{"id":777747,"date":"2025-03-06T08:42:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T13:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=777747"},"modified":"2025-03-06T10:30:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:30:28","slug":"if-you-believe-in-social-justice-you-believe-in-veganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=777747","title":{"rendered":"THROUGH THEIR EYES: If you believe in social justice, you believe in veganism"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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The primary reason we use to distinguish our own oppressive and unjust behavior towards animals is we believe they\u2019re somehow lesser than us and, therefore, we\u2019re better than them. This is analogous to the oppressive and unjust actions by powerful humans against other humans, which we can easily read about in history books and daily news reports. When we discuss equality, and fairness with anyone, we must also include our non-human animal counterparts. Non-human animals may perceive the world differently than we do, look different from us, possess a different kind of intelligence than us, but these are irrelevant considerations. As with all humans they are vulnerable and sentient. They have a fundamental right to live free from being a commodity and human exploitation.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

AMELIA A. LEESE:<\/strong> When we put animal products on our plates,… we don\u2019t stop to think about the death and suffering we inflict on completely harmless and vulnerable animals each time we have a meal or a snack. Why? Because we\u2019re used to it, think they taste delicious, or are convenient for our lifestyle. This is analogous to the oppressive and unjust actions by powerful humans against other humans, which we can easily read about in history books and see in daily news reports.<\/em><\/p>\n

The primary reason we use to distinguish our own oppressive and unjust behavior towards animals is we believe they\u2019re somehow lesser than us and, therefore, we\u2019re better than them. Every reason for this lesser-better judgment on our part is arbitrary because we make up the rules as they\u2019re convenient to us in a similar way any oppressor makes them up for their convenience against who they oppress…<\/em><\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s possible to reconcile veganism as a fundamental moral obligation with the realities of poverty requires that we reflect on the tensions between these two concepts. If these tensions do exist, they\u2019re a matter of systemic class and economic oppression\u2014it\u2019s not because of any perceived impossibility of understanding the concept of veganism…<\/em><\/p>\n

If systemic oppression forces people to make moral choices they don\u2019t want to make, then we need to dismantle the system creating the overarching oppression and provide access to information and solutions inspiring different moral choices\u2014including the option to go vegan…<\/em><\/p>\n

For the most part, discussing fundamental rights issues can be difficult or, at the very least, delicate. It will require creativity and sensitivity to begin to effect change… Are we judging the person who is being sexist by engaging in a conversation and questioning their behavior? No, we\u2019re not. Although we\u2019re not judging them as individuals, that doesn\u2019t mean we have to like or condone the sexist behavior or encourage it to continue.<\/em><\/p>\n

The same logic applies to speciesism. There are myriad reasons to be speciesist, simply because speciesism is the current cultural norm. It doesn\u2019t have to be. If anyone can be poor and not sexist, then anyone can be poor and not speciesist. If we have enough respect for women to discuss not being sexist, then we must afford the same respect for nonhuman animals. We need to discuss speciesism and veganism with people in the same manner…<\/em><\/p>\n

The arguments we give for continuing to use, exploit, and kill female animals are very similar to those perpetuated to use, exploit, and perpetrate all manner of unspeakable violence towards women. \u2018Such as?\u2019 you ask: We need it. We have always done it this way. Tradition. Religion. Culture. They\u2019re not intelligent. They\u2019re inferior to us. We have the power, and they don\u2019t. I don\u2019t care. I want what I want. I make my living this way. It\u2019s the natural order.<\/em><\/p>\n

When we discuss feminism, equality, and fairness with all our most vulnerable sisters, we must also include our non-human animal counterparts. Like us, they are vulnerable and sentient.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dairy and eggs are exploitative bodily products produced exclusively by bodies capable of procreation, and both males and females suffer. In the case of dairy, cows are subjected to continuous cycles of impregnation, gestation, birth, and mechanized lactation. To obtain milk, cows must be forcibly artificially inseminated before giving birth.<\/em><\/p>\n

After birth, their babies are taken away either immediately or within a very short time. Mother cows mourn for their babies vocally and emit long lowing sounds for extended periods. There\u2019s no reason to assume other animals don\u2019t feel similar levels of pain when we separate them from their children…<\/em><\/p>\n

That nonhuman animals perceive the world differently than we do. They look different from us. They possess a different kind of intelligence than us. But these are irrelevant considerations. They have a fundamental right to live free from being a commodity.<\/em><\/p>\n

They share this same fundamental right with all humans, just as people deserve the same fundamental human rights as one another, regardless of their color, ethnicity, ability, disability, sexual orientation, size, religion, or gender identification. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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