The existence of misanthropic vegans is not an argument against animal rights. Veganism isn’t about us. It isn’t a social club or a personality contest. It’s about who is being exploited — not about the character or tone of the person asking you to stop. Animal rights stand or fall on one question alone: is it morally acceptable to treat sentient beings as resources? The answer to that question does not depend on anyone’s tone. Blaming vegans for others’ choices misplaces responsibility and lets the system off the hook.
HELEN LLOYD: Every justice movement includes people with a wide range of backgrounds, personalities, temperaments, and communication styles. That has never determined whether the underlying injustice is valid. The crux is this: the existence of misanthropic vegans is not an argument against animal rights — just as the existence of misanthropic non-racists wouldn’t justify racism, and the existence of misanthropic non-sexists wouldn’t justify sexism.
Veganism isn’t about us. It isn’t a social club or a personality contest. It’s about who is being exploited — not about the character or tone of the person asking you to stop. The reality is that people can change their perception and withdraw their funding from animal exploitation entirely without ever speaking to a single vegan, polite or otherwise…
Ending injustice should not depend on advocates’ tone. Using dislike of activists as a reason to continue exploitation should be challenged, because tone has never justified the ongoing exploitation of victims… Most people who describe themselves as “misanthropic” are not exploiting, harming, or discriminating against humans; they’re largely expressing frustration – often rhetorically – with systems and behaviours.
That frustration does not negate the reality of animal exploitation. Animal rights stand or fall on one question alone: is it morally acceptable to treat sentient beings as resources? The answer to that question does not depend on anyone’s tone… Blaming vegans for others’ choices misplaces responsibility and lets the system off the hook…
The reality is that the information to drive change is widely available, and the ethical arguments have been made for decades. People aren’t non-vegan because activists failed to perform correctly. They’re non-vegan because animal use is culturally conditioned, economically embedded, and legally sanctioned. SOURCE
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