Voiceless294-298: Be Clear, Be Vegan I have been dreading writing this! Its a complex issue and I have a lot more to learn but after listening to 50+ hours of debates, lectures and interviews, reading books and articles on the topic, speaking to others who are aware of this clash and I think its about time to share what Ive learned so far. Although Ive been aware there is a difference of opinion in what are the best tactics to approach abolishing animal exploitation, my interest was peaked during my stay in Darwin when I picked up a brochure from Animals Australia. The brochure had some good information on factory farming, and on the last page, the final message - Go vegetarian. Confused, disappointed and troubled for two main reasons: 1. Why is the largest animal protection organisation in the country advising people to go vegetarian? 2. Why am I raising donations for an organisation recommending people to go vegetarian? As Ive explained before (in this blog: facebook/voiceless365/posts/772443869460995), going vegetarian does very little (if anything) for animals. By cutting flesh from your diet and increasing egg and dairy consumption, (which many vegetarians do) youre likely causing even more harm to animals than you were while eating meat. Vegetarians also arent necessarily opposed to wearing leather and fur, supporting using animals in entertainment, and using products containing ingredients derived from animals. There is no distinction between the flesh of animals and any of the other products made from their suffering and death. They all end up at the same slaughterhouse. On the Animals Australia website they explain the horrors behind eggs and dairy, while on their brochure they promote a diet choice that includes eggs and dairy. There was no asterix with a disclaimer on the bottom of the page saying, And once youve gone vegetarian, go vegan! If you are going to put a message out there, a clear recommendation that advises people to make a specific change in their life for those wanting to help animals, telling people to go vegetarian is not useful and can be damaging in many ways. While I dont doubt that Animals Australia are doing what they think is best for animals and that they want to make this world a kinder place for animals (of course they do), I am starting to believe that this approach is a mistake for the following reasons. Promoting vegetarianism over veganism not only makes it look like an extreme action to choose to exclude all animal products (how that could ever be seen as extreme compared to the alternative, is ridiculous), but it also causes another issue of making people think that going vegetarian is not only the right thing to do, but all that needs to be done. One thing vegetarianism definitely does do is make people feel comfortable that they are doing something or enough. In other words, it makes people feel comfortable with their choice in continuing to exploit animals. Of course they are going to feel comfortable… Thats the recommendation from the largest animal protection organisation in the country, so why would they feel morally obligated to go vegan? So why then, would Animals Australia do this? After some back and forth emails with someone from the organisation, I believe the answer is they dont want to recommend something that appears too far from peoples current values. In other words, veganism is seen as extreme, so they dont want to recommend it because it might get people offside. It was mentioned that psychologists found it useful to not promote a message too far away from peoples beliefs, which makes perfect sense to me. What doesnt make sense is perpetuating the belief that veganism is, in fact, far away from what people believe. Almost every single person would agree we shouldnt inflict unnecessary pain and death on an animal, and with the exception of vivisection (which could be questioned, not that I agree with it), every use of animals is unquestionably unnecessary. Is it not our responsibility as people who want justice for animals to shift this misconception that veganism is only for extremists, rather than playing into it? They are playing into the paradigm that veganism is extreme instead of trying to change it. Anyone who is vegan will tell you, not only is it not extreme, or do you need to have strong will-power, be rich, have a deep love and connection for animals, or any of these things, but it is also incredibly easy, rewarding, and beneficial in many, many ways. There is nothing extreme about it. It has put me in a moral dilemma because I feel if I am to continue raising donations for Animals Australia it could be promoting something I dont believe in. The organisation also does plenty of work I do believe in, but it would be equivalent of raising donations for a vegetarian restaurant that does vegan options, instead of raising donations for a vegan restaurant. To me it seems, if we want people to stop exploiting animals, we educate them about veganism. By doing this the message is clear, going vegetarian is a dietary choice, going vegan is taking a stance against the violence and injustice of animal exploitation. If people arent ready to go vegan overnight, thats their choice but should we not be honest in asking for what we really want, in asking for the real solution, rather than giving them a watered down, more palatable version of the truth?
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 05:50:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015