Dr. Steve Best on Animal Liberation - It's Not (just) About Kindness... It's About Justice

Essays - Vegetarianism, Environmentalism, Animal Rights

The Ethics of Eating Animals: The Emperor is More Naked Than Ever!

Hello again - As my last post announced the NY Times "contest" requiring answers to ethical animal-meat eating... I thought it appropriate to follow through with the panel's choice of the 5 6 best submissions. You can read them and vote on them here: Put Your Ethics Where Your Mouth Is


As we all suspected the excuses ranged the gambit: Nonhumans don't really care if they are killed... As long as we do it "nicely" it's okay... The environment requires the use of their poo and our bodies "need" the nourishment, (blah, blah) --- Well, you can see for yourself:

For me, the most blatant “excuse-itarian” was the entry titled "This Is the Deal We’ve Made" wherein the writer cancels out all ethical concerns because... Well because we can be unethical! It didn't impress me in the least and I'm surprised it even ranks the amount of votes it does!


Any-hoo... There are no surprises here. No last minute saves. No angle of "justification" not previously considered and rightfully dismissed. The verdict is predictably in - No contest! There are no "ethical" reasons to kill sentient beings over an equally healthy and sustainable plant sourced food! None. 

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That said - there is a bit of news that I'd like to post... After this, I'll be turning the comments option "off" on some future posts.  There are a few writings that I'd like to see stand on their own.  And I'm working on a series of projects that when they do fruit, it will be understood why I've temporarily proceeded this way... 

As far as I plan this will only be short term - No offense to anyone! I always love to hear from like minded visitors... Besides if anyone is looking for me they know where I can be reached --- Here or elsewhere. 

Thanks for continuing to read... And for opting for the kindest and most genuine ethical choice there is... a Vegan one - of course! ;)

What Is Your Shade Of Compassion?

Eenie, meenie, miney, mo - 
What shade of grey does your compassion show?


Many say that life doesn't provide us with black and whites... Nor does morality. Many believe everything exists in a nebulous, shades-of-grey world.

Here's the story of an accident involving a cargo of cows.  The double decker truck didn't clear an overpass and several "passengers" were injured. The cow-owner had to euthanize 7 of them.


Here's the quiz: Since animal ag claims they "care" for their "stock" - When was it exactly that the farmer "cared" most?  Was it when he originally loaded the cows to go to slaughter?  When he killed the "damaged" ones?  Or when he loaded the rest to continue their journey to the knock box?


Of course this is a rhetorical question... Anyone with the gumption to do a smidgen of honest thinking would know that when it comes to taking lives... There is no gradient degree of compromise.  This applies too if you're paying someone to do the killing for you!  It's just plain black and white wrong!


If you're not doing it now - please consider living your life in a thoughtful way. There's absolutely no justifiable reason to not be vegan. None.  

The Morality of Animal Agriculture... Doesn't Exist

Event Cancelled!

The "swine and hog" folks were scheduled to host Wes Jamison who I wrote about before: here, here and here...


I know there's a dozen possible "unfortunate events" that might have prevented this presentation...  Given that even Wes concedes that: "Morality trumps science in debate".

I suspect that he's an absolute disappointment to the industry because he just can't get their message to the sacred, holy high-ground they want (and need) so badly!  Might this even be the reason for the cancelled speech?


Yep, considering that there are no ethical justifications to breed, confine, mutilate, torture then murder innocent beings - An oration about the "rightness" of it seems pitifully lame and futile!


Meanwhile... Public speaking coach Pamela Ziemann, author of Giving Voice to Your Cause: Speaking Tips for Nonprofit Professionals,  offers these suggestions in having productive conversations:

Be sure to check out her article Vegan Social Skills: Improvisation to the rescue.

For those who are looking for a moral life - You will not find it picking through the bones of victims.  But you will through compassionate choices. Go Vegan Now.

Jamison Advice - Another Desperate Dud for Livestock Moral High Ground

Truth is stranger than fiction so they say... It really becomes obvious when you read articles like this from the American Veterinarians Medical Association.  The spokesman for the livestock industry... The one who is supposed to be the "ethical" voice of animal agriculture suggests that "AVMA should abandon advocating for the human-animal bond in favor of fighting for the right of animal owners to use animals as they choose, whether that entails companionship, food, or labor."  Translated: Vets should encouraging people to stop having empathy towards nonhumans.  That's right! He's saying that "the veterinary profession, by emphasizing the importance of the human-animal bond, enables consumer hypocrisy, which is exploited by animal protection organizations."

I mean, just on the practical end - Isn't this about the most strategically short-sighted bit of advice one could give their constituents? Really... If vets tell their patient's guardians that there's nothing all that special about Scruffy or Mitten - Won't they stop caring if shots are up to date?  Won't they stop spending their money on their now "insignificant" companions?  I mean - What's the motivation to invest in the care and well being of somebody if you don't love them?  If there's no valued relationship between one's "pet" as a treasured family member... Why bother with the vet bills?

I guess this odd piece of (desperate) "advice" ranks up there with Mr. Jamison's other doosie of an idea.  Out from the bag of best tricks animal ag has, Jamison pulls out this blunder of recommending slogan shirts that read "Happiness is a Dead Animal".  So bad and so embarrassing an idea was this, that Hoosier Today pulled the original article. ---Fortunately, there are countless witnesses to document that the asinine faux-pas actually did occur: Veg Daily, xomba, Kim Stallwood, Extra-Veganza, PETA... Still, Hoosier Today did a presto disappearing act on the flubbed idea - Just like it never happened.

I suggest the AVMA might do the same regarding Jamison's latest advice as well... Cuz if you start telling people not to care for the animals in their trust... If you recommend that --- 

Well, you might see a lot of vets on the unemployment lines.

I have no idea what Jamison gets paid to be the "ethical" voice for animal ag... But I'd probably consider contributing to his salary being that he does far more harm to the livestock industry than not.  Thanks Wes! A pleasure to exploit your callous ignorance! :)

If you believe as I do that animal ag's "moral high ground" is vanishing in the now civilizing world... Opt for the ethically consistent choice: Go Vegan.

A Pig's Life Matters to that Pig - Meat is Murder - Go Vegan

I hear all the time... that "life's not fair" - and I suppose it's not. But, this does not excuse a moral person from trying to do everything they can to make it so... It is in our control and our power to make life "more" fair and "more" just by avoiding harm to innocent life. Just because one can (legally) slice pieces of a pigs ear off, put him in a cage, and eventually kill him - does not make it right. People who see the world as a series of "unfairness" - stop hiding your own cowardly failure to do what you can, using the excuse that you won't make a big enough difference... Or that it really doesn't matter... Or "it's only a pig", or "only" a cow, or "only" an animal. It is a life. And it is not yours to take no matter how you rationalize it. Unless you are starving on some remote island totally void of vegetation - eating any animal is not justifyable by any moral code. And if you think it is...PLEASE! I want to hear your "reasons" why you think it's "okay" to kill an animal who has done you no harm? How do you say that it is right? Super Piglet - The funniest bloopers are right here A being's life matters to that being... No matter how tasty their flesh is, no matter how "cheap" their flesh is, no matter how much "tradition" or "history" is wrapped around consuming their bodies... their life belongs to them. Ending their lives... deliberately snuffing their rightful place and time on this earth is stealing powers that you have no authority over. To do so is not only theft... it is murder. Are you a coward who has never asked yourself "by what right"? Kill no beings. Do no harm. Go Vegan

A Vegan's Voice on Animal Agriculture

There's a piece written in the Agriculture's Voice that delights to tell of favorite "things". Of course these "things" all are dead bodies & parts, made from tortured, murdered, INNOCENT, SENTIENT "BEINGS". The article goes on: "there are people who have different tastes." The well chosen word here is "taste", which is an effort to exclude any ethical consideration or debate. It is an attempt to minimize the "choice" not unlike the preference of a blue car over a red one.... or boxers instead of briefs. It continues that vegans have "good intentions" in their lifestyle choices. I agree that an ethic which attempts to avoid as much "unnecessary" harm as possible, is a good thing. Avoiding violence - is a good thing. And Ag's Voice says that they would "never shove meat, eggs or dairy down someone’s throat..." But certainly the meat industries are shoved down ones culture. It is a culture propped by the myth that one "needs" animals to live. Veganism exposes this myth. The article continues: "most farm animals are treated very well." Until they are needlessly killed that is... Even so, let's examine the "kind" treatment to farmed animals:

• Billions of day old "wrong sex" chicks smothered or ground up.
• Searing the beaks of billions of birds.Tail docking, teeth pulling, castration, teat removal, ear tagging, dehorning, ALL without anesthetic.
• Isolation, confinement, force feeding, drugs, artificial light, artificial food, artificial insemination.
• Living in your own waste.
• Unable to move a limb or stretch your wings.
• Unable to socialize or mate.
• Being raped. Being caged. Being tethered.
• Separated from your young at birth.

Animal ag defends that these practices are "in state-of-the-art, climate-controlled facilities"...

True, the dairy cow who has never seen grass, is probably housed in air conditioning. The pig who cannot turn his body is likely to be misted a few times hourly. And the caged chicken lays her miserable eggs on a fast moving conveyor system.

It is all so "civilized" indeed. Animal ag says this is "necessary to protect animals"... "from predators".... Fess up animal ag - it's about profits and units. And your animal killing, meat-eating culture is the animal's worst "predator".

As suggested in this article - I intend to tell all my friends and neighbors and anyone else who will listen about all the things that are done to "food" animals. I am going to send them to see videos. I am going to be a strong advocate for the Movement "afoot" which tells consumers they have other compassionate and healthier choices. I'm going to invite them to question the ethics and "need" of such cruel "choices" to continue. Animal ag is right about one thing: we are not going away. We are going Vegan.

Peter Singer Newsweek Interview on Animals Rights

Animals Rights is Now a Mainstream Movement Newsweek International Newsweek.com: "Many people see this movement as a logical continuation of the fight against racism and sexism, and believe that the concept of animal rights will soon be as commonplace as equal pay and opportunities for women and minorities. If that happens—and I believe it will—the effects on the food we eat, how we produce it and the place of animals in our society will be profound. As the demand for animal products dwindles, the meat industry would breed fewer chickens, turkeys, pigs and cattle. If this sounds radical, so did suffrage and civil rights a few decades ago. The notion that we should recognize the rights of animals living among us rests on a firm ethical foundation. A sentient being is sentient regardless of which species it happens to belong to. Pain is pain, whether it is the pain of a cat, a dog, a pig or a child." Yep... that's the idea and surely we can start in that direction as individuals and attempt to square up our moral alliance with animals NOW - by going vegan - NOW.

Thoughts on the Animal Exploitation Tree

After reading "Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit": What is Wrong with Single Issue Campaigns? Posted by Dan at UnPopular Vegan Essays I'd like to respond with this: Dan, I agree that SIC actually promote speciesism. Seals trump caged mink, puppy mills trump hog houses and equines trump bovines. You're also correct in your analysis of how SIC raises (and wastes) precious funds that should be used to advocate veganism. Energy that could be used to promote abolitionism. I appreciate your analogy of "the animal exploitation tree". Huge investments are tied into welfare "campaigns" and "propositions", just to net a bigger piece of paper for chickens to stand on. One could build a career (or an empire) crusading for a few more inches every few years, couldn't they? And now that you know I'm aware of the evils of "low hanging fruit"... Of "compromise". That I too am frustrated (and angry) that we aren't (all) striking at the obvious and critical "root". That we (all) aren't using "creative and intelligent ways to get our (vegan) message across". That animal exploitation might continue to infinity. That they (the animals to whom we are kin) - are forever destined to abuse... to pain and suffering. It is seeing this possibility that makes their plight ever more urgent - and makes most of our efforts seem that much more inadequate. We are silenced by their moral apathy... by their pragmatism. It really stinks when those who profess to be champions for animals are the very ones that delay their liberties... Your outrage is heard - and echoed. But for my own sanity... and the "practicality" of the matter - I try to ignore the "campaigns" and "propositions", and their hollow "victories". I think animal abuse (and "ownership") is so pervasive in our culture that it will take all efforts coming from every direction imaginable to create "change". Sadly, there will be much time and many resources wasted on the way. I've come to recognize that they (who pick the low fruit), may be necessary (and unavoidable) increments to change. In my perfect world - All injustices would be now be axed till the jungle of exploitation was leveled. But in reality, I must allow others to "prune" what they will... This picking of low-hanging fruit, and pruning will provide clear access (someday) to the essential root... BTW I discovered "factory farms"/"veganism" through a PETA site. I hardly knew what "PETA" was, but was directed there by a friend when I mentioned "circus tickets". I never knew about any of it - the animal abuse... the caged pigs, chickens and calves... My friend was (and is still) an omnivore. She had sympathy for the elephant, but not the cow (?). This illustrates the all too common speciesist, "moral coma" you brilliantly coined. Most do not want their "privileges" challenged. Others, decide differently. Patience...