it, we would all think it would be okay to work at the same time for single issue campaigns to improve the lives of the prisoners who are presently stuck in the system, right? So why isn’t […]
The Animals Need YOU!
Shifting the paradigm from animals as property to animals as nonhuman persons with inherent value requires a grassroots movement of people who are educated educators–people who understand the arguments in favor of veganism and can discuss them calmly and in plain language with the other people that they interact with in their day-to-day lives. We […]
A Report from the “Intersectional Justice” Conference
I have written about those who identify themselves as “intersectionalists” but who embrace a very speciesist position. I have also written about a recent conference on “intersectional justice.” The following essay is from Dr. Mark Causey, Lecturer in Philosophy and Liberal Studies at Georgia College and State University. Dr. Causey attended the “intersectional justice” conference. […]
Why Welfare Reform Campaigns and Single-Issue Campaigns Necessarily Promote Animal Exploitation
The purpose of welfare reform campaigns and single-issue campaigns (SICs) is to build coalitions that include those who believe that animal exploitation per se is morally acceptable and who just object to the target of the particular welfare reform campaign or SIC. Such campaigns must play to the lowest level of the spectrum or they […]