Howdy everyone,
Is it the rights of animals, or the suffering of animals that are in question when a vegan shoves a graphic flier in your face? Often, it’s whatever serves their argument at the time.
First off, it is always an arbitrary amount of suffering reduction. How much suffering is acceptable to inflict upon the world? Often they might say to reduce suffering as much as one can within their circumstances. Yet, it is assumed that this would include going meat, dairy, egg, fur, leather, animal testing free at the very least because its so easy to go vegan, especially over-night cold turkey. Anything that fits within the other undefined premise of unnecessary suffering must also go. Animal skins do not need to be worn, therefore it is immoral to make them suffer for you to be warm. By purchasing synthetic materials, you would definitely reduce suffering overall.
When you point out that you’ve worn the same fur coat for over three years and bought it at a second-hand store; despite the fact that you are recycling; despite the fact that you are not contributing to fast-fashion and sweat-shops (oases of suffering), they argue that the cayote was still murdered for that fur. It had the right to live, you are wearing a murder scene on your back! ‘Human rights are animal rights’! You don’t feel guilty for wearing that coat? Wow, disgusting.
If you show how you did reduce suffering overall, by not purchasing new furs or contributing to sweat-shop profit margins, the pendulum swings to animal rights. Notice though, that the answer is still a vegan solution.
They cry out that no slaughter is humane slaughter. My dear, dear friend, Joey Carbstronk loves saying that. That animal wanted to live! Even if it is a grass-fed, free to roam, antibiotic free, hormone free animal that was stunned in the field and carried off to the local abattoir to be sold in the local butcher, that is not a humane way to treat an animal! You might as well drag it by a hook in its foot and skin it alive. So even if they can’t feel it, they can’t see it, they can’t sense their death coming and they lived an arguably harm-free life, that is still completely inhumane #govegan.
Which rights will animals be given and when will we enforce them? Are you getting away with murder when you kill that spider by flushing it down the shower drain? When the threshers mow down innocent critters in the soy/wheat/barley/corn fields, is that manslaughter? Do pesticides count? What about the mining that ‘displaces’ animals? Are you paying for the destruction of land and annihilation of all organisms occupying it so you can insta your vegan smoothie bowls on your iPhone10? I guess so.
B-b-but wait! *SWING* At least eating plants and using synthetic everything would cause less suffering overall. All the soy/wheat/corn fed to animals in factory farms could feed the whole world and all the animals would no longer suffer. The world cannot just eat bread cereals and tofu. The market is already saturated with those products. Not to mention they lack any real nutrients. And this is where veganism leads to globalisation.
Charlie Tom 