World Day Against Speciesism
A Vegan
We exploit and kill hundreds of millions of animals each day. To justify that, we have convinced ourselves that their lives and sufferings are not worth much: "they are just animals!"
However, animals are sensitive beings that also want to avoid suffering and that wish to enjoy their lives. Just like humans.
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Join in the World Day Against Speciesism on June 5, 2010
Speciesism is to species what racism is to race, i.e. the will to disregard the interests of some individuals in order to give advantage to others under arbitrary excuses. A series of (existing or imaginary) differences that bear no logical link with what they are supposed to legitimize is put forward. Having a high or less high level of intelligence or belonging or not to the human species is not a rational criterion for discrimination. Speciesist discrimination is therefore indefensible.
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Speciesism is an irrational ideology, and society as a whole has to take position against the totally unfair practices that it generates.
In pratice, speciesism is an ideology which justifies the use of animals by humans in ways that would be unacceptable if the victims were humans.
Animals are bred and slaughtered for their meat, their milk, their eggs, their skins (leather, fur), their silk; they are fished for human consumption; they are used for scientific experiments; hunted for entertainment; locked up for life in zoos and dolphinaria; trained and exploited in circuses, killed for shows (such as bullfights), etc.
Fighting against these practices and against their underlying ideology is the task of the movement against speciesism.
The World Day Against Speciesism will take place on June 5, 2010, and it will be held for the third year in a row.
All over the world actions are being organized in order to protest against an ideology which is as reprehensible as racism or sexism and which causes countless numbers of victims that generally undergo appalling lives and deaths.
Meat consumption is the main reason for such a tragedy:
58 billion land vertebrates and even more fish and crustaceans (144 million tons) are killed each year in the world for that reason, that is solely for the taste of flesh consumption.
Speciesism cannot be justified nor can the oppressions resulting from it!
Let's abolish meat and all other form of animal exploitation!
About speciesism
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Why is it necessary to question the notion of speciesism? Because it is the underlying ideology for both the laws which deny rights to animals and the practices generated by them.
Here are some examples from our experience as activists:
Regarding criticism against some practices:
How can we seriously put on the same level, on the one hand, the fundamental interests of animals not to be killed and, on the other hand, the human interest to eat them, which in comparison is nothing but a whim? That is speciesism.
If it is illegitimate to use human beings for vivisection, why use animals from other species? Is it not solely because of speciesism?
If we do not wish to be locked up, amputated and killed, how can we justify our doing it to other beings that suffer from these pratices just the same? That is speciesism.
Why do we deny rights to animals? Is it solely due to the fact that they are "just" animals? That is speciesism.
The notion of speciesism is also important because:
speciesism rests upon the same ideological bases as racist or sexist discriminations which use "nature" in order to justify the inferiorization of some individuals. The "nature" of animals is thought of as inferior because it is said to be "animal", "instinctive", "programmed" whereas the "nature" of humans is thought of as superior because it is said to be "free", "rational" or "spiritual". These "inferior" and "superior" "natures" are supposed to legitimize human domination over other sentient beings.
by definition, the notion of equality cannot rest upon arbitrary criteria; otherwise it is no longer equality, but injustice and inequality. This notion must embrace all the beings that have interests to defend and therefore interests that have to be defended, that is to say: all sentient beings. There mustn't be double moral standards: one, egalitarian among humans and humans only, and the other, elitist and unfair towards others.
the notion of the speciesist ideology highlights the existence of a structured vision of the world which leads to the inferiorization and the invisibilization of animals.
Here are some effects of this ideology among others:
animals do not generally appear as individuals, but rather they are perceived as undifferentiated specimens from their species;
a confusion is often made between the fight for the recognition of their own individual interests and the fight for the preservation of species...
Here we are saying loud and clear that we care about sentient beings as individuals.
Just as racism and sexism are political notions, speciesism is a political notion which enables us to make a social analysis of the animal rights issue. It enables us to view the fight as political and to put it in a parallel with the fights for liberation that came before it, and to think of actions for the short and the long term (e.g. the demand for the abolition of meat). By comparing it with racist and sexist ideologies and social systems, we make people realize that breeding, hunting, fishing and other practices of animal exploitation and oppression are not "natural", but that they are socially instituted, historically situated, ethically reprehensible, and that they can be fought against on a political level.
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By drawing attention onto speciesism, the World Day Against Speciesism gives us the opportunity to assert the fact that the oppression of animals, just like that of humans, is not a matter of personal choice. In the same way that killing or ill-treating humans is not an issue of personal freedom, but is an injustice that has to be fought against, the animal rights issue has to appear as an ethical, social and political issue which concerns everyone and which society urgently needs to accept to discuss.
http://erepublik.veganforce.net/img/first-day/Icon-gold.gif" /> Get eRepublik gold for spreading the anti speciesism message!
Help us bring attention to the World Day Against Speciesism and get some Q3-Q5 food for your efforts.The best attempt (newspaper article, graphic, shout,...) will get 3 pieces of gold!Everyone who writes a constructive newspaper article on the topic will receive Q4 food.The first one who writes an article and lets me know will get Q5food!http://erepublik.veganforce.net/img/first-day/Icon_adv_buyfood.png" />You can also get Q3 and Q4 food for subscribing and voting for this newspaper article.I will give 5 x Q3 food and 2 x Q4 food per 100 new subscribers/voters. Just reply with the number of your !! and vote. Example: s12 v11
Our organisation (The Vegan Society) will pay out everyone. Thanks Vegan Society!
Comments
wtf?! O.o
I would like some rump and beast of that fine beast you have there
It's a food chain. Accept it.
I like pancakes 🙂
Vote 6 Sub 3
voto sub5
v7 s2
What's wrong with racism?
Now get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich with that slave i bought you!
Ham if you please.
v9 s6
Aoife Anon, now i make a sandwich with you!
I hope you realise the term species is also used for plants...
and if you realise that I hope you will realise you are going to starve if you follow that theory 😃
Long story ...
God created humans as predators, that is why we have two eyes facing exactly forward, to catch prey of course, unlike herbivores whose eyes facing sideways,
if humans are born as a vegan, then we will be immediately stood up and walked a few hours after birth, just as calf,
so please never forget about your fate, you're human race after all, 🙂
"if humans are born as a vegan, then we will be immediately stood up and walked a few hours after birth, just as calf,"
and the cubs of tigers, lions, wolves,.... 😃
vote😛 10
subscribe: 7
s 8, v 12
No vote, no sub
v13 s9
God? Where is God? He gave me 2 eyes, but I can't see him.
Yeah right, lets exploit only the plants that are so silly that they provide oxygen for us and all those animals. Why is it wrong to breed an animal to eat it or its products ? We have to get some important substances from animals and somehow we have to do it. You surely agree that it is better to eat the animals that we raised than the wild ones. Killing or torturing animals for sport is not, in any way, a necessary thing to do but for any other purpose, lab testing included, that actually benefits the human kind on the long run should be considered justified. Human needs and rights should always be above the animal ones and all of those ridiculous laws considering domesticated animals rights should be abolished unless you employ an non-human animal lawyer. Now stop your childish thinking and get back to work !
Have you lost your mind?
So we should stop eating meat "on a whim", and hurt defenseless vegetables instead? How can you propose something so inhuman? Plant is a being too, it wants to breathe, to grow! How can you smash dying carcass of this valuable life in your jaws?
World is not perfect, neither are people. We are not beings able to feed on pure energy, we have to eat, shit, die and so on. Sad it is, but you have to accept it. Fighting it is like forcing man to give birth.
I like a rump that you can tenderize with your hand Get it somewhere between pink and red.
Thinking about your actions (and the consequences they have) can never be childish or useless.
Fact is that a vegan has the smallest possible ecological food print so clearly being vegan is GOOD for the planet.
Another fact is that a vegan diet destroys LESS plantlife. Animal products are extremely cost and resource ineffective. To bring up a farm animal much more land and plants are destroyed than if we would eat them directly.
The millions of healthy vegans (statisticly vegans are healthier than non-vegans) prove a man can perfectly live on a plant based diet. What more it shows a vegan diet is MORE healthy.
whether you go vegan for the animals, the planet or yourself isn't that important but that you at least think of your own consumption behavior and wish to better the world is
Anyway I thought it would be a pleasant change to talk once about real world issues.
hey, v 15, s 11!!!
sub 11, vote 15!!!
@A Vegan
To fabricate artificial substances to substitute the animal created ones takes even more energy thus consuming more plants and it is still in question if we even could completely emulate animal products.
The healthiness of your diet differs drastically from case to case, I personally know a person whose bone and muscle structure hasn't developed well since his parents were vegetarians, he is now half crippled and eats meat so his condition wouldn't get any worse. The impact of not-eating-meat hasn't been the same on his female relative.
Being on any diet shows that a man has at least some character so it isn't surprising that statistically vegans are healthier since their are capable of restraining themselves from harmful substances but this doesn't show that your diet is universally healthy or even healthier than a diet involving meat.
Animals that are exclusively herbivores have significantly different digestive system than omnivores, they typically have much larger stomach so they could eat more plants to get the needed energy for their metabolism since plants contain less energy/mass, furthermore herbivores have different production ratio in enzymes. You would have to eat significantly more plants then those animals to satisfy your energy needs since much of the plant parts that some herbivore animals can use is unusable by the omnivore/carnivore species which means that energy is being wasted and once again brings your theory of using less energy when eating plants in question. To artificially produce enzymes that would allow us to act as herbivores would waste even more energy.
lolz
I think that talking about RL issues is against eRep rules 🙁
But anyway, I think it's noble to care for and sympathize with animals, but I think you can't expect to much from the human race - we are evolutionary determined to certain preferences, and although some will succeed at overcoming those, most of us won't. Just like communism didn't succeed at abolishing private possession, as it appears to be a primary psychological need, I think it will be impossible to abolish animal products, because most people would find excluding these from their diet an extremely demanding and nearly impossible task. Reducing meat consumption would indeed be preferable (for ethical and enviromental reasons, for example). Extreme solutions rarely do the trick in real life, I'm afraid...
As to speciesism, it seems to me to be a slippery slope. Would it be wrong and speciesist/discriminating of me to save a human baby from a fire, instead of two puppies (assuming I would had to choose and couldn't save all of them)? If you say that human=animal, then 1 baby < 2 puppies, making it a wrong choice. But few people would agree with that statement.
I'm afraid it is against eRep rules (although I don't think this is fair):
http://wiki.erepublik.com/index.php/Rules_Addendum#Spam">http://wiki.erepublik.com/index.php/Rule[..]Spam
"The following actions ARE considered spam:
[...]
-posting articles or topics of real world events not directly related to eRepublik "
I do agree that we have to reduce our meat intake, but I personally wouldn't go vegan or even strictly vegetarian right away - I have too little will power, I'm afraid 😉
My point wasn't about choosing animals above humans, my example was only meant to point out that treating animals equal to humans isn't unproblematic. In your example few people will call you a racist, but I think a lot will think that you made a wrong or even immoral choice. And eventhough some might find an acceptable psychological motivation for your action, they still won't be able to justify it ethically. In a similar situation, where a person would save 10 dogs (even if they belonged to him or had a strong emotional significance for him) instead of saving 1 human, I think almost no one would find "He really loved those dogs" an acceptable motivation, and certainly not a justification.
Everyone is speciecist, even my vegan friends. Yesterday I tried to exterminate a whole colony of green flies who were eating my budleia. Normally the ladybirds would take care of that, but the ants who seem to regard the green flies as their life stock attack the ladybirds. So it was up to me to do the job. Of course My vegan friends would have wanted me to sacrifice the budleia, but even after this cruel mass murder, they are still my friends. I am sure they would have reacted differently if those ten of thousands of green flies had been human 😉
That being said, I must add that I like your concern for the well being of animals and our ecology. Only wanted to point out is not just black and white.
@A Vegan
And again you are not looking at the whole picture in one
part while you are talking about global progress in the
other. Taking omega 3 fats from 'flaxseed oil' is
possible, but how many lands under that plant it would
take to produce enough of it to supply a larger
proportion of mankind ? And btw thermal processing of
food does not increase it's energy but some food is
better digested when cooked.
Even if it could be possible to completely replace animal
products with plant ones I don't see why is it worth the
effort ? As far as I see it only comes in question if
animals should be used or not, since using animal products
is not in any way harmful to our planet. Should we also
kill all the predators and parasites on this planet so
they couldn't abuse their poor herbivore relatives ?
Animal products are just as healthy as the plant ones !
Wolves rule, not the sheep !
No vote no sub If we listen to you what would be eat? Only eating vegetables will get protein deficiency. And what about animal who eat meat? Should you educate them as well? Sorry I have a juicy steak waiting for me.
@SS Kain
To be honest I don't know how much land it needs, I do know it will take MUCH LESS land than is needed for factory farmy.
Heating food does change its nutritional value, don't know why you would deny this.
It is completely possible to replace animal products with plant based once.
Why it is worth the effort to go vegan?
Going vegan IS the best thing you can do for the planet.
Factory farming is one of the most polutive industries in the world.
So if you are concerned about global warming or interested in the environment going vegan is the best thing you can do. Nobody will deny this.
Going vegan can be the best thing you can do for your health. Animal products are not at all as healthy as vegetable once. Lets only think about animal fats vs vegetable fats.
A vegan doesn't need to have a protein deficiency at all. Did you know tofu has more proteins than eggs?
Many famous sportsmen are vegan. You can find a few at http://www.veganfitness.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=723&start=0">http://www.veganfitness.net/viewtopic.ph[..]rt=0
Going vegan saves real living creatures from a live of torture and exploitation. Why do we say in one hand humans have a moral and wish to improve themselves but in the other hand torturing and exploitation innocent animals is no problem. Sorry but I don't get that. I am not a tiger. Rape is also normal in the animal world but does this mean we should rape others?
Going vegan is really easy and not unhealthy in this day and age.
Not so long ago if you would talk about racism it would be as ridiculed as speciesism is now.
What I mean things change. Less than a century ago woman couldn't even vote. Being open to change isn't that bad.
You don't need to go vegan for me but what is the harm about learning more about the consequences of your consumption behavior.
I really don't like the concept of speciesism, it has too many inconsistancies and the comparison with racism or sexism is very relative. I do support respect for all living creatures and a conscious attitude towards our modern life style. And I like this debate, especially the contributions that are made in a friendly and respectful way 😉
What an amazing article! You really spelled it out for everyone to read and understand, if they are willing to consider it without prejudice.
Well done, friend!
Regarding the comments here:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” ~Gandhi
@A Vegan
I was never favorising mass food production like they do
in some countries. The large food selling chains generally feed and keep animals and plants alike in such a way that it
produces an extremely unhealthy products for the
consumers. That doesn't mean that it has to be done that
way. Their way is easy profit but they are killing their
customers so in the long run I am sure that they will
lose.
You talk about proteins like there is only one kind,
which is wrong. There are lots of kinds of proteins and I
am not sure if they are all so easily accessible without
animal usage.
Like I said : Thermal processing of food does NOT
increase it's energy value. It increases its nutritional
value because thermal processing causes lots of chemical
reactions ( some of them include disrupting the cellular
structure ) so we can digest it better. Some food is
better to be eaten raw as processing it changes
substances that are essential, like vitamin C .
It was never about torturing animals, they are serving
their purpose. There wouldn't be any domesticated animals
if we haven't made them that way. Domesticated cows have
to be milked in certain periods or they will die, some
sheeps have to be cut etc. That is a fact. We created
computers to serve a purpose, will your children be one
day against their usage ?
You are ought to change that word 'speciesism' since you
are proposing to exploit plants instead of animals and
plants are species as much as animals are.
"Racism is the belief that race is a primary determinant
of human traits and capacities and that racial
differences produce an inherent superiority of a
particular race."
Don't you think that we are superior to animals ?
If you don't then I say let them defend on their own, if
you do then you are a 'speciesist'.
I have just a question if we ban meat for plant based food were are we going to find the lands to cultivate the huge amoun of vegetable to feed the world? Should we destroy entire forest to do it? And you now the peoples who has the longest lifespan in the world aren't vegetarian.
@Xgentis Lempereur
We will have much more land to spare. Currently most land is used to feed and harbor factory farmed animals. Meat is extremely resources ineffective. The price of meat is only so low because it is being subsidized like hell.
I am not saying vegetarians live the longest. I am sure a lot more factors than your eating habits come into play. But in the other hand most studies and statistics do show that a vegetarian diet will increase you changes for a good health.
My favorite cut? Rump and neck, without bones.
WTF?!?!!??? I think you have too much free time on your hands, and live an easy life... Having to worry about 'speciesm'!!!
Unbelieavable...
s12 v30
v35
s14
36 15
Vote 42, Sub 18
Vegans produce more metane with their farts, so it hurts earth. and by the way http://whi.s3.leg.entries.lg1x8.simplecdn.net/20080827181008.jpg">http://whi.s3.leg.entries.lg1x8.simplecd[..]8.jpg
v39 s16
everybody against speciesism!
s18v46
s18v47
Bokee88,
Your food chain excuse is bogus.
You're not some programmed lion prowling on the savannah.
You don't require animal flesh for survival and you have a power of choice that separates you from every other creature on this planet.
You eat meat because you were raised eating meat.
Start thinking for yourself and put your power of choice to good use.
Choose to be a good person.
Choose to help bring an end to the insane torment, torture and slaughter of these animals.