Veganism vs. Human Rights (the Politics of Putting Humanitarianism "First")
11 September 2015 [link youtube]
The question comes, "Why do you preach veganism when there's a civil war going on?" If human rights are always a higher priority than animal rights, does that mean (in effect) that animal rights never get addressed?
This video has anecdotes from my own experience ("in the field") with humanitarian work in Laos, and addresses the misconception that vegans should/must address human political problems "first" (as if we're then going to address animal agriculture after we've run out problems to solve in the human realm).
I recorded this in response to a recent video by Cory McCarthy ("The Middle East Crisis Vs Veganism"). You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se4lUo6x_jE
Youtube Automatic Transcription
have been asked questions such as, "How can
in Africa?" If you work in animal rights, as, "Why are you concerned about animal rights some humanitarian crisis or political crisis questions may be put to you in a kind of sneering, but they may also be asked quite sincerely. bomb was very real, when there were all sorts side) because people were more concerned with thermonuclear war, [the] balance of powers and so on. So those distractions can be overwhelming. who is personally, emotionally invested in or Syria or Vietnam or Cambodia, whatever may be the real reasons why they're not vegan, ecological problems, such as global warming, that are linked to meat and dairy production, it's the sort of question that you have to it are not being sincere. Cory McCarthy, who in terms of a certain logical fallacy, and address the issue in terms of a very different presenting this, they're trapped in thinking, That's not the name of a formal, logical fallacy, And, y'know, another example of this same you, "Well, if some medication is not vegan your health), if those contain animal products, So, in other words, if you can't be 100% vegan, the way of thinking there, which is (kind is to say, "Well, if, by definition, being you sometimes have to get an injection, and you is not entirely vegan…"(I remember that materials: you know, some of the materials "…so, therefore, why bother at all?" Although not use words quite as blunt as "Why bother same stool. Veganism can't solve all the world's may not be able to resolve the Syrian Civil to end the Syrian Civil War. If you're really smoking anyway. There's no overlap: one doesn't able to make a positive difference in Syria refugees? Quit smoking. I'm not saying everyone are some wonderful examples of humanitarians and helping refugees. They'd do a better job, themselves, and for the world) if they could meat. Now, in one respect, yes, being vegan That's why I use it: it's a sort of reduction But there are other ways in which it is very of humanitarian work --[and] I say that not because I regard the N.G.O. I was working were working in so-called "Food Security". people who would starve to death not starve. talking about, if my agency wasn't handing to death, they would have migrated. They would they could earn a living, work on a farm, government policy, agricultural policy, ultimately, I could say a lot more on that subject. But form of intervention… so that aspect of out sacks of rice [is] a very pure form of was doing, [were] not so pure, [and] have relocate 20 foreigners to a small village who are potentially or actually starving, to eat. If those 20 foreigners are eating impact on that community, and if your eyes in one village where the whole village killed 4:30 in the morning, impossibly early in the would be just a couple of people who sold, You could get rice. You could get just a few I remember, for several weeks I was able to yellow lentils with garlic (that was imported time there was no more garlic, [in] the whole town, the cows being raised for beef were trickle of a river, that the children would their laundry in, that people relied on for that river for fish, they would try to kill fish in that river). The ecological impact, and the blood and the sewage, all of the pollution, boy, I don't want to digress into it in this the suffering of the animals was right there something I'd read about, but never thought cow) mourning the death of its own mother. for the cows in this village were better than around in a grass field, and they had free town. They were right outside my window and mother, the calf was up all night, weeping nobody was getting any sleep. People were and so mournful, this spectacle… I remember, up and walked around and I witnessed what down fences and rooting through all kinds anywhere. And among the other things that trying to ignore this, [although] the noise it was impossible to ignore, but you could adult cattle, they'd been through this before. after hours and hours of screaming and wailing, were not the cow's mother) that just sort and, y'know, the calf gave up. The calf had wasn't going to find its mother anywhere. grow up in the countryside are supposed to but, on the contrary, I saw tremendous cowardice, of the violence and the suffering and the up in those villages and had slit the animals' about breaking a chicken's neck, and I saw some more exotic animals [being killed, too], like a small mountain-lion, I don't know what while the last of the jungle was being cut doing humanitarian work, whether it's in Syria it still makes an ethical difference, and difference, because the impacts you're having in a factory in a first-world country, they're trying to help. And, on the other hand, as morally-neutral example, there is simply no you sincerely are concerned about the Syrian an obstruction or preclusion between that give a lecture on this, in which she said people saying to her, "How can you be concerned concerned about veganism, she was concerned other things.) "How can you be concerned about with human rights?" And she said, "The reality rights, so if you are saying that animal rights that means animal rights will never be addressed, human rights problems will be resolved (and of animal rights)." It's an interesting way is that veganism is an attainable goal. It's it today. You can sustain it for the rest of doing that. Right now, in the year 2015, going to end. If I chose to devote the next in Syria, 10 years might not be enough. It Civil wars can go on for a long time. Look into it. That's not an easy call to make. You think you're doing the right thing in right side, and maybe later on you find out Maybe the outcomes, even though you had good problems, human rights problems, are like mentioned: we think we're helping people by Doing the research on that, outcome analysis, with that humanitarian agency, helping to (again, supposedly to prevent starvation, complicated. Complicated outcomes. Sometimes you end up making them poorer. Sometimes the think they were. And even when they do succeed… was there with my boss, and he was just commenting groups, two different tribal groups, living commenting casually, "Oh, well, that other for us to work with them, so we work with wealthier, to [help them] get out of poverty, take advantage of this type of humanitarian to me, some of these people were standing in English, but the real, invidious, racial was obvious even while I was standing there. fact that we as a charity were making this and not helping the other ethnic group, that's will be complicated. Veganism is not like nothing bad about it, you don't lose anything. plants. Simply removing yourself from the positive thing with positive outcomes, but been following the Arab Spring and the Syrian was tentatively trying to choose which side were moderately pro-democracy, or represented Some of the guns that they put into the hands the hands of the Islamic State. Everybody a time when the Taliban were an American client Taliban. If you're old enough, you can remember Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. And I've can even sympathize a little bit, with why like a good idea at the time!" You look back States has blood on its hands from supporting conflict, and so on and so forth." We use simple. You're in a struggle for human rights, Veganism is exponentially simpler than human animal rights. We can know the outcomes, we ourselves, [and] something positive for others. can't do everything, you can do something. close down a slaughterhouse. It's not in your monkeys to death just to try to invent a slightly not in your power to decide the outcome of to stop eating meat, to stop drinking milk, that the strongest argument for veganism is you can't be perfect, because you can't do do something, you can do this. This is a positive don't have to sacrifice anything to do it. interest in the Syrian Civil War, if that's to sacrifice your humantiarian interest in I cared about for so long. You can do it all. scarf is not a Palestinian scarf, and it's a traditional, Cambodian scarf called a krama. you wore a red one, back in the old days of and you wore a blue one to show that you were in Cambodia, I would wear Cambodian scarves, my color showed that I was on the side of means.
in Africa?" If you work in animal rights, as, "Why are you concerned about animal rights some humanitarian crisis or political crisis questions may be put to you in a kind of sneering, but they may also be asked quite sincerely. bomb was very real, when there were all sorts side) because people were more concerned with thermonuclear war, [the] balance of powers and so on. So those distractions can be overwhelming. who is personally, emotionally invested in or Syria or Vietnam or Cambodia, whatever may be the real reasons why they're not vegan, ecological problems, such as global warming, that are linked to meat and dairy production, it's the sort of question that you have to it are not being sincere. Cory McCarthy, who in terms of a certain logical fallacy, and address the issue in terms of a very different presenting this, they're trapped in thinking, That's not the name of a formal, logical fallacy, And, y'know, another example of this same you, "Well, if some medication is not vegan your health), if those contain animal products, So, in other words, if you can't be 100% vegan, the way of thinking there, which is (kind is to say, "Well, if, by definition, being you sometimes have to get an injection, and you is not entirely vegan…"(I remember that materials: you know, some of the materials "…so, therefore, why bother at all?" Although not use words quite as blunt as "Why bother same stool. Veganism can't solve all the world's may not be able to resolve the Syrian Civil to end the Syrian Civil War. If you're really smoking anyway. There's no overlap: one doesn't able to make a positive difference in Syria refugees? Quit smoking. I'm not saying everyone are some wonderful examples of humanitarians and helping refugees. They'd do a better job, themselves, and for the world) if they could meat. Now, in one respect, yes, being vegan That's why I use it: it's a sort of reduction But there are other ways in which it is very of humanitarian work --[and] I say that not because I regard the N.G.O. I was working were working in so-called "Food Security". people who would starve to death not starve. talking about, if my agency wasn't handing to death, they would have migrated. They would they could earn a living, work on a farm, government policy, agricultural policy, ultimately, I could say a lot more on that subject. But form of intervention… so that aspect of out sacks of rice [is] a very pure form of was doing, [were] not so pure, [and] have relocate 20 foreigners to a small village who are potentially or actually starving, to eat. If those 20 foreigners are eating impact on that community, and if your eyes in one village where the whole village killed 4:30 in the morning, impossibly early in the would be just a couple of people who sold, You could get rice. You could get just a few I remember, for several weeks I was able to yellow lentils with garlic (that was imported time there was no more garlic, [in] the whole town, the cows being raised for beef were trickle of a river, that the children would their laundry in, that people relied on for that river for fish, they would try to kill fish in that river). The ecological impact, and the blood and the sewage, all of the pollution, boy, I don't want to digress into it in this the suffering of the animals was right there something I'd read about, but never thought cow) mourning the death of its own mother. for the cows in this village were better than around in a grass field, and they had free town. They were right outside my window and mother, the calf was up all night, weeping nobody was getting any sleep. People were and so mournful, this spectacle… I remember, up and walked around and I witnessed what down fences and rooting through all kinds anywhere. And among the other things that trying to ignore this, [although] the noise it was impossible to ignore, but you could adult cattle, they'd been through this before. after hours and hours of screaming and wailing, were not the cow's mother) that just sort and, y'know, the calf gave up. The calf had wasn't going to find its mother anywhere. grow up in the countryside are supposed to but, on the contrary, I saw tremendous cowardice, of the violence and the suffering and the up in those villages and had slit the animals' about breaking a chicken's neck, and I saw some more exotic animals [being killed, too], like a small mountain-lion, I don't know what while the last of the jungle was being cut doing humanitarian work, whether it's in Syria it still makes an ethical difference, and difference, because the impacts you're having in a factory in a first-world country, they're trying to help. And, on the other hand, as morally-neutral example, there is simply no you sincerely are concerned about the Syrian an obstruction or preclusion between that give a lecture on this, in which she said people saying to her, "How can you be concerned concerned about veganism, she was concerned other things.) "How can you be concerned about with human rights?" And she said, "The reality rights, so if you are saying that animal rights that means animal rights will never be addressed, human rights problems will be resolved (and of animal rights)." It's an interesting way is that veganism is an attainable goal. It's it today. You can sustain it for the rest of doing that. Right now, in the year 2015, going to end. If I chose to devote the next in Syria, 10 years might not be enough. It Civil wars can go on for a long time. Look into it. That's not an easy call to make. You think you're doing the right thing in right side, and maybe later on you find out Maybe the outcomes, even though you had good problems, human rights problems, are like mentioned: we think we're helping people by Doing the research on that, outcome analysis, with that humanitarian agency, helping to (again, supposedly to prevent starvation, complicated. Complicated outcomes. Sometimes you end up making them poorer. Sometimes the think they were. And even when they do succeed… was there with my boss, and he was just commenting groups, two different tribal groups, living commenting casually, "Oh, well, that other for us to work with them, so we work with wealthier, to [help them] get out of poverty, take advantage of this type of humanitarian to me, some of these people were standing in English, but the real, invidious, racial was obvious even while I was standing there. fact that we as a charity were making this and not helping the other ethnic group, that's will be complicated. Veganism is not like nothing bad about it, you don't lose anything. plants. Simply removing yourself from the positive thing with positive outcomes, but been following the Arab Spring and the Syrian was tentatively trying to choose which side were moderately pro-democracy, or represented Some of the guns that they put into the hands the hands of the Islamic State. Everybody a time when the Taliban were an American client Taliban. If you're old enough, you can remember Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. And I've can even sympathize a little bit, with why like a good idea at the time!" You look back States has blood on its hands from supporting conflict, and so on and so forth." We use simple. You're in a struggle for human rights, Veganism is exponentially simpler than human animal rights. We can know the outcomes, we ourselves, [and] something positive for others. can't do everything, you can do something. close down a slaughterhouse. It's not in your monkeys to death just to try to invent a slightly not in your power to decide the outcome of to stop eating meat, to stop drinking milk, that the strongest argument for veganism is you can't be perfect, because you can't do do something, you can do this. This is a positive don't have to sacrifice anything to do it. interest in the Syrian Civil War, if that's to sacrifice your humantiarian interest in I cared about for so long. You can do it all. scarf is not a Palestinian scarf, and it's a traditional, Cambodian scarf called a krama. you wore a red one, back in the old days of and you wore a blue one to show that you were in Cambodia, I would wear Cambodian scarves, my color showed that I was on the side of means.