“Abolitionist Single-Issue Campaigns” Are In The Domain Of Welfarism Too

Posted on April 13, 2019 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Animal Welfare, Anti-Hunting, Anti-Speciesism, Critical Thinking, Direct Action, Ethical Philosophy, In Vitro Meat, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, New Welfarism, Nonhuman Rescue, Rational Debate, Reducetarianism, Single-Issue Campaigns, Social Justice, Strategy In Advocacy, Tactics In Advocacy • Tagged animal welfare, anti-hunting, education, logic, misconception, moral confusion, moral responsibility, myth, Single-Issue Campaigns, social justice, speciesism, Veganism • 2 Comments

There are quite a few people involved in “the animal movement” who support what Prof. Gary Francione has termed “new welfarism” (that is, the idea that we can achieve the abolition of all animal use through implementing a gradual buildup of individual reforms of our treatment of animals) who have presented the idea that there is a morally significant difference between single-issue campaigns that they claim are “abolitionist” in nature and ones that are overtly welfarist.

But this thinking is logically unsound.

These people claim that there are SICs (if you haven’t read anything before on why SICs are problematic, you may want to do so now and then come back to finish this essay) that are not welfarist because they attempt to abolish a particular kind of animal use -instead of changing the treatment of only a certain species of animals- and so are not “reforms” and/or are not speciesist and so are supposedly not problematic.

SICs of that type are merely “incremental” reforms, in that the people engaging in them are trying to abolish all use by abolishing one type of use at a time. The campaigns for these kinds of incremental reforms are still part of what makes the mindset of welfarism so harmful to animals. They seem like Abolitionism but they are merely welfarist types of actions; just bent and twisted so they can be disguised as Abolitionism and used to a welfarist purpose.

Welfarism is concerned with incremental reforms for “farmed animals” and “pets” etc. “Non-Welfare” SICs are merely incremental reforms for all different species of animals. They purport to abolish harms to each species as a whole, but doing that is just incremental in the overall arena of the exploitation of all species. The main problem with these kinds of campaigns is that they, unfortunately, focus many people’s attention -inadvertently or not, it makes no real difference- on the idea that by eliminating whatever one type of animal use that the campaign is focusing on, that they can discharge their entire moral obligation to animals and thus go back to their complacent, speciesist lives. They also cause the observers to believe that if they’re not one of the people who participate in the type of animal use targeted by the campaign, that they have no need to change their behavior towards animals and thus, no need to learn why they need to live Vegan.

In this way, all SICs can clearly be seen to be closely tied to welfarism. The key here is that they’re single issue campaigns. By definition, since they’re concerned with single issues, they are not campaigns to advocate Veganism as the moral baseline, which makes them inherently speciesist.

In contrast, Creative Non-Oppressive Vegan Advocacy abolishes all exploitation at once. Anything that focuses on a single issue is just an incremental half-measure, but they are not productive half-measures by any means. Almost all half-measures in regards to Animal Rights are profoundly counter-productive. And the main point here is that single-issues are always something that we need to avoid focusing people’s attention on if we’re serious about our efforts to advocate for the nonhuman animals who we share this planet with. We need to advocate solely for the abolition of animal use, and if we question why this is the case, the links scattered throughout this piece and other writings on this blog as well as the others linked to give us ample evidence to answer that question.

Many SIC supporters also claim that “rescue” (trap-neuter-return/adopt/foster/volunteer/etc.) of cats and dogs (and other animals) and Creative Non-Oppressive Vegan Advocacy are also SICs, in an effort to paint Abolitionist Vegans as somehow “hypocrites” or in some other way confused about why they should criticize SICs. This is simply not true. There are 3 main categories of action we can take regarding nonhuman animals: Single-Issue Campaigns, Direct Action, and Vegan Education. These 3 forms of activism can be distinguished from each other in these ways: single-issue campaigns involve only engaging in a public plea to observers -who may or may not be in the immediate area- to change their behavior in some way as it relates to a single type of animal use, to change their treatment of animals in a single specific way, etc.; direct action involves only directly physically intervening and taking a nonhuman out of whatever situation may be harming or threatening to harm them; and Vegan Education involves only explaining to others why Veganism is the non-negotiable moral baseline and why their moral obligation is to live Vegan.

In this way we can see that things such as protests, petitions and the like are examples of SICs, while “animal rescue” is an example of Direct Action (although not the only example by far and DA certainly includes many problematic kinds of actions), and Vegan Education is by definition not in either of the other categories.

Again, if we claim to take seriously the idea that we need to represent the interests of nonhuman individuals and so attempt to bring about an end to the agony, misery and despair that we as a species subject each of them to every second of every hour of every single day by the thousands, we need to reject the use of any speciesist or otherwise counter-productive activities and stick to exclusively engaging in the education of others on Veganism as the moral baseline. Here’s how to start:

https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/how-to-create-vegans

If you’re not already Vegan, and you think animals matter morally, then please go Vegan. It’s easy and great for you, incredible for the animals, and wonderful for the planet. If you’re already Vegan, please educate non-Vegans about why they should go Vegan. Please rescue, volunteer, adopt, foster, spay, and neuter the nonhuman refugees of domestication whenever you can. Please feed your nonhuman family Vegan where you can. These things are the most important, morally responsible things to do and are desperately needed by everyone.

To learn more about Abolitionist Veganism and the issues I’ve outlined in this post, check out The Master List Of Vegan Info:
https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2014/04/10/master-list-of-vegan-info

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Disclaimer: My only goal with this list is to produce as comprehensive a resource for Vegan information as possible. I am 100% Abolitionist Vegan and 100% against exploitation of nonhuman or human animals, any type of violence against human or nonhuman persons or property, welfare regulation, any form of speciesism, ethnic bigotry, genderism, ableism, heterosexism, etc., any of the large governmental or non-governmental nonhuman animal organizations, “happy meat,” vegetarianism, veg*nism, Meat-Free Mondays, or other forms of reductionism and anything else that makes it seem like any form of violence or exploitation of animals is ok. If any of those positions are endorsed on any site in this list, or any language is used to imply that, it’s not that I included that link because I agree, but simply because I don’t control every bit of information on all of these sites.

What DxE Doesn’t Understand (or doesn’t want to) About “Baselines”

Posted on July 13, 2016 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Animal Liberation Front, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Animal Welfare, Anti-Hunting, Critical Thinking, Ethical Philosophy, Logic, Militant Direct Action, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, New Welfarism, Nonhuman Rescue, Rational Debate, Single-Issue Campaigns, Social Justice, Vegan Cats, Vegan Dogs, Vegan Nonhuman Family • Tagged animal rights, animal welfare, ethics, justice, logic, misconception, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, morality, myth, philosophy, rationality, social justice, the moral baseline, Vegan, Veganism • 5 Comments

There’s been a lot of talk recently from “DxE” (Direct Action Everywhere) supporters about how “activism” -and not Veganism- is “the moral baseline.”

You can read a great article about this whole phenomenon here. What I want to address with this piece is the fact that this stance by DxE betrays a fundamental lack of understanding on their part of what “a moral baseline” actually means. I’ve previously written something on what a moral baseline is -and why that baseline is Veganism- but this time I’m going to use a different analogy to attempt to get people’s thinking back on a logical track regarding this issue.

Let’s say that you’re standing flat on the ground, on bare dirt. Someone hands you a shovel. You begin to dig. You want to go higher, but -since all you have is a shovel and soft earth- you start digging. You dig down to about 10 feet below ground level. As you dig, you slowly realize that you also have the ability to use your mind to make yourself hover above the ground. So you stop digging, and you start hovering. And you go up to about 6-10 feet or so -for example, not necessarily exactly that- above the original ground level that you started from.

So, when you were standing on the ground -without digging- you were at the lowest point you could be without digging. You were also at the highest point you could be without hovering. With me so far? If not, please see the man in the shorts in the image below.

Now, imagine that standing on the ground without digging or hovering is “moral neutrality.” In other words, it means that we are not doing anything morally negative, such as intentionally inflicting unnecessary suffering or death on beings who can feel pain. But we are also not doing anything morally positive, such as trying to go out of our way to support the affirmative interests of those beings either (feeding them, helping them to heal from sickness or injury, etc.).

Now further imagine that engaging in any action that means intentionally inflicting unnecessary suffering -for any reason, be it food, clothing, research or entertainment- is the equivalent of digging down into the ground. In this instance -in the image below- we would be at the position of the man in the suit. Conversely, trying to engage in some action to positively support the interests of these pain-capable beings -feeding them, helping them to heal from sickness or injury, etc.- is the equivalent to hovering upward from the ground. Still with me? In this latter case, we would be hovering above the head of the man in the shorts.

Standing on the ground without digging or hovering is the base position you start from, before you could start either digging or hovering. It’s standing on a horizontal line, and it’s the base position that you start from in beginning your actions of going either up or down away from that line. It’s the base, and it’s a line. Base-line. Get it? This is why we call “moral neutrality” the “baseline for morality.”

Now, Veganism is by definition the attempt to do the least amount of intentional unnecessary harm we can. In other words, it’s not doing anything morally positive. It’s not a diet either, but it’s the moral stance against doing any intentional harm that our society is already (erroneously) telling us is morally acceptable. It’s not the act of doing even more than just refraining from harm, but it’s just “do no harm.” In other words, “don’t do anything morally negative, even if you’re not going to do anything morally positive.” Being Vegan doesn’t mean that we must intentionally refrain from doing anything morally positive, it just means that we must intentionally refrain from doing anything morally negative.

The reason that it makes sense to call Veganism “The Moral Baseline” is because refraining from intentionally doing any unnecessary harm is the least that we can do if we claim that animals have moral value. Being Vegan doesn’t mean that we’re doing the most that we can do for animals. That would be an added action that we can do once we’ve gone Vegan, however. So, this means that “activism” could be called a “moral opportunity” rather than a “moral baseline” or “moral obligation.” We don’t have a moral responsibility to engage in “activism,” while we do have a moral responsibility to refrain from engaging in morally negative actions.

One reason we can’t make The Moral Baseline “doing the most that we can do” for animals is because no 2 people can do exactly the same positive actions -or the same amount of positive actions- for animals (in other words, positive actions above and beyond simply doing no harmful ones). To try to tell someone that a baseline for that person is to do more than just refrain from causing harm would be to put an unfair strain on those people who can’t do more. It also muddies the waters regarding the way people think about morality (see the above explanation about the difference between a “moral obligation” and a “moral opportunity”), at a time when we need for others -and ourselves- to be perfectly clear and consistent on this issue.

Human society at large is already engaging in massive morally negative actions towards nonhumans. This is due to a phenomenon called “speciesism” that you can read more about here and here. Due to speciesism and the myth of human moral supremacy, we are currently breeding -against their will and without their consent- many, many billions of nonhumans per year, who we use merely as replaceable resources. Then, when they’re of more use to us dead than alive, we slaughter them -which is impossible to do without using violence- and we use their bodies and secretions whenever and however we wish. We are also engaged in intentional actions that harm many other nonhumans who do not fall into the category of animals who we use for food. These actions are all completely unnecessary for us, and are all massive violations of the inherent rights of those nonhumans to their lives and freedoms.

In essence, society at large is already engaged in digging a massive hole of morally negative actions when it comes to animals. Veganism is not an attempt to metaphorically “hover above the ground” in regards to our moral stance. It’s merely an attempt to rise back up to ground level in regards to that stance, since -before going Vegan- almost all of us were inarguably participating in various intentional morally negative actions. Veganism is an attempt to climb out of that speciesist hole, by recognizing the rights of nonhumans and therefore acting in a morally responsible and morally consistent manner towards them.

When we educate others about Veganism, that would be considered “hovering.” In other words, a morally positive action that goes beyond just standing on the baseline (the figurative “ground” in our analogy). Nonhuman animal rescue, adoption, foster, etc. –when done in a way that doesn’t encourage animal exploitation (which is considered peaceful Direct Action)- is another powerful way of “hovering.” In fact, these are the only 2 forms of action on behalf of animals that can easily be done without encouraging speciesism, and can also be combined.

So, we can see that -since society is engaged in all of the speciesist, morally negative actions- there are many people who erroneously believe that we don’t need to live Vegan, but that we can still “do good for animals.” In other words, for instance, we have people who engage in “animal rescue” who are not Vegan. They eat, wear, and otherwise use some animals, while trying to save some other animals from being intentionally harmed, or harmed through neglect. Any Vegan worthy of calling themselves Vegan knows that this is an enormously speciesist stance and indicative of massive moral confusion on the part of the “rescuer.”

Welfare reform campaigns and other single-issue campaigns –as well as militant direct action– are counter-productive, and therefore harmful, ways of attempting to advocate for animals. These counter-productive actions are made to seem by our speciesist, morally confused society like they are ways to hover, but are actually causing the hole we’re digging to get deeper instead. Even many people who self-identify as vegans fall prey to the idea that we don’t need to stop engaging in morally negative actions to do good for animals. I’ve seen countless instances of “vegans” online saying that we can engage in welfare reforms -for instance- and help animals, even though welfare reforms are proven to increase harm to animals, not help them. If you view, read or listen to more than one of the hyperlinks embedded in the paragraph you just got through reading, you’ll understand exactly why this is. Also worth noting: DxE’s stance on the “animal organizations” who promote these welfare reforms and other speciesist campaigns the hardest is that we must not criticize them for this at all.

Likewise, all of the people who are trying to save wild animal species from harm or extinction -but are having barbecues and other such animal-exploitative events in order to raise money, or simply awareness (almost always money though)- are suffering from the same moral confusion. This doesn’t mean that they’re “bad people” by any means, simply that they’re confused about morality, and need to be educated on that subject or to educate themselves. Indeed, almost all of them obviously have their hearts in the right place; but that has never stopped people from committing a harmful action in regards to any other issue.

There is massive confusion among “animal people” as to what moral consistency regarding animals is. Society keeps on trying to dig the hole regarding animals deeper, and “animal people” in general are -ostensibly- trying to learn how to hover (read: help animals). All the while they are also -for some as-of-yet-unexplained (and probably inexplicable) reason- using those shovels right alongside everyone else. And some of them think that they’re hovering, but not everyone thinks that hovering at the same height is the moral baseline, etc. etc., ad nauseam. In this way, DxE is just another organization that is promoting the same confused, speciesist stance in regards to animals that society in general has been following for all of recorded history. They are nothing radical nor revolutionary, in a time when a radical, revolutionary idea on peaceful ways to shift the non-Vegan paradigm to a Vegan one is the only thing that animals really need.

And this is the crucial point: How can hovering 5 feet above the ground be the “baseline,” when the ground itself was already “a baseline?” If your idea that “doing something beyond Veganism” -which in your opinion is hovering at 5 feet up (or whatever it is)- is the baseline, then what about the non-Vegan who says that you must do something even more -while still being non-Vegan- to be at “the baseline?” Why is their idea of hovering 100 feet off the ground -while still being non-Vegan- not the baseline? Why is being in a pit 10 feet below the surface not the baseline? What makes your arbitrary “do something beyond Veganism” more valid as the moral baseline than anyone else’s arbitrary “do _____ or _____ for animals?” And this is why DxE’s position on “activism” being the moral baseline makes no sense. It’s really nothing more than an attempt to contradict an already rationally sound premise in order to somehow score some sort of points; to try to show the public that DxE is somehow different and “knows their stuff” more than the people who are involved in the only real movement that’s making any significant headway in the struggle to end animal oppression.

You see, if we make the baseline something other than moral neutrality, the term “baseline” becomes open to interpretation as anything -by anyone- and so becomes totally meaningless. And this is the whole point of making “moral neutrality,” which is -inarguably- living Vegan, as the only rational moral baseline. Because, do anything else, and we’re just digging our hole deeper. And morally speaking, none of us wants that for the animals. It means that we’re burying them right alongside us.

If you’re not already Vegan, and you think animals matter morally, then please go Vegan. It’s incredible for the animals, easy and great for you, and wonderful for the planet. If you’re already Vegan, please educate non-Vegans about why they should go Vegan. Please rescue, volunteer, adopt, foster, spay, and neuter the nonhuman refugees of domestication whenever you can. Please feed your nonhuman family Vegan where you can. These things are the most important, morally responsible things to do and are desperately needed by everyone.

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Disclaimer: My only goal with this list is to produce as comprehensive a resource for Vegan information as possible. I am 100% Abolitionist Vegan and 100% against exploitation of nonhuman or human animals, any type of violence against human or nonhuman persons or property, welfare regulation, any form of speciesism, ethnic bigotry, genderism, ableism, cissexism, etc., any of the large governmental or non-governmental nonhuman animal organizations, “happy meat,” vegetarianism, veg*nism, Meat-Free Mondays, or other forms of reductionism and anything else that makes it seem like any form of violence or exploitation of animals is ok. If any of those positions are endorsed on any site in this list, or any language is used to imply that, it’s not that I included that link because I agree, but simply because I don’t control every bit of information on all of these sites.

Gee Krupke’s Take On The A.L.F. – guest blog by Gee Krupke

Posted on November 26, 2015 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Animal Liberation Front, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Critical Thinking, Ethical Philosophy, Gee Krupke, Guest Blogs, Logic, Militant Direct Action, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, Nonhuman Rescue, Originals, Rational Debate, Social Justice, Vegan Cat Food, Vegan Cats, Vegan Dog Food, Vegan Dogs, Vegan Nonhuman Family • Tagged ALF, animal liberation front, animal rights, animal welfare, ethics, justice, logic, MDA, militant direct action, misconception, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, morality, myth, open rescue, philosophy, rationality, social justice, Vegan, Vegan diet, Veganism • Leave a comment

The following item was posted on Facebook by Gee Krupke:

“Why I don’t support Animal Liberation Front:

1. They increase the amount of suffering due to taking one suffering individual to have them replaced by another individual who will suffer.

2. It’s a poor use of time and resources towards something that will never change until people reject the use of animals, i.e. accepting veganism. They should use their limited time and resources to educate [everyone], because that is only when the widespread use of animals will end.

3. They engage in and encourage criminal acts which paints the movement as being about violent extremism. That pushes people away and makes the job of education that much harder.

With that said, I, of course, support rescuing but not when it increases demand for individuals to be birthed into bondage: adopt at a shelter or any place outside the forces of objectification. They need our help too, and it doesn’t conflict with justness, like the activities of ALF.

A question posed to this argument:

“What if you were the suffering, sentient being that was being held & tortured, wouldn’t you want someone to do something illegal to get you out?”

Not at the expense of others. And with that argument, it would happen in perpetuity, if all were given the option (due to the issue of supply and demand). A more concrete example: I would not want to be rescued from a concentration camp if it was on the condition of another person being born or captured to take my place. So it seems to me an argument that is based on tokenism, not equality, that results in condemning one individual to suffering while aiding another (who will very often succumb to a really miserable end anyways, due to their unhealthy breeding and conditions they were kept in). On top of that, we have the option of rescuing others who are in need and without increasing suffering that necessarily occurs while animal use is demanded. It’s not an issue of illegality here but of wrongness in further compounding the problem.

In response to the position that “every movement needs radicals”:

What’s truly radical, meaning going to the root, is challenging the notion of animals as property by advocating for their right not to be used. That is what undermines the system in a fundamental way; people no longer taking part in the use of animals. I want nothing more than non-humans to be safe and free, like all vegans, but we must do it in a reasonable way that, at the very least, doesn’t increase the body count.

And as a finale, a recapitulation of the argument in the form of a question:

If you could rescue a dog/cat/parrot (or any other animal that when rescued would not result in someone being bred or captured to take their place) or a chicken/cow/mink (or any other animal that when rescued would result in another individual being bred or captured to take their place) which would you choose? And this is the reality. To me it’s a simple equation of quantitative value.”

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L.O.P. – Indeed. Militant Direct Action makes no sense from any standpoint. Forget M.D.A. and start educating people on Veganism as the moral baseline instead. If you want to rescue animals, make sure that you’re not just adding to the problem instead of the solution, and feed them Vegan wherever and whenever possible.

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Disclaimer: My only goal with this list is to produce as comprehensive a resource for Vegan information as possible. I am 100% Abolitionist Vegan and 100% against exploitation of nonhuman or human animals, any type of violence against human or nonhuman persons or property, welfare regulation, any form of speciesism, ethnic bigotry, genderism, ableism, heterosexism, etc., any of the large governmental or non-governmental nonhuman animal organizations, “happy meat,” vegetarianism, veg*nism, Meat-Free Mondays, or other forms of reductionism and anything else that makes it seem like any form of violence or exploitation of animals is ok. If any of those positions are endorsed on any site in this list, or any language is used to imply that, it’s not that I included that link because I agree, but simply because I don’t control every bit of information on all of these sites.

Re-blog: On Militant Direct Action

Posted on November 25, 2015 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Animal Welfare, Critical Thinking, Ethical Philosophy, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, New Welfarism, Nonhuman Rescue, Single-Issue Campaigns, Social Justice • Tagged animal rights, empathy, ethics, justice, logic, misconception, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, morality, myth, philosophy, rationality, social justice, Vegan, Veganism • 1 Comment

Disclaimer: My only goal with this list is to produce as comprehensive a resource for Vegan information as possible. I am 100% Abolitionist Vegan and 100% against exploitation of nonhuman or human animals, any type of violence against human or nonhuman persons or property, welfare regulation, any form of speciesism, ethnic bigotry, genderism, ableism, heterosexism, etc., any of the large governmental or non-governmental nonhuman animal organizations, “happy meat,” vegetarianism, veg*nism, Meat-Free Mondays, or other forms of reductionism and anything else that makes it seem like any form of violence or exploitation of animals is ok. If any of those positions are endorsed on any site in this list, or any language is used to imply that, it’s not that I included that link because I agree, but simply because I don’t control every bit of information on all of these sites.

Truth.

UVE Archives

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.”

~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Economy (Chapter 1-E)First, do no harm.

~ Origin unknownDirect action is a catch-all term for any action taken on behalf of animals with the intention of rescuing, liberating, or saving them, individually or collectively, from exploitation, imprisonment, enslavement, torture, or intentionally inflicted harm or death.Direct action can be legal, as in the case of adopting a rescued dog from a local shelter or taking a stray goat or chicken to a sanctuary that will provide a permanent, loving home.

Direct action can also be illegal, and range from…

View original post 2,578 more words

A Short Overview Of Vegan Cat Ethics – guest blog by Peter Csere

Posted on November 12, 2015 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Critical Thinking, Environmentalism, Ethical Philosophy, Extinction, Guest Blogs, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, Nonhuman Rescue, Originals, Peter Csere, Plants-Only Diet, Rational Debate, Science, Social Justice, Vegan Cat Food, Vegan Cats, Vegan Dog Food, Vegan Dogs, Vegan Nonhuman Family, Vegan-Suitable Food • Tagged anatomy, animal rights, bio-chemistry, biology, carnivore, chemistry, education, empathy, ethics, justice, logic, misconception, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, morality, myth, pet food, pet foods, rationality, science, social justice, Vegan, Vegan Cat Food, Vegan Cats, Vegan diet, Vegan pet, Veganism • 6 Comments

The following thoughts were posted in the group Healthy Vegan Cats (you need to join to see the posts but if you have cats in your home, it’s worth it) by my friend Peter Csere. He’s an authority on anything Vegan cat-related and also some other things related to Veganism:

“Feeding farmed animal products to domesticated felines is not a humane or vegan option since we are enslaving + murdering one species to feed another which we find prettier and more preferable for companionship.

Letting cats “roam” and “hunt for themselves” is not a humane, vegan, or environmentally sound option since, according to numerous wildlife studies, human-subsidized domestic felines have a HUGE and disastrous impact on local wildlife populations. Domestic felines have singlehandedly caused the extinction of over 33 island species of mammal, reptile, bird, and amphibian, and the number one threat to many endangered songbird and rodent species is the domestic feline. The domestic feline is not even native to North America yet is the most populous feline predator on the continent, numbering over 150 million in the US alone (according to various estimates of “owned” cats and stray cat populations.)

Another important issue is that domestic felines compete for prey with natural/indigenous predator species such as mountain lions, cougars, panthers, and fisher cats. This food competition reduces the possible population of important natural predator species. Even cats that are fed by humans still kill many animals per instinct.

Feeding domestic cats laboratory-grown meat, organs, and bones modeled after their natural prey (insects and rodents) might be an excellent option for the future when laboratory-grown meat becomes economically feasible and in regular production. However, *this option is not currently available.*

I’ve noticed that some people parrot on and on about lab-grown meat but then seem to think that this constant parroting gives them license to continue purchasing real meat to feed to their domesticated cats in the meantime. By all means, donate to lab-grown meat entrepreneurial initiatives, tell your friends, advertise, get the word out and the projects started. But in the meantime, the other arguments regarding humans killing one animal to feed to another animal which they find preferable, still apply.

(Editor’s note: Feeding cats “In Vitro Meat” is a good solution when we’re dealing with the small portion of cats who physically can’t or won’t eat Vegan, this is not meant to endorse In Vitro Meat being fed to *all* cats. I also personally don’t support encouraging In Vitro Meat projects for human consumption whatsoever.)

Feeding cats a plant-based diet which has a sufficient nutritional profile to keep them healthy and happy for a similar lifespan to a domestic cat on a meat-based diet, could be presented as not humane or vegan, since technically it is not “natural” for the cat – but still, *it is the most humane and ethical of all currently available options.*

All these options are side-stepping the real issue, which is that humans are continually unnaturally subsidizing, in-breeding, domesticating, and enslaving an artificial species (the domestic feline) at the cost of much suffering to the cats, the local ecosystems that their inflated population affects, and the animals that they inbreed and enslave to feed the cats. As long as the domestic cat population continues to rise, feeding them vegan diets will help but still will only slow the suffering that results to all involved.

Humans need to learn that when they take an animal with desirable characteristics, and force it to only have sex with another animal with desirable characteristics, and do this generation after generation producing a species with inbred genetic health problems and dependency on humans, much suffering will result. Long-term solutions may or may not include a number of strategies, such as: slowly re-wilding and introducing wild genes back into the domestic cat species, relocating them to their natural habitat, wide-scale spaying and neutering, etc, among others, some of which may be controversial and some not so much.

None of these options can really be considered 100% ethical and humane, but a complete hands-off approach also results in much suffering, so in the meantime, while we struggle to find solutions that best meet the needs of all involved, to this ridiculous problem that only humans are stupid enough to create – we can feed properly-formulated plant foods to domesticated cats and stop enslaving other animals or decimating local ecosystems i.e. making a bad problem worse.

Hope this provides some insight” ~ Peter Csere

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Here are some more excellent resources on the solutions to the problem of being Vegan and keeping nonhumans in our homes:

https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/nonhuman-refugees

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Re-blog: Vegan and vegetarian – why they are not similar

Posted on November 8, 2015 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Alliance Politics, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Animal Welfare, Critical Thinking, Ethical Philosophy, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, Nonhuman Rescue, Plants-Only Diet, Rational Debate, Single-Issue Campaigns, Social Justice, Vegan-Suitable Food • Tagged animal rights, empathy, ethics, hypocrisy, justice, logic, misconception, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, myth, philosophy, rationality, social justice, Vegan, Vegan diet, Veganism, vegetarianism • Leave a comment

Disclaimer: My only goal with this list is to produce as comprehensive a resource for Vegan information as possible. I am 100% Abolitionist Vegan and 100% against exploitation of nonhuman or human animals, any type of violence against human or nonhuman persons or property, welfare regulation, any form of speciesism, ethnic bigotry, genderism, ableism, heterosexism, etc., any of the large governmental or non-governmental nonhuman animal organizations, “happy meat,” vegetarianism, veg*nism, Meat-Free Mondays, or other forms of reductionism and anything else that makes it seem like any form of violence or exploitation of animals is ok. If any of those positions are endorsed on any site in this list, or any language is used to imply that, it’s not that I included that link because I agree, but simply because I don’t control every bit of information on all of these sites.

Why we need to forget vegetarianism and go Vegan – better than I could have said it myself.

There's an Elephant in the Room blog

1013974_407459766056297_898097802_n I’ve written on this subject before but it definitely bears repeating. I used to eat a vegetarian diet and although I eventually became vegan, eating that vegetarian diet was not ‘part of my journey’, or ‘a step in the right direction’, or ‘raising my awareness’ because my awareness was utterly dead in the water, wallowing quietly in the misplaced confidence that the donations I sent in return for the horrific images in the mail were helping to ‘stop cruelty’.

No, being vegetarian did not lead me to veganism and I’d still have been vegetarian to this day were it not for Facebook. I became vegan because I stumbled across information that taught me that because I sincerely cared about animals, I logically had no choice but to be vegan. It’s as straightforward as that. Vegan education was what it took.

The light bulb moment

The decision to become vegan is a light bulb moment…

View original post 2,308 more words

What To Say When Someone Says “What Would The Animals Choose?”

Posted on August 24, 2015 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Animal Welfare, Critical Thinking, Ethical Philosophy, Human Rights, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, New Welfarism, Nonhuman Rescue, Rational Debate, Social Justice • Tagged animal rights, bias, double-standard, empathy, ethics, human superiority, Human Supremacy, hypocrisy, justice, logic, misconception, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, morality, myth, objective, philosophy, rationality, social justice, speciesism, subjective, Vegan, Veganism • Leave a comment

The notion that a nonhuman -if granted the capability to understand human communication and then given the choice between a bigger cage for themselves or freedom at some unnamed future time for their descendants- would choose to not sacrifice their own life or endure suffering for their descendants, is speciesist… pure and simple.

It assumes that other species -if given the ability to communicate with us in our languages- would not be capable of choosing a noble sacrifice in the same way as a human would. Put simply, it’s a product of the mindset that human animals are morally superior to nonhuman animals; that we are exceptional, which means that we get to make decisions for every other species based on what we deem necessary for them, which is in turn based on our undeniably limited understanding and an arbitrarily self-created hierarchy of different beings various interests, needs and preferences.

In reality, our decisions are based on what we in our arrogance believe to be the flaws in others that we don’t believe that we ourselves have. So if we feel that we would be incapable of sacrificing our own lives or enduring incredible suffering for our offspring or sacrificing the lives or suffering of our offspring to ensure freedom for an uncountable number of their descendants, we –of course– assume that no other beings would be capable of doing the same. After all, they’re not humans so they must be less than us, not greater. Right?

I think that if we asked all the nonhumans whether they would rather see humans scattered in our advocacy -engaging in speciesist single-issue campaigns, promoting bigger cages, vegetarianism, “open rescues” and other such nonsense- with a good chance of random instances of slightly better immediate conditions for them (What I’m saying here is that this is the idea that humans would present to the nonhumans, not that that is the outcome in reality), or if they would rather see every single “activist” doing nothing except strong, clear and unequivocal Creative Non-Oppressive Vegan Advocacy -which has a great chance of freeing all animals in the future (and even if this weren’t true, is still the only morally justifiable choice, as well as still being much more effective than SICs)- I think the answer would be clear. Just like the majority of human slaves would choose to have slavery ended completely in the future -rather than slightly better conditions in the present- if nonhumans could understand the question they would choose Abolitionist Vegan Education, and nothing less.

If you want to actually learn rational arguments as to why SICs and other such actions are counter-productive to Animal Rights, check out these links:
https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/welfare-watch

If you are really interested in helping animals, stop the Single-Issue Campaigns and do this instead:
https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/create-new-vegans

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On The Intersection Of Oppressions And Alliance Politics

Posted on February 12, 2015 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Ableism, Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Ageism, Alliance Politics, Anarchism, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Charity, Classism, Critical Thinking, Ethical Philosophy, Ethnic Bigotry, Homophobia, Human Rights, Human Supremacy, Intersectionality, LGBTQIA, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, Nonhuman Rescue, Queer Theory, Racism, Rational Debate, Sexism, Social Justice, Socialism • Tagged alliance politics, anarchism, animal rights, animal welfare, charity, cissexism, classism, Compassion, egalitarianism, empathy, equality, ethics, ethnic bigotry, genderism, generosity, hatred, Heterosexism, history, homophobia, human rights, human superiority, Human Supremacy, hypocrisy, intersectional, intersectionalism, justice, LGBTQ, logic, love, misconception, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, morality, myth, oppression, philosophy, privilege, racism, rationality, science, sexism, social justice, socialism, speciesism, Vegan, Veganism • Leave a comment

I’m making separate posts on individual issues related to Veganism, so that anyone who wants a handy reference guide to each issue won’t have to go through my entire link list to find it. The links included in each individual post may not be updated regularly, so the Master List will be the only place to find complete updates. These posts will be comprehensive enough to cover most or all questions related to each issue however.

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Here’s one interesting view on the intersectionality of oppressions:

https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/are-humans-superior

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Sub-Section 1B6:
Intersectionality And Alliance Politics:

“Essentialism, Intersectionality, and Veganism as a Moral Baseline: Black Vegans Rock and the Humane Society of the United States”:
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/essentialism-intersectionality-and-veganism-as-a-moral-baseline-black-vegans-rock-and-the-humane-society-of-the-united-states

“The Myth Of Vegan Progress In Israel”:
The Myth of Vegan Progress in Israel

“Vegan Killers: Israeli Vegan-Washing and the Manipulation of Morality”:
http://www.turkeyagenda.com/vegan-killers-israeli-vegan-washing-and-the-manipulation-of-morality-1656.html

“Intersectionality and Abolitionist Veganism: Part I”:
http://veganethos.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/intersectionality-and-abolitionist-veganism-part-i

“Abolitionist veganism is not a “white” practice”:
http://veganethos.wordpress.com/abolitionist-veganism-is-not-a-white-practice

“Workshop on Intersectionality and Alliance Politics”:
http://veganinformationproject.org/audio-workshop-on-intersectionality-and-alliance-politics

“Project Muse – Volume 65, Number 3, September 2013”:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/toc/aq.65.3.html

“Animal Rights, Multiculturalism, and the Left” by Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josp.12047/full

Sub-Section 1B3:
Main Vegan Blogs And Sites:

My own AR blog:
https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com

“My Face Is On Fire”:
http://my-face-is-on-fire.blogspot.co.uk

“Veganarchism Ain’t No Joke”:
http://veganarchismaintnojoke.tumblr.com

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Sub-Section 1B2:
Facebook Pages And Groups:

Sub-Section 1B2a:
Facebook Pages:

“International Vegan Association”:
https://www.facebook.com/internationalvegan

“Let’s Make a Vegan World”:
https://www.facebook.com/letsmakeaveganworld

“Vegan Information Project – VIP”:
https://www.facebook.com/theveganinformationproject
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Sub-Section 1B2b:
Facebook Groups:

“South Florida Vegan Support and Education Group”:
http://www.facebook.com/VeganSupportGroup

“Vegan Philosophy Forum”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/219573241562192

“Vegan Influence & Persuasion”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vegan.Influence.and.Persuasion

“Vegan Scientific Facts”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/vegan.scientificfacts

“The Human Vegan”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/168804706659566

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The Truth Is A Virus

Posted on September 21, 2014 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Alliance Politics, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Critical Thinking, Environmentalism, Ethical Philosophy, Human Rights, Human Supremacy, Intersectionality, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, Nonhuman Rescue, Plants-Only Diet, Rational Debate, Science, Social Justice, Vegan Recipes, Vegan-Suitable Food • Tagged animal rights, Compassion, empathy, ethics, evolution, justice, logic, moral justice, moral responsibility, morality, philosophy, rationality, science, social justice, Vegan, Veganism • Leave a comment

This will be a comprehensive coverage of the section of the Master List that deals with how Veganism is spreading and how we can spread it faster.

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Sub-Section 1B21:
The Growth Of Veganism:

Sub-Section 1B21a:
“How-To” on Creative Nonviolent Vegan Education:

Sub-Section 1B21a1:
Miscellaneous:

“Creative, Non-Violent Vegan Education — Easy and Effective”:
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/creative-non-violent-vegan-education-easy-and-effective

“Vegan Education: A Background”:
http://uvearchives.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/vegan-education-a-background-part-1-of-2
http://uvearchives.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/vegan-education-an-incremental-abolitionist-approach-part-2-of-2

“Ten Crucial Tips for Public Outreach Work”:
http://www.internationalvegan.org/ten-crucial-tips-for-public-outreach-work

“A Special Feature; Worldwide Vegan Activism”:
http://thevegantruth.blogspot.com.tr/search/label/A%20feature%3A%20worldwide%20vegan%20activism
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Sub-Section 1B21a2:
TAVS CNOVA:

TAVS Weekend Challenge Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.548272578595591.1073741829.375698192519698

How We Make New Vegans:
https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/the-way-to-create-new-vegans

“Creative, Non-Oppressive Vegan Advocacy: So Easy You Can Even Do It On The Phone!”:
https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/cnova-on-the-phone

My Weekend Challenge Archives:
February 23rd, 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/abolitionistvegansociety/photos/a.548272578595591.1073741829.375698192519698/623962194359962

February 24th, 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/abolitionistvegansociety/photos/a.548272578595591.1073741829.375698192519698/626331487456366

May 6th, 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/squeezeplay/posts/10202549120142443

Friday, May 30th, 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/squeezeplay/posts/10202952542227743

Saturday, May 31st, 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/squeezeplay/posts/10202960520347191

Sunday, June 1st, 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/squeezeplay/posts/10202966947067855

Tuesday, June 16th 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/squeezeplay/posts/10202978442155225

Friday, September 12th, 2014:

Sub-Section 1B21b:
Science And Statistics:

“How Sweden And The World Will Go Vegan”:
http://bliveganer.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/how-vegan-education-will-make-sweden-and-the-world-go-vegan

“Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas”:
http://news.rpi.edu/luwakkey/2902
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Sub-Section 1B21c:
Examples Of The Paradigm Shift:

“The First Vegan Accommodation in NYC!”:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3456576

“Taiwan Is Cooler Than Your Town!”:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/taiwan-opens-first-ever-all-vegan-grocery-store

“150 Vegan Signs Of The Times”:
http://thevegantruth.blogspot.com/2014/05/150-vegan-signs-of-times.html

Read these 2 in order:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/allmenareliars/archives/2007/04/red_meat_the_oldest_aphrodisia.html
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/confessions-of-a-vegan-20140730-zx84p.html

“Tal’s Freeze – Big Brother Israel | Channel 2”:
http://vimeo.com/102833111

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On Becoming Vegan: So You Think That Animals Matter Morally. What Happens Next?

Posted on August 7, 2014 by legacyofpythagoras • Posted in Ableism, Abolitionist Vegan Education, Abolitionist Veganism, Activism, Ageism, Alliance Politics, Anarchism, Animal Rights, Animal Rights Philosophy, Animal Rights Theory, Charity, Classism, Critical Thinking, Ethical Philosophy, Ethnic Bigotry, Homophobia, Human Rights, Human Supremacy, Intersectionality, LGBTQIA, Logic, Moral Logic, Moral Philosophy, Moral Theory, Morality, Nonhuman Rescue, Plants-Only Diet, Queer Theory, Racism, Rational Debate, Science, Sexism, Social Justice, Socialism, Vegan Recipes, Vegan-Suitable Food • Tagged animal rights, becoming, biology, chemistry, Compassion, decision, empathy, epiphany, ethics, evolution, generosity, herbivore, justice, logic, misconception, moral action, moral confusion, moral justice, moral responsibility, moral stance, morality, myth, philosophy, rationality, realization, science, social justice, transform, transitioning, Vegan, Vegan diet, Veganism • 2 Comments

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So, you’ve decided that you can no longer handle participating in the exploitation of innocent beings merely for your own pleasure, amusement or convenience.

But how are you going to go about transitioning from non-Vegan to Vegan?

This post will include tons of links that should help you in that transition. I would recommend studying the nutritional information carefully as you go, but you can easily go Vegan immediately merely by taking the animal substances out of your diet right away and work on everything else as you go (including replacing all animal substances in your wardrobe immediately if you can afford to, taking longer if you have to).

For instance, if you would normally have for supper spaghetti and meatballs with red sauce and parmesan, chef salad, and a glass of milk, just have spaghetti with red sauce (making sure the pasta and sauce have no animal substances in them to start), salad made from tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and any other veggies you like, and a glass of juice, water or soy/other plant-based milk. You can veganize just about any dish that is more than just flesh, dairy and eggs in the same way. Just be sure you eat enough to feel full. If you want to read more about the foods you might eat as a Vegan, I’ve made another post that has some great recipes and other tips:

https://legacyofpythagoras.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/what-will-i-eat-as-a-vegan

And here’s a post by Butterflies Katz about the advantages and pitfalls of a Vegan diet:

“What Every Vegan Needs To Know about The Advantages And Pitfalls Of Vegan Diets”:
http://thevegantruth.blogspot.com.tr/2014/06/what-every-vegan-needs-to-know-about.html

However, just remember that this includes not buying any items at all in the future that use animal flesh or secretions or were tested on animals and not patronizing any businesses or other organizations that use animals to the best of your ability. Veganism is about not using animals in any way if you have a choice, it’s not a diet.

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Without further ado:

Sub-Section 1B2:
Facebook Pages:

“TAVS” Facebook page (where you can find the weekend challenge):
https://www.facebook.com/abolitionistvegansociety

“I’m Going Vegan with The BLDO Plan”:
http://www.abolitionistvegansociety.org/tavs-initiatives/tavs-articles/how-to-go-vegan/the-bldo-plan
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-Going-Vegan-with-The-BLDO-Plan/225433647613139

“Central Illinois Vegan Abolitionist”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/290939317614585

“International Vegan Association”:
https://www.facebook.com/internationalvegan

“Let’s Make a Vegan World”:
https://www.facebook.com/letsmakeaveganworld

“Abolitionist Veganism”:
https://abolitionistveganism.wordpress.com

“The Academic Abolitionist Vegan”:
http://academicabolitionistvegan.blogspot.com

“There’s An Elephant In The Room”:
https://theresanelephantintheroomblog.wordpress.com

“Unpopular Vegan Essays”:
http://uvearchives.wordpress.com