We Can Do Both: Creative Nonviolent Vegan Education & Animal Welfare Reform

October 31, 2008

Gary Francione wrote:

“Creative, nonviolent vegan education is anything but ‘passive.’ It is the most effective way of decreasing demand for animal products. It is the most effective way of effecting a cultural shift from the notion that animals are things that we can exploit as long as we do so ‘humanely’ to beings who are members of the moral community with a right not to be brought into existence and killed just because we enjoy the taste of their flesh and the products that we derive from their suffering.”

While I agree that vegan education is worthwhile and effective, I have serious reservations about the thought that vegan education alone will “reduce the demand for animal products” thus reduce the consumption of animal products. Certainly, veganism is on the rise and more vegans means fewer meat-eaters. But the stats tell us the people who continue to eat meat are eating MORE meat, not the same or less, so “demand” for animal products is NOT decreasing. During my lifetime, meat consumption in the US has nearly doubled (source).

Moreover, vegans tend to reproduce at a lower rate than meat-eaters. We tend to postpone having children and many vegans won’t ever reproduce out of a concern for over-population. (see the Veg News article “To Breed of Not to Breed“. ) So long as we focus ONLY on vegan education we’re severely limiting our movement. That is, so long as we work only to reduce demand, and don’t work to reduce supply, we’re never going to have a true vegan revolution.

The US does not have a truly “free” market. Just look at the recent Wall Street bailout to see for yourself how government intervenes and “rescues” businesses that have made poor decisions. Animal agriculture is supported by government through subsidies and buyouts. Our public schools buy cheap, left-over meat and dairy, not only to save costs, but also to support “the farmers.” (source) The Canadian government buys “surplus” pigs and simply destroys them. All in the name of supporting the economy. (source)

Our nation’s children are indoctrinated and coerced into eating animal products because that’s what’s served in school lunches and in family dinners. They become animal product consumers as adults. And then nonviolent vegan education is supposed to undo this lifelong indoctrination? Yeah right. Even the kids who are exposed to vegan education don’t experience nearly the information saturation as kids who are exposed to animal industry marketing. For example, McDonald’s targets their advertising at young children (source).

That’s why it takes a certain character to be a vegan these days. Certainly, it’s easier than it was ten or twenty years ago. But it’s still a bit of a challenge. It’s still swimming against the current. The people who just do what they’re told, the ones who don’t question authority, the “sheeple” are not vegan and won’t go vegan until veganism is as commonplace as omnivorism. That’s why people who like uneven power structures (aka dominance) tend to prefer the taste of things they think are meat (source). And this is why animal advocates lean to the left in the US political system.

The animal industries have more money and more power than the animal rights movement. Animal exploiters have politicians in their back-pockets and TV executives in their front pockets. Animal advocates have the moral high ground and a stronger motivation: we’re motivated by justice and ethics, they’re motivated by money and aggression. But animal advocates will NEVER go away. We will ALWAYS exist. The animal exploiting industries, however, will simply disappear when something else more profitable comes along.

The pro-animal movement MUST take a two-pronged approach (to working within the system): we must not only reduce demand, we must reduce supply. Anything that makes animal agriculture less profitable or more cumbersome is good for animals. Thus, Prop 2, even though it will only increase the cost of “egg production” by one penny per egg (source), it STILL pro-animal. And this is one reason we ought to vote YES on Prop 2.

PS - here’s some vegan education: Veg News has a new vegan starter kit available for free online >>

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Miscellaneous 

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Comments

1 Responses to “We Can Do Both: Creative Nonviolent Vegan Education & Animal Welfare Reform”

  1. Judith on November 1st, 2008 7:12 am

    I’m with you on this. It’s nice to be “pure” and committed to the exact goal you want to see, but I think we’ll see a lot less animal suffering if we can work with people just to reduce their consumption, not eliminate it entirely. When you think that so many people still support George W. Bush you know there is a huge population out there that does not think things through. I am not saying that most omnivores are unaware and uncaring but I do think it is harder to move many of them to a vegan diet than it is to move Bushies to Obama.

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