Human history is rife with cases of terrible injustice. Since the dawn of human civilization, the most powerful tribes have subjugated others, often in the most barbaric ways. Today, even though there have been major improvements in the way we treat one another, there is still modern slavery, though in a less conspicuous form than in the past.
War has become more deadly, but on the bright side it has become less ubiquitous compared to a century or two ago. Overall, our treatment of one another has improved, at least compared to the days of Roman Coliseums, witch burnings and the slave trade, which were widely perceived as normal and even encouraged by many sectors of the general population.
Conversely, the way we treat non-human animals has significantly worsened in modern times. Sure, we no longer use horse drawn carriages, at least not like before, and laws to prevent cruelty against dogs and cats have become more stringent in some countries.
Cows, pigs, chickens, fish, dolphins, sea turtles, whales, and other animals, meanwhile, have suffered the consequences of humanity’s voracious desire for animal flesh, which, it turns out, is in no way necessary for human health, regardless of what many people believe and how ubiquitous its consumption is around the world.
Global meat consumption has more than tripled over the last 50 years and today, over 70 billion land animals are slaughtered each year. This does not include the fishing industry, which also kills thousands of sharks, whales, sea turtles and dolphins that end up caught in industrial fishing nets.
Estimates show that the overwhelming majority of farmed animals on Earth are raised on factory farms, where animals are tightly crammed into industrial warehouses with little to no sunlight or fresh air, and numerous investigations have shown the immense cruelty that regularly takes place for the production of meat, dairy and eggs.
Animal agriculture, whether it takes place in cruel factory farms or out in the open is, for the most part, extremely damaging to the environment, and is the leading driver of rainforest deforestation and freshwater consumption, and among the leading contributors to climate change.
Are all movements equal?
For the reasons stated above, many people around the world are choosing to adopt a vegan lifestyle, which, by definition, is “a philosophy and way of living that seeks to exclude -as far as possible and practicable- all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.”
Many vegans today like to suggest that if you are against animal oppression that you should also be against all forms of oppression, which, indeed, makes perfect sense. If you are against the mistreatment of animals, you should obviously be against the mistreatment of humans by default.
However, many people, both vegans and non-vegans, take this premise as the suggestion that if you are vegan, but are not actively participating in other social justice movements, such as joining a march for transgender rights, then “you’re a hypocrite”. This way of thinking has been recently defined as “intersectional veganism”, or veganism that actively unites all social justice movements into one, because they are all perceived as being the same “fight against oppression”.
Humans against Humans
Even though things have somewhat improved over time, still, every single day, humans commit horrific crimes against other humans around the world, and there is no doubt we as individuals should strive to prevent such things from happening as much as possible.
Today, much of the focus is on Vladimir Putin’s savage invasion of Ukraine, which has killed well over 7,000 civilians (many of them children) as of the time of writing.
Less focus has been on places like Yemen, where well over 10,000 children have been killed in a proxy war between Saudi Arabia (weapons and backing courtesy of the United States of America) and Iran, not to mention the millions of people at risk of starvation and dire need of humanitarian aid in the country.
There are many other conflicts and explicit other forms of oppression taking place around the world today, and if there is any way we as individuals can potentially put an end to, or at least mitigate, such horrors, no matter where we are in the world, we absolutely should.
Any decent human being should wholeheartedly agree that we must treat one another with respect, and there is no doubt racism and other forms of hatred against perceived out groups is despicable, and no group of individuals, no matter how powerful, should try to oppress another group, and that includes the violence happening today in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere, whether caused by racism, nationalism, religious sectarianism, greed, or anything else.
But the reasons for much of the misery we humans inflict upon one another are often complex, and there is only so much those of us concerned can do to help, be it donating to a charity or voting for a leader who may have the power to do something from our home country. Either way, most of us are not actively and knowingly contributing directly to the suffering of oppressed humans every time we make a purchase or decide what to eat.
Sure, the iPhone I needed to buy for work may or may not have involved child exploitation for its production, but this is not the same as knowingly purchasing the flesh and bones of a child.
When I go to a supermarket, I do not see the severed body parts of Ukrainians neatly stacked on the shelves, generally accepted to be just another food item, where each purchase goes to finance more murders on the part of Putin’s army.
When I go to a restaurant, I do not see Baby Back Ribs of Yemeni babies on the menu, where each purchase creates a demand for more massacred Yemeni infants. At clothing stores, I have never seen a coat made from the skin of a homosexual, and when I buy moisturizing cream I am quite certain the product was never put in the eyeballs of an Arab or Jew or Gypsy in a testing lab prior to market launch.
Concern for human rights, especially the victims of violence and genocide, is rarely met with ridicule, as it is with the rights of non-human animals, to whom violence, torture and genocide are widely considered a normal and acceptable practice, as long as it’s done in the name of supply and demand, and as long as it’s not done to cats and dogs (with some exceptions to the latter in certain parts of Asia).
Some movements are ambiguous, veganism is not.
If someone does not consider themselves an active participant in the Black Lives Matter Movement, the Transgender Rights Movement, or the Feminist Movement, does that mean they are actively participating in the abuse, torture or murder of black people, transgender people, or women?
Usually not.
Those actively against such movements may or may not be perpetrators of acts to the detriment of these groups. But what about those who simply aren’t sure what these movements are exactly about and do not take part in street protests or other activities?
What exactly does it mean to be a feminist? Is it normal for a man to suddenly announce to his colleagues “I am now officially a feminist. Therefore, as of today, I will no longer abuse women, and for the first time ever I might actually hire a woman to join our company.”
The same can go for the other movements mentioned above, which may have good intentions and should be encouraged if their goal is to make the world a better place and promote equality for all people, but they may be somewhat ambiguous. If you are now part of the transgender movement, what exactly does that mean, that you have officially decided to stop beating up transgender people on the street, as you did regularly until you officially became a transgender activist?
Meanwhile, if someone does not consider themselves part of the vegan movement in any way, it does mean they are actively and knowingly participating in an industry that tortures and kills billions of animals on a yearly basis, where animals are often crammed into small, lightless, virtually airless spaces, where it is common practice for pigs to have their testicles crushed by a factory farm worker to prevent them from behaving aggressively, a result of madness from being confined to such small, crowded spaces where they step on their own faeces, or the egg industry, where egg-laying hens are genetically modified to lay up to 30 times as many eggs as their wild ancestors, which frequently causes their bones to break, since the calcium in their bodies is diverted for the formation of eggshells, or the dairy industry, where female cows are forcibly impregnated and their calves subsequently stolen from them (if they’re males, they become veal), causing them to bellow and scream for days over their lost offspring.
Now, to be clear, once again, the purpose of this article is not to undermine the legitimacy and importance of any other human rights or social justice movements. The world needs more concerned citizens in many realms.
But to suggest vegans who don’t participate in these other movements are hypocrites is to turn regular people away from veganism, a movement that is in a league of its own, and one that desperately needs more people to become a part of it.
If you’re a passionate reader then you may very well enjoy my fiction novel The Shadow in the Mirror, where you can find out what’s actually going on with Harold Hopkins (genre: paranormal suspense).
Harold’s only wish is to lead a normal life. Yet for reasons he can’t comprehend, he is shunned by all living things. No matter how hard he tries, he is unable to garner attention from the woman he loves, nor can he foster genuine friendships or find a decent job. Meanwhile, since childhood, he has been haunted by his own reflection in the mirror, which frequently acts as a window to another world. The person on the other side is everything Harold wishes he could be, like a clone of himself leading the fruitful life he was destined to lead. He finally sets off in search of answers, where he learns about the unearthly events that took place when he was born, and discovers the tantalizing truth about his own existence…
