{"id":781837,"date":"2026-08-26T10:16:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=781837"},"modified":"2026-08-26T10:51:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:51:41","slug":"veganism-as-the-ritualized-disruption-of-the-ideology-of-human-supremacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=781837","title":{"rendered":"CORE IDEA: Veganism as the ritualized disruption of the ideology of ‘human supremacy’"},"content":{"rendered":"

We should rethink the assumption that veganism must be tied to the aim of increasing aggregate welfare and\/or to a strict condemnation of flesh itself.\u00a0 What ought to be reimagined is the object of \u2018veganism\u2019; what ought to stay the same is its service as a marker of group belonging (a banner under which to fight), and as a compelling alternative to the status quo. Instead, veganism ought to be thought of as an identity arising out of a practice, a counter-ritual, that aims to disrupt what is arguably the most foundational and malignant of all false ideologies: Human Supremacy.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

KRISTIAN CANTENS:<\/strong> Arguments given for why we ought to eschew all animal products and go vegan are not nearly as persuasive as those who advance them would like to believe. Even if true that industrial animal agriculture constitutes one of the greatest injustices perpetrated by our species and that we collectively have an obligation to dismantle it (both of which are hard to dispute), still it isn\u2019t clear that this generates any obligation for the individual…<\/em><\/p>\n

And if it turns out that the aversion is simply to the consumption of flesh itself, then veganism may in turn be symptomatic of a desire to extricate ourselves from natural processes characterized by relations of edibility (we eat and are eaten in turn). Surely such an anti-ecological posture can be nothing but self-defeating for a movement that has as its aim to reestablish a more respectful relationship with non-human others.<\/em><\/p>\n

The untenability of the claim that \u2018consuming animals is always bad and all of us have an obligation to eschew it,\u2019 I think is enough to disqualify a vegan identity, as presently understood, from serving as a foundation for the work of animal liberation…<\/em><\/p>\n

There are two solutions to this problem, at least that I can see: Either we march on towards a post-vegan animal advocacy, or we entirely rethink what it means to be vegan. The former is already being explored, is increasingly gaining momentum, and is poised to become the default for the movement. It is centered on corporate and legislative welfare campaigns and incentivizing meat substitutions (think Humane World, Mercy for Animals, The Good Food Institute, The Humane League, etc.). Yeah, that\u2019s fine, but also how boring, how lacking in verve and in vision. The latter is the one that interests me\u2014if anything, because yet unexplored. In what follows, I sketch one possibility for a new vegan identity and all it might entail.<\/em><\/p>\n

I want us to rethink the assumption that veganism must be tied to the aim of increasing aggregate welfare and\/or to a strict condemnation of flesh itself. The former we saw is not enough to motivate action (because causally inefficacious); the second can implicate us in potentially regressive and sinister ideologies (meaning anti-ecological); and so both ultimately fail to provide us with a robust defense of a vegan identity.<\/em><\/p>\n

What ought to be reimagined is the object of \u2018veganism\u2019; what ought to stay the same is its service as a marker of group belonging (a banner under which to fight), and as a compelling alternative to the status quo. So, what I propose is this: that veganism be thought of as an identity arising out of a practice, a counter-ritual, that aims to disrupt what is arguably the most foundational and malignant of all false ideologies: Human Supremacy. SOURCE<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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