What I Have Learned as a Vegan - Chapter One

So what I am finding is that this whole veganism thing makes me think about much, much more then just animal rights. It is a huge political movement on so many levels and addresses so many more things than just what you eat.

Rights vs. Welfare
It wasn’t until I became a vegan that I even knew that there was a difference between animal “rights” and animal “welfare”. These concepts are still very new to me. (Therefore, if I have misstated something, please feel free to correct me. Please be gentle as I still have a lot to learn) I have to thank the Torres’s (I don’t even know if that is a word) and Vegan Freak Forums for beginning to open my eyes regarding these issues. Here are the basic differences, for those reading who don’t know. Animal Rights: Is against all animal use. I mean all. There are the obvious things, such as food, animal testing, and clothing. Then there are the things that aren’t so obvious. Rights (in the end) believe that dogs, cats, and other companion animals should not be kept as companions. Essentially, it boils down to this: We need to stop bringing animals into the world for our use. Period. Animal Welfare: Essentially what animal welfare-ists believe is that we can use animals for what ever we want, as long as we treat them well. Examples include: free range (happy) meat, cage free eggs, and “humane” slaughter. (Side note- even before I knew the difference between rights and welfare, the term “humane slaughter” drove me up a wall. What a fucking oxymoron). If you would really like some confusion, check out http://www.templegrandin.com/ .

So here is where the divide lies. Animal welfare is essentially admitting that animal liberation is not possible (I also need to add a clarification here. Animal rights and/or liberation is not freeing animals so that they wander around the earth homeless and taking it over). It is essentially a tool to remove the guilt from consuming animal products. Animal Right-ists hate this, as they should. What is even more confusing is that an organization like PeTA (which touts itself as an animal rights organization and that does a lot right for the cause of animal rights) often supports groups/people that are welfare-ist. Examples include:

1. Burger King has recently stated that they plan to procure at least 10% of the pork flesh sold will be “gestation crate free”, and that 2% of the eggs will come from cage free eggs, and other things. http://www.goveg.com/corp_murderk-victory.asp. Seriously, 2%? You can’t do any better than that? The BK Veggie isn’t even vegan. Fuck off.
2. They endorse Temple Grandin (see above). This woman scares me more then meat eating people I am surrounded by. Check out her sight, but beware, if you are a vegan, it will piss you off.
3. The have also endorsed Whole Foods in the past. (Whole Foods is another huge disparity between rights and welfare. They do have a huge vegan/vegetarian selection, but they also sell free range meat, and LOTS of it. They also have live lobsters)
   
   This is why the line between rights and welfare becomes blurry.
   

I have to admit, I am still learning about animal rights. This is a topic which I am not very well read. I plan on learning more. I will also admit, that when I first heard animal liberation I did envision cats, dogs, and more running wild with rabies, distemper and a host of other diseases. This isn’t the case (obviously). I think that many people (including myself for a while) forget that the whole reason that farm animals, well all animals, are here is because WE brought them into the world. This goes for everything, dogs, cats, cows, chickens, and the whole shebang. This is where I run into trouble. I am a dog lover. (Well obviously, I am an animal lover, but I share my life with dogs). I cannot imagine never having a dog as a companion. I know that in my lifetime, this probably won’t be an issue. If people can’t make the connection between what they eat and the fact that it is killing animals…understanding the forced breeding of dogs will take a long time. This is my personal struggle with animal rights. I also think it is important to point out that my dogs (the dogs I live with, I feel like they are mine, but I know that is not vegan) both came from rescue and I am an active volunteer for Green Acres Boxer Rescue (http://www.gabr-wi.com/). I know that there are entirely too many dogs in shelters, etc. But I still can’t imagine not having a dog.

Now I know a lot of people may say that God put animals on the earth for us to use and eat. The thing is…God doesn’t have His hand in it any more. The same people who give this fucking argument are the same people who are against things such as cloning, stem cell research, birth control and a whole host of right wing Christian crap. I will use the example of birth control. It’s not okay to use science to prevent pregnancy, but it is okay to use science to artificially inseminate cows and other factory farmed animals? Is it okay because we are creating life instead of preventing it? And how Christian is it for us to create an animal so we can kill and then eat it? Not to mention that we are creating a lifetime of horrible treatment. Why would we bring an animal into the world that is going to be forced to live with seven others in insanely cramped quarters (such as layer chickens)? Why would we bring a calf into the world only to take it from it's mother minutes after it is born, put it in a dark stall, and take the milk intended for it? As a Christian, these seems very un-Christian to me. Think about this one more time…

We are bringing animals into the world specifically to make them suffer.

I certainly don’t want to walk around with that on my conscience. What floors me is that people don’t even think about this. People think that by only consuming dairy and eggs they aren't taking part in the cruelty. Not so. If you use animal products you are part of the machine. Even if they know, they claim it doesn’t bother them. How can you know and not care? And if you are reading this you can’t say you don’t know. There are enough links here on my blog that you can check out. Compassion Over Killing has great video. PeTA’s Meet your Meat will certainly make you think. Or maybe it won’t. Who fucking knows?