Posts

Eating/using animals is not a "personal choice".

Many people say that choosing to eat/consume animal products, or choosing to abstain from them (veganism) is a personal choice. But what do we really mean by “personal choice”? In this context, it would infer that engaging in animal use (or not) is inconsequential and simply comes down to a matter of personal preference. As in if you enjoy it, you participate, if you do not enjoy it, you don’t. Just like listening to a certain genre of music, or playing a certain sport. “To each their own”. This appears to be a common opinion on the matter and is often used as a reason to dismiss the issue without giving it proper thought. Everything we do in life, every decision we make and every action we take, is of course ultimately personal choice. Nobody else makes our choices or acts for us, we are responsible for everything we do. Accepting this, instead of using the term “personal choice” to refer to all of our choices and actions in life, we generally reserve it for issues where the outcome o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eating guinea pigs, humane labelling and our moral confusion towards other animals.

Image
Guinea Pig Gate: Philip Schofield Sparks Public Outrage After Eating Guinea Pig British TV presenter Philip Schofield has been in the news this week after he ate a guinea pig while on holiday in Peru. Guinea Pigs are farmed and eaten in Peru, but are kept as companion animals or "pets" in the UK. Schofield was overwhelmed with comments on Twitter reflecting the horror and disgust many felt about his actions: " @Schofe  How could you ?? They are little pets not dinner."  " @Schofe  always liked you, but eating a guinea pig is disgusting! I have guinea pigs and what you did is downright offensive." " @schofe  still absolutely disgraceful, scumbag in my opinion!" (source (warning contains image of cooked guinea pig that some may find distressing:: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/05/phillip-schofield-guinea-pig_n_2075354.html) When discussing the matter on This Morning (the daytime tv show he co-hosts), Schofield exclaimed that the guinea pig...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rejecting Fatalism: Social Justice Movements Change The World

Some people say that animal exploitation can never end, because speciesism is simply too vast and too ingrained to ever change. I don’t subscribe to fatalism. After all, if we all did then no injustice would ever be challenged and nothing would ever change. Nobody is claiming that the world will “go vegan overnight”, but a shift in consciousness is gradually happening.  The 2012 Olympics marks the first ever games where the teams of all participating countries include women. This is huge. In some cultures around the world, women are still regarded as second class citizens or lower beings. Things to be used by men as they see fit. They are dominated and owned like property (just as animals still are in our culture). All manner of injustice occurs. Women there do not have the same rights as men and are the victims of extreme violence. They are subject to rape, torture, mutilation, beatings and murder-a lot of which is perfectly legal. It is so vast, so extreme, such an ingrain...
Post a Comment
Read more

Have Viva! sold out?

Vegetarian International Voice for Animals is the largest and richest animal advocacy group in the U.K. and Europe. With an often strong media presence, they represent the interests of animals to the public. With all the donations helping to fund various campaigns and a team of paid staff, what are Viva! actually achieving for animal rights? Viva’s Single Issue Campaigns When I first became aware of Viva! nearly 10 years ago, I got involved in supporting their various single issue campaigns. A decade later, I am sad to see that some of them appear to still be going strong without having made significant progress. Over the last decade I have come to realise there are serious problems with the use of single issue campaigns that can help to explain why this is. Let’s look at a few examples: Kangaroo Leather Every year millions of wild kangaroos are shot in Australia, largely to supply meat and leather. Viva! say that one of the biggest (UK) demands for which comes from well-known...
Post a Comment
Read more