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A Rejection of the Brutal Injustice that is Speciesism.
The line of difference fades when we acknowledge commonality, when difference is held in awe & celebrated rather than used as a justification for violent oppression.
The line becomes harder to accept when we recognise who drew it & with what vile self serving purpose. Humans draw the line & use it to prejudicially deny moral consideration to non humans. They claimed superiority over every individual who does not fit the category . .
. . . Homo sapiens & used this bigotry to violently subjugate the vulnerable & subordinate them to needless, selfish human purposes, as if being human is an automatic & preordained moral reason for abhorrent abuse of power.
But if we spend time in close proximity with . . .
. . . any animal, the commonality becomes undeniable. Other animals are like us each unique, autonomous individuals who love, feel & suffer. Each of them is a someone, a person in their own right. Just like us they want to live & have an inviolable right to . . .
. . . sole sovereignty over their own bodies. They have as much right as any of us to inhabit this shared earth. They have strong family ties, languages & cultures. They teach their young how to live in & negotiate their environments. They sing, dance & play.
They are intelligent & adaptable, changing their courses according to their experiences. Humans & non humans alike are animate & animal. Our very existence depends upon each member thriving, for life itself is interdependence.
We demand parity of moral consideration. We rightly demand the total abolition of all exploitation & violent oppression.
I now realise to my shame, I’ve plagiarised some of this from “Beyond Speciesism, Beyond Humanism”
Brilliant essay, far better than anything I could write. justwondering.io/beyond-species…
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The violently cruel reality of meat & dairy is out of sight . . .
Call me an optimist with too much faith in humanity, but I believe that If people actually chose to look at this reality many, possibly most would choose not to pay for it. #Meat #Dairy #LookWhatYouPayFor #BeVegan
It’s the deliberate & wilful refusal of some to educate themselves that gets me;
“I can’t watch that, it’s too upsetting”
As if you have a right to be protected from the harm you pay for. You don’t. You are culpable- no demand, no supply. You’re unnecessary consumer choices cause this abuse, therefore you are by default an abuser.
Vegan versus ‘Normal’ A Thread
Contemporarily, vegans in Western societies are often seen as fair game for criticism and verbal abuse. I’d argue that this phenomenon in part relies upon the notion that being vegan is not ‘normal’, and rides on the premise that if most people do
something, then that’s eternally the correct way to continue. But, how then do we believe that humans have made any progress in social/ethical justice? By blinkeredly repeating everything unquestioningly? Are we arguing that obediently conforming without exercising any cognitive
critical analysis is somehow virtuous? I’d argue the opposite, it’s cowardly & reprehensible.
Developmental psychologist Robert Kegan argues that society is quick to regard as ‘right’ or ‘true’ that which is merely familiar, and to dismiss anything unusual as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’,