Proponents of various social justice movements routinely express support for each other, but animal rights groups remain outside this circle of progressive solidarity. Part of the explanation is simple self-interest and inertia. There is, however, something deeper than self-interest and moral disengagement at work in the left’s resistance to animal rights. A central philosophical pillar of left politics is 'humanism', the idea that humans are superior to animals. Embracing animal rights not only challenges people’s identities and lifestyles, but also humanism. This is why animal rights activists have remained orphans of the left.
WILL KYMLICKA: Proponents of various social justice movements routinely express support for each other – feminist organisations often show support for Black Lives Matter, or for immigrant rights, or gay rights – but animal rights groups remain outside this circle of progressive solidarity. As Aimée Dowl notes, “None of the major feminist organisations in the United States devotes committee or internet space to or has polices dealing with animal rights issues”. Indeed, as John Sanbonmatsu indicates, “The left with few exceptions has historically viewed human violence towards other beings with indifference.”
This indifference has been a source of frustration and puzzlement to many animal rights activists. Part of the explanation is simple self-interest and inertia. The instrumentalisation of animals in our society makes possible a steady flow of pleasures – often very intimate pleasures relating to what we eat and wear – that are central to people’s identity. So even when people realise that the treatment of animals in our society is morally suspect, they employ various techniques of “moral disengagement” to look away from the issue.
There is, however, something deeper than self-interest and moral disengagement at work in the left’s resistance to animal rights. Embracing animal rights would challenge not only people’s identities and lifestyles, but also a central philosophical pillar of left politics: its “humanism”… Humanism here is the idea that the value of humanity consists precisely in its difference from animality. It is because we are different from, and superior to, animals that we have inherent worth and are owed basic rights… This is why animal rights activists have remained orphans of the left. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: