Category Archives: Veganism

Veganism and a Call to Feminists + Commentary

Veganism and a Call to Feminists plus commentary from my regular livestreams on Real Progressives

This is not a judgement. It’s trying to bring these issues to light and letting us consider what we are participating in and that is, the exploitation of motherhood, and of female reproductive systems.

Some might think the answer is to treat dairy cows “humanely” and that will solve the problem. But that would be to have missed the point because ALL animal use is abusive. There’s no such thing as non-abusive use of nonhuman animals, and even if there were, it would still be wrong.

The point nonspeciesist vegans try to make, and which I always make on each of my vegan livestreams and vlogs, is that it is not about treatment it is about USE. It’s not HOW we use animals that is the issue, but THAT we use them that is the problem.

I think it’s hard for those of us who are women but not vegan, to think that we are participating in the exploitation of motherhood, the abduction and killing of children, the forceable impregnation of cows and the various other horrific abuses that are mentioned in the essay. But sadly, that is the truth.

As women, the only reason we might reject the suggestion that we are not living up to feminist values, is because we think that nonhuman animals are “lesser” and that they are not moral persons because they are a different species. The truth is that their sentience gives them the status of moral persons, which simply means that they are not a “thing”. Most of us agree that animals morally matter. To exclude them from the moral community simply because they are not “like us” is as unfortunate and unjust as excluding women from the moral community because they are a different sex, or excluding a group of people from the moral community because they are a different race/ ethnicity, or excluding a group because they are gender diverse or they are a different sexual orientation and so forth.

Do you see what I mean?

A nonhuman does not have to be “like us” to morally matter. All they have to be is sentient. And if we ignore their sentience simply because they are a different species, then we are human supremacists and engaging in “might makes right”.

It’s something we need to consider. All that is mentioned in that essay is related to feminism. The only reason we would reject it, would be because we are speciesist. We don’t need to use animals products at all to survive. We can easily meet all our nutrition requirements from plants (and other non-animal sources), so all this horrific abuse and killing is all for a few moments of palate pleasure. It’s easy to be vegan. I invite you to check out my vegan resource and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me 🙂 Much love.

 

 

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Veganism: Speciesism, Sentience and Rights [Livestream]

In this livestream I talk about single issue campaigns. And that includes campaigns which call for an end to some forms of animal use. These campaigns are almost always linked with building ties with animal industry. I will talk about why SICs are, by their very nature, problematic, and speciesist, and at best pointless. And you might like to check out my livestream from a few weeks ago, “Humane”: What’s in a Word” before watching this livestream. I thought I would share this as a livestream, this essay, because I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss any of the points made in it. So I hope you don’t mind. I talk about rights, and about sentience, why it matters and how it is important in relation to our recognising nonhuman animals as moral persons. And when I say moral persons, I simply mean animals are not viewed as a “thing”.

 

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The Importance of Being Vegan

My livestream today on Real Progressives. I speak on the issue of “factory farming” and our focus on treatment of animals and why this is problematic. I was a little distracted but I think I made my point. I also share an essay about the importance of being vegan. I hope you enjoy it 🙂

Here’s some resources:

Freedom’s New Frontier: A Guide to Animal Rights

Humane”: What’s in a Word

Organic” milk

Watch Cowspiracy The Sustainability Secret: The Full Documentary Free Online

The Myth of Eco-Friendly Animal Products

Vegan: Easier than you think

Legal Slavery in the 21st Century

Apocalyptic Capitalism, Animal Agriculture and Anthropogenic Climate Disruption (ACD)

Vegan: A Better World for All of Us

Animal Cruelty Who is to Blame?

 

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“Humane”: What’s is in a word?

My livestream of this essay. Part of the transcript: “This How To Go Vegan podcast episode titled ““Humane”: What’s in a Word”covers a question some of us might have and that is: Isn’t it okay to eat animal products if they’re “free range”, “cage-free”, “organic”, locally-raised, or “humanely raised”? I’ll talk about this topic informally, and personally.

Let’s talk about the term “humane”, a term we hear in the public sphere mostly in relation to animals. The word “humane” promotes the idea that there are “compassionate” and “kind” ways we can exploit sentient animals. We tend to only talk about “humane” in relation to humans when we talk about imprisonment, euthanasia, solitary confinement, detention, or killing people. When we hear the word “humane”, we should expect that the outcome for those involved will, no matter what transpires, be less than desirable and will involve some suffering and injustice at best.

In the case of sentient animals, our application of what we believe is “humane” for them, if applied to humans, would be considered torture. In other words, any time that word “humane” is uttered, it’s almost always the case that something morally questionable and possibly unjust is going to follow, whether it’s execution, refugees, interrogation techniques, asylum seeker detention centres, industrial prisons, or in this case, the animal industry and regulation of animal exploitation. We know that it will ultimately mean suffering for someone.” You can find the whole transcript here http://www.howtogovegan.org/humane/

 

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