Have you seen this?
http://www.earthlings.com/earthlings/video-full.php
Its beautiful, and painful at the same time....and worth the watch.
Hope this finds you well my friend.
Nikki
The small steps must go forward
Posted By Harry on August 6, 2011
(This post is is in response to comments on a previous post. Thank you. You will find a continuation of this theme on Provoked as well.)
The posting of a piece to do with James LaVeck’s recent article Let’s Not Give Up Before We Even Get Started has aroused some emotion both on and off this blog, and on other blogs. Having read and listened to comments I’ve taken another look at the article, at what I wrote in support of it … and why I did so. The reasons why I did so are best explained by a series of photographs that I took this morning. But before getting onto those I’ll offer some background to where I’m going.
Please note: What follows are some strong opinions of mine. Mine and mine to own. They have changed as I have changed. They are not meant to take way from the good work that many people are doing. If they sound judgemental please know that there is no intent for them to be so. I have too much to learn for me to be judgemental. They are not attacking of anyone else. They are not intended to shut down others’ viewpoints. They are just my own passionate opinions:
- I support James LaVeck’s argument in that piece. I worded my post quite carefully - Are these the reasons why, despite us keeping our destination firm, we sometimes veer down the wrong path? My take on what is happening is NOT that the Animal Rights Groups are ‘methodically’ (or intentionally) displacing “Do we have the right to use and kill animals?”, with the question of regulation, “What is the right way for us to use and kill animals?” but that the big, profit-hungry corporates (the food industry is gigantic) are doing so; they are using the Animal Rights Groups to sanitise what is a cruel and unnecessary industry. I think Animal Rights groups are being unwittingly used and some of the small steps they put their names to may in fact slow the journey towards the ultimate goal.
- I do support small steps BUT they must head in the right direction.
- I used to be an omnivore then a vegetarian. Now a vegan. Being vegan is the easiest and the hardest thing in the world. Depending on how you define it. While I oppose the term veganish (see this by the CarpeVegan team) as to me it sounds somewhat wishy washy I do believe to be 100% true to veganism - … the personal practice of eliminating the use of non-human animal products for any purpose (including food and food processing, clothing, medications, and personal care products) for ethical reasons (Wikipedia) – is incredibly hard. Take just about any Western medicine and you’ve blown it. Thus I agree with Jed and Joe that somewhere between vegetarianism and veganism should be a very welcoming place. But I also believe it must be a step, not the end goal. As more and more people move away from the use of animals fewer products will contain animal products, animals in medical research will become a thing of the past, and cruelty that is currently acceptable to Society will no longer be so. (For the record, no matter how hard I try, how many labels I read, I know that I am not 100% vegan.)
- I agree with the anti-(human) slavery analogy. A comment on another post gave the figure of 27 million people still being in slavery today. Granted. But human slavery, once acceptable to Society, is no longer acceptable whereas what we do to animals is. And 27 million people out of 6.9 billion people on this earth! Imagine if we awoke tomorrow to find that there were only 27 million birds and animals in the food industry.
- Finally, and perhaps this was my take-home message from that LaVeck article, if we don’t try we’ll never succeed.
Let’s start with sow stalls. We have 2 pigs in our family, Ruby and Lucy. Both 6 years old now. Ruby was saved from a butcher down the road and Lucy came to us off the set of the last Charlotte’s Web. Ruby would have been saved the horrors of a sow stall because she was the runt of the litter. Saved, that is, by a knife severing her carotids. Lucy, and the 40 other piglets used in the filming of Charlotte’s Web, was specifically saved from a sow stall as she was a living representation of the movie’s message. Here’s looking out from their piggy home towards their paddock.
The view from Ruby & Lucy's anteroom
Here’s looking at them as they slumbered while it poured with rain outside. Note the hay on the old trough in their anteroom.
Slumbering piggies
That hay you see was, just a few days ago, the size of one of these:
Hay Bales
We’ve had a very cold 2011 winter. While the piggies’ home is fairly warm, we know they still need hay for that extra warmth. And, importantly, to nest. While I had been taking them individual biscuits of hay and fluffing it for them, Sue thought it easier to take a whole bale into their anteroom, and give them individual biscuits of hay when they needed it rather than regularly traipsing back to the main shed. So Sue lugged the hay up there, gave them some biscuits and headed back out to do the twice daily pick-up-manure chore. On returning to Ruby and Lucy she noticed that Lucy had gotten out of bed and headed over into the anteroom. There she grabbed a mouthful of hay and headed back into their bedroom (Ruby still snoozing), dropped it there and returned for more. This went on for hours until all that was left is what you see now. Then together Ruby and Lucy really got stuck into making their nest the way they, not Sue and I, wanted it.
Here’s Ruby.
Ruby enjoying her nest
Pigs in a sow stall cannot nest. Cannot move around. Cannot even turn around. They certainly can’t romp with each other in paddocks outside. No matter how hard I try, I cannot imagine Ruby and Lucy being in sow stalls and feeling that their lives have been improved by having an extra inch all around their stalls. A sow stall is a cage. A cage. No matter how big it is. Making it bigger is an attempt to sanitise the horrors of it. It is a step. But not a step forward for sows. And if a bigger sow stall does go some way to making it more acceptable to Society, it is then a giant step backwards.
But, many people would agree that sow stalls are cruel regardless of their size. So what about chickens? Here are some of ours today.
Chickens, ducks and peacocks enjoying the rain
Again, I cannot imagine a battery hen chicken having a better life if her cage were an inch bigger. I don’t, honestly don’t, believe there is any improvement in their lot by giving them bigger cages.
Instead, I have a suggestion for chickens: Make tomorrow a protest day. Every chicken in the world unite. Refuse to lay another egg until you’re let out of your cages and free to spread your wings, have a dust bath, feel grass under your feet. Then, and only then, start laying again. Sure, they’ll still kill you the moment you no longer can lay an egg. They’ll raise your chicks in incubators and kill all the male ones. But, but, your eggs will be more expensive. So fewer people will eat them. And fewer people will farm you.
And then, once there’s a new status quo, strike again. No laying of an egg until you can incubate your chicks to life. And your male chicks are left to live. And they stay with you as you teach them life. Then, as you finally see a brighter future just around the corner, lay eggs again until the next protest.
Now we’re talking steps!
Hi Harry,
No, your opinions in this post don’t sound judgmental at all, and certainly not attacking of anyone else. They are, as you said, passionate, and as vegans that is what we have to be in this fight for justice.
I still don’t support a number of assertions that James LaVeck made (including the one in his very first sentence), but that’s okay as we all have our own opinions. But if he’s going to use the anti-slavery analogy then he has to remember, for example, that in the northern states laws that forbid the beating of slaves came into effect before laws that forbid slavery itself. So improving conditions (treatment) was part of the effort of abolition.
I mentioned the 27 million figure in a comment because even though that might sound small as a percentage of the total population (although I imagine that every single one of those 27 million individuals don’t want to be enslaved any more than each cow, chicken, pig, etc.), I find that number staggering precisely because it IS no longer acceptable or legal. But it’s still happening and in supposedly civil democratic nations like Canada, the United States and the Netherlands (one of the worst countries in terms of slavery on a per capita basis). In my local paper this week they were talking about putting $1 million towards eradicating this in my own province, and apparently the region that I live in is a hotbed! And why is slavery so “popular”? Because, like animal exploitation, it’s profitable. But the real point I wanted to make is that if slavery of the human animal (the species that most people favour) isn’t met by outrage and a resolve to stop it, then the battle to free animals less favoured is going to be all that more difficult.
As for veganish, I don’t know. Obviously, I’m a committed vegan, but I sometimes wonder if 50% of the population being veganish wouldn’t be more helpful than 5% being strictly vegan. Because if we’re going to stop animal use then veganism will have to become mainstream. In my cynical moments though I think using animals will stop when it’s no longer profitable, not because of any moral arguments.
I agree that empty cages are what we want. But for individuals who are still imprisoned in them, I can only imagine that even an extra inch, and then more inches, would feel better. And that’s what we want, for THEM to feel better, not vegan theorists and activists. However, I think your idea of their own protest is super awesome and it would make my day if it came to fruition!
In end though, we do share the same goals, the same sadness at what sentient beings are needlessly put through, but hopefully at some point we’ll be able to share the same victories too. Gentle vegans unite!
Thanks HGV. As I replied to one of your comments on the ‘other’ post, you’ve hit the nail on the head. We must stand united to go forward. And in my book standing united does not mean having to have everyone agree with you, or having to agree with everything others say. It is an agreement on the goal. And on reaching it. Constructive discussions on our differences of opinion are essential for us to be united.
50% of the world being ‘somewhere between vegetarian and vegan’ (sorry, that -ish word just lacks any sense of commitment or passion-to-do-the-right-thing for me to be a fan of it) WOULD be more helpful than 5% being strictly vegan. 50% of the world being vegetarian would. Today. Even tomorrow. But, it’s still not the future this earth, and all our fellow beings, deserve. Just like 27 million human slaves is 27 million too many, so is 27 million animal victims 27 million too many. Nothing must delay the journey.
But I know we agree on that and I accept that we differ on the effect of cage size increases, so I’ll stop going in circles and thank you again for your comments and on making me spend many hours pondering further over why I believe what I do. And instead I’ll finish this reply with what continually swirls around in my head:
3 significant things that I have learnt as I’ve journeyed through adulthood (unfortunately I was a late starter
):
1. The law often has little to do with justice (the moral principle determining just conduct – dictionary.com). This realisation cuts me to the core probably more than any other.
2. Just because ‘everybody’ does something does not mean that something is right. This holds true for far more than just nutritional and clothing habits, just ask Warren Buffett. Sue and I are awaiting a call to pick up a little boy from South Korea – I wish for him to be guided by his internal moral compass rather than the faulty one that Society offers. And expects its children to follow.
3. The world does change. Admittedly painfully slowly for us mere mortals that are only here for a short time. But it does and it will.
There IS a brighter future for our fellow beings. And, as a spin-off, for us humans. And this planet. I look forward to standing side-by-side with you – and everyone else that goes against the grain to fight for a gentler future – as we sip (vegan) champagne in celebration. Now that’s worth a
!
Hi Have Gone Vegan… And Harry too.
I’m thankful Harry that you’ve restated your position and the many reasons why vegan”ish”, welfare measures and settling for “less than” can’t be the end goal for animal rights. With such a great foundation it makes my explanations, I intend to hammer out shortly, that much easier…
Also making for a simpler post (without any cause for “infighting”) is the agreement with you HGV (in your cynical moments) – That ethics and morals will not be what carries us over the threshold to AR. BUT, they will make excellent leverage tools – not if, but when – a tipping point is reached.
And while LaVeck’s speech was inspiring… I had to disagree with the comparisons of people then and now. I believe we’re in a world with less thoughtfulness to consequences. Issues of human slavery then were an assault to “godliness”, purity and standards that most common citizens would relate to at the time. I believe our fun-seeking world has created a large “justice chasm” for most… There are so many pleasurable distractions that allow people to look the other way when confronted with inequities. Our psyche has been somewhat reshaped by conveniences and technology. If you’re toiling in the fields as well – It might be easier to identify with those doing so by force. (?)
And in many ways, we stand more to loose than our abolitionist forefathers – Or at least that’s the perceived notion because we live in an age that glorifies “stuff”; Ideas not so much… What is deemed as acceptable and “normal” behavior has been transformed into such a thin, all-encompassing layer that nearly “anything goes” – As the old song says… News reports of teens killing each other for sneakers and jackets comes to mind as one of those things people have learned to “accept” in a world that worships material things… (sad).
But technology and modern communication could work to our benefit if played right… This is where “welfare” helps shift the focus back by bringing media attention and legislation to public view. There is something to be said about keeping “cage-size” issues in the faces of those who would look away. But as we all agree… It just can’t, can’t stop there.
In regards to Ruby & Lucy – Or more broadly those that they represent who are the subjects of our debates, controls; Our “needs”, greeds and wants… And the subjects of our empathy… I was thinking about “degrees” of “flexibility” the other day while watching the girls foraging and sun-bathing… And a thought came to me of what “extremes” we vegans must seem like to the “veganish” or non-AR folks.
I was admiring the beautiful patterns and layering of their feathers. The different textures, tones and shapes… And how each one of those precious feathers belonged to each one of them. I thought it 100% valid to say that no one had any “right” to harm, or take a single plume from off their precious bodies… Not anyone, not ever! And then, of course the realities filter in on how brutally their sisters are treated – and I’m stuck, isolated on another planet with my singular “radical” views.
“Vegan-ish” would sometimes take two feathers… Or five… Or sometimes remove a leg or a head. That would never be okay… I’m sticking to my pitch that none of it is kind or necessary… Ever. But do I praise my neighbor when she says she’s “reduced” her flesh consumption? Of course – That’s the fine line of living between the “extremes”.
Finally… It is a giant step in the right direction that Ruby, Lucy, “my” girls, and a growing number of others in the unseen world of animal use are given their fair share of sunlight, and hay and the sacredness of their own flesh, down and coverings…
I certainly don’t have all the answers either – I only know with one absolute certainty – That we all must stay engaged on the topic… No matter what side of the argument we’re coming from. The more we talk and listen and learn the better chance our friends have for their liberation. If the idea of Truth is real… Eventually – it will win.
Hello Harry and Bea!
Clearly, we all agree on the end goal, which is to stop animal use. Probably where we differ then is in what interim goals we find acceptable. I actually kind of like the term “veganish” myself because I’d rather that the people (who as Bea says likely view us as extreme), at least think about treating animals better as opposed to not giving a toss at all. And to me having someone describe themselves as veganish indicates identification with at least some of our goals, and a wanting to be a part of our movement. But basically I agree (not that agreement is necessary per se of course) with most everything in both your comments and look forward to the hammering out of future posts. And champagne.
p.s. I needed a bit of levity after all this seriousness so wrote about the advantages of being vegans of, um, a certain age — let me know whether you identify!
One more inch leaves me as cold as the steel bars of the cages.
The body — the flesh — may have a bit more room to turn around or stretch out, but the SPIRIT of the innocent little one who is locked up remains just as oppressed.
And it is the spirit — the unseen thoughts and feelings that motivate every individual to act lively and loving and joyful and peaceful and intelligent and independent and autonomous — that is the essence of each of us. The cage, for me, represents an attempt to deny the spiritual value and validity of each pig and chicken.
Seeing Ruby napping peaceful in the nest she has built to her satisfaction feeds my soul more than any of the words you have written, Harry, though I agree with your each and every thought. Why? Because Ruby is the proof that you mean what you say. She is the beneficiary of your highest feelings and thoughts and resulting actions. She has been allowed to make her bed on her own terms, and has had no unnatural, unjust, unkind demands made upon her by others. Hers is the spirit of liberty for which we all long and which, in point of fact, is our heritage.
Harry, I’m so grateful your “little steps” (a title that caused me to flinch slightly when I read it) do NOT compromise with industry, refuse to be unwittingly (or wittingly) USED by industry to achieve its nefarious ends.
I do not mean to misjudge the motives of people who work in industry or on animal welfare with the goal of one day achieving full animal rights. Perhaps this quote by Noam Chomsky, from the documentary series THE CORPORATION, best explains how I feel: “When you look at a corporation, just like when you look at a slave owner, you want to distinguish between the institution and the individual. So slavery, for example, or other forms of tyranny, are inherently monsters, but the individuals participating in them can be the nicest guys you can imagine — benevolent, friendly, nice to their children, even nice to their slaves, caring about other people. As individuals, they may be anything, but in their institutional role, they are monsters, because the institutions are monsters.” (from Part 7: “Monstrous Obligations”)
Yes CQ, the photos of Ruby & Lucy, and Rocky and his hens, did not end up in this post accidentally. They explain best why I feel the way I do.
Every animal I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing has shown me a little more how they all love, hurt, miss, enjoy, mourn, rejoice, long for, have good days and have bad days. I’ve watched Plato protect the first ex-battery hens that we brought to Avondale as if they were his very own puppies, seen them respond in kind as they chose to lie with him in the sun (wing spread out over front paw, or onto warm belly), and the tears have stained my cheeks as for 3 days Plato lay on the grave of Babs, the first one to leave this world. When Annie died we left her body out under the old Napoleon Pear trees (her favourite spot) so that her fellow goat, Sally, and her paddock mates the horses and donkeys, could bid her farewell. And they did; on more than one occasion we found them all circled around her, standing silently as if quietly saying their goodbyes. After burying Annie, Sally spent a further 2 or 3 days at her grave, pawing it, sniffing it, lying on it. Mourning the loss of her pal who had not left her side in 5 years. I’ve watched Eddie, the patriarch of Avondale’s peacocks, protect a wild rabbit kit from a hawk circling overhead. He marched up and down the scrub that was harbouring this baby rabbit, squawking as loud as he could until he drew Sue and I out of the house and into the paddock to see if he was OK. The hawk circled twice more and left. Only then did Eddie relax and follow us back down to the house where he spends most of his time. Strutting somewhat proudly! And yes, every day I watch Ruby & Lucy nest, root, bounce around the paddocks. As only pigs can do. Avondale’s birds and animals are not extraordinary in any way. They are just what they are, what you are, and what this author is: loving, living, feeling, hoping, wishing, beautiful beings. And if I cannot cage them, or you and I, then I cannot cage their brothers and sisters.
Bea, I ended off my last reply to HGV without fully explaining those 3 things that swirl around my head. How they relate to this post. Hopefully my take on what you have said about the times in which slavery became unacceptable to Society will go some way to correcting that. Atrocious practices – including slavery and apartheid – were all too often undertaken in the name of God. The Church has generally, through the ages, proven to be a poor moral compass example. The godliness of those times was anything but God-like, and indeed all too often was used to drive those very atrocities that any G/god would have been appalled at. So Society’s moral compass, perhaps more closely aligned with the Church then than now, was as far off due North as it is today. Perhaps even more so as we were enslaving our own. But the laws protected that faulty compass. Again just as they do today.
Already though, I sense another change in that moral compass. Mainstream newspapers and magazines and commercial television stations carry far more animal advocacy stories than they ever used to. Public outrage is filled with more voices than ever before. It’s actually becoming public! And the big, cruel corporates are repeatedly on their back feet as they try and prevent our moral compass from rectifying itself. Teaming up with AR groups is yet another desperate attempt to do so. But that red needle is moving steadily back to due North, and this is where a Society – and its children – may have an easier task precisely because of less ‘godliness’ distorting their own moral compass. For it is that internal moral compass that rallies against injustice, drives us forward with passion. That brings about change. And, as mentioned by you, it now has some far-reaching, whizz-bang, technological communication tools to use as it does so.
I agree CQ that “one more inch leaves me as cold as the steel bars of the cages”. Sadly though… Because I don’t believe the welfare/reform position will end any time soon – Perhaps we should all grab some warm blankets?
I don’t like it – Larger cages or “welfare rated” carcasses don’t fit into what I advocate for either – But it seems that this will be the trend for as long as it takes…
And I don’t want to be critical of anyone’s advocacy either as I re-stated in my last Provoked post… And certainly here I would have chosen better words – Maybe “hammer out” as in using a hammer to build, not tear down was what I should have said.
I hope in the end that all advocates just agree to disagree and proceed on the methods that hold truest for them… I believe that’s what will happen anyway with or without our consent. :/
Harry… Your last story about Babs and Annie… And all others who have been and gone – In my mind, I made a terrible mistake a few months ago in the way I buried Eunice the first of two original hens that came to me from a shelter. I thought that laying her to rest close to the coop with a short visit and final goodbye from her friends would be appropriate.
Well… For many days afterward her sister Chicklett mourned by the site… The same gestures you described… Kicking at the dirt, scratching around the burial area exclusively. Intense, almost other-world gazing too… Even now, when I look for her she’s never with the flock – But always by herself next to where she last saw her beautiful Eunice. *Lost*. She just hasn’t “moved on” and I don’t know how to help her make this happen. I wished I would have done things otherwise –
However I am glad that your story is different… I’m relieved to know that in some instances passing does go in a peaceful and settled manner… Perhaps this all shows how many variables there are to a given situation? No one really knows the best answer…
All we can do is call on the most honest thoughts within us to guide us down a chosen path… I think removing a stone or two for other who might also walk this way is a kind thing to do. And as I see it, that’s what advocates and stories provide to each other… RIP Eunice, Babs, Annie and all.
I was about to remove my last reply as it’s time for me to get off my soapbox but Bea beat me to it. Apologies to all for being on that soapbox – when I become Sally, or Plato or Eddie or Ruby and Lucy I hurt so much at times I just want to shout. I need to watch that for I know it sends me in frantic circles. Time to let others speak more. CQ’s comment just fired up that inner passion again although she had already said it. And better than me. I know how extreme I have become. And, while still holding on tight to my beliefs, the last thing I want to do is sound higher and mightier than my fellow social misfits. (Lest you see my monkey’s arse
.)
Bea, beware of thinking you made a terrible mistake with Eunice and Chicklett. There’s seldom just one right and wrong way. (Yes, in handling death and in handling advocacy.) What I described is how we did it. That time. I’m not sure if it helped the others by doing it that way but that’s what we did. And as to those times and now – again I did not mean to knock your opinion. My eternal optimist says there is an internal moral compass in all of us that is stronger than any ‘godliness’ that Society ever wishes to sprout. As you and I have discussed before God/ god/ or gods would not approve of such ‘godliness’. But I realise ‘godliness’ was just one of your arguments. There’s been so much written on blogs lately about how we hurt from what we see around us. Perhaps I need that unwavering belief in a gentler life as my No. 1 defence mechanism. My security blankie.
One thing I do know for certain is that everyone writing comments here, all with our differing opinions – and our passion – provide a warm blankie that we all need. Who would have thought that, generally having been around a bit and all passionate about the very same cause, we could have caused those blankies to heat up so much?!
Please continue commenting – I’m going to keep my idle fingers busy on my guitar …
Oh Harry… I don’t think you’ve been on a preachy “soap box” at all! I think you’ve been very patient and considerate with your responses. So much so that you’ve actually inspired me to tone down my usual “more blunt” replies…
I’m sure your guitar playing offers soothing melodies – But I assure you so do your wise words too!
Dear Harry,
I never see you as extreme. I never read “soapbox” into your language.
Why are you apologizing? For what? For being honest? For being true to yourself? For having high ideals and actually living them, to the best of your ability?
Don’t you DARE remove a single word from your posts. Please!
For one thing, I have just shared this blog and your previous one, “Is humane killing of animals for our use OK?” with a new friend, a vegetarian, who I believe will take a shine to both.
For another, do you think William Lloyd Garrison hung his head low after he wrote his American anti-slavery tracts? Do you think he minced his words? Do you think he bowed abjectly to the naysayers, even if some were his friends?
Garrison’s words weren’t arrogant or extreme or personal attacks. They were the TRUTH, spoken from the rooftops. Here is his most famous battle cry: “I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — and I will be heard!”
Your words may be “gentler,” Harry, but they carry the same unequivocal message on behalf of your “enslaved” brethren. We need you to stay true to them. I do, anyway, speaking for myself.
I’m reminded of Franklin Roosevelt’s remark to his countrymen during the depths of the depression, uttered in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
We needn’t be afraid of asserting what justice means to us. Like defense attorneys, we’re representing innocent others. Like pro bono defenders, we’re not out to gain a single thing for ourselves. Nor are we out to cut down a single person who may not, for whatever reason, agree. By its very nature, justice defeats whatever is unlike it, all on its own.
You are speaking from a position of love and of hope, Harry, and just because some or many may disagree with you, that is NO reason to falter. Stay true to your convictions, and don’t go down the road of no return: pessimism.
With your leave, Harry, I will quote from a “Godly in the right sort of way” religious leader of whom I am fond. “When the heart speaks, however simple the words, its language is always acceptable to those who have hearts,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy in a short essay “Heart to Heart,” found in her Miscellaneous Writings (page 262). That, my Avondale friend, is how your words and your photos speak to me.
This woman, by the way, NEVER compromised with evil. Rather, she exposed and expunged it as the powerless sham that it is. And so must we. For our friends Ruby and Lucy and all the rest of the pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, ducks, geese, and other indispensable individuals who inhabit the best that is in us.
Thanks CQ. And do not fear: I will not compromise and I will do my utmost not to falter. If I were in the positions that others are in (human and non-human animals) I’d want someone to stand up for me. How could I expect that if I was not prepared to stand up for them. Plus, when I leave here I want to be as tattered and used up as the Velveteen Rabbit …
I think you are as beloved by your brood as the Velveteen Rabbit, and if that means tattered and used up, well, so be it!
While I was away from your blog and you slipped in your reassuring response, I discovered a quote that says it all for me. It’s from Thomas Paine’s “The Rights of Man, Part 2,” published in 1792: “A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.”
I’ve just read the CarpeVegan Vegan 100 Final Recap and I think it fits in perfectly with what we’ve been discussing over the past few weeks. Jed’s ‘We need a big tent philosophy.’ is spot on. While the Vegan 100 was not about welfare vs abolition it certainly was about reaching people. And did so with surprising results with Bree at No 1 and Supreme Master at No 2. Support for those 2 no doubt contributed enormously to the 50 000 site visitors in the first month. Highly unlikely that all visitors were vegan, and highly likely that many non-vegans are doing some serious thinking now. One does not have to agree with the results to admire the impressive outcome.
PS Before anyone mentions it I better: yes, the abolitionists did not feature … Or is it simply that us abolitionists need all to become porn stars?!
(As an aside, a Supreme Master crew did some filming at Avondale a few years ago. It was a beautiful day.)
“Or is it simply that us abolitionists need all to become porn stars?!”
Go for it Harry! I double dare ya.
Fascinating list. Had never heard of Bree, and was going Master who? But Alex Hershaft & Farm Animal Rights Movement came in at #80 and there are certainly others in the top 100 that I would identify as abolitionist. Yep, hopefully lots of people from unlikely corners who had never given veganism a second thought will do so now.