The vegan lifestyle is undoubtedly leaving its mark in today’s culture with an ever-expanding arsenal of books and spokespeople proclaiming the benefits of a plant-based diet and the compassionate effects of avoiding goods made via animal exploitation. Even with the uptick in awareness however, there are still large factions of people unaware of this “fringe” movement beyond its perceived eccentricity. This lack of awareness may be one reason there are many humans who categorize non-human animals, drawing a definite line between those viewed as pets, and those viewed solely as commodities.
How do we generate awareness for all facets of animal suffering by making it clear that other animals are just as deserving of humane treatment as our beloved dogs and cats? It’s certainly not a black-and-white proposition, as even domestic animal welfare movements are not immune to infighting and differing opinions on the definition of humane.
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows is a book that was published a couple of years ago by Melanie Joy, PhD., in which she takes on this issue. In a nutshell, the book aims to explain that as a society, we are conditioned from birth to think of certain animals in specific ways. Animal rights campaigner Heather Mills said of the book, “The realization that we’ve been conditioned throughout our entire lives to think and act a certain way toward animals, and that we’ve been so disconnected from ourselves and our fellow beings, gives us a chance to make our choices freely.” Farm Sanctuary’s Gene Baur echoes this sentiment, saying, ”Institutionalized, socially sanctioned violence on an unprecedented scale causes the needless suffering of billions of animals every year…[this book] shakes up the completely arbitrary thinking that enables people to, at the same time, treat some animals as friends and look the other way while others are ruthlessly exploited as commodities.”
Essentially, Joy’s book differs from many other books eschewing meat-eating by pinpointing exactly why it is we do eat meat. And it really goes much deeper than just being the “American” or “macho” thing to do. It’s tied to a system Joy calls “carnism,” described as the ideology allowing humans to “selectively choose which animals become our meat.” Which animals we choose is beyond just what is “natural,” as the typical argument against veganism goes, and is actually “sustained by complex psychological and social mechanisms,” which can be undone. It may actually take some practice to experience outrage due to inhumane treatment. This practice comes in the form of exposure – the opposite of pretending issues do not exist. The opposite of not asking where our meat, leather, fur, etc. comes from. Joy explains that “carnism is most harmful when it is unrecognized and unacknowledged.” The key is in the refusal to be indifferent.
Right now there is a huge push to get rid of protection for wolf populations in many states across the U.S. at risk of extinction. Just because we wouldn’t have a wolf in our house to eat our table scraps, does not mean they deserve aerial gunning or eradication. Another discovery is that Ugg boots have now been discovered to use raccoon dog fur in their wares. Some have commented that these animals are not real dogs. But, there shouldn’t be this easy divide between what to care about and what to allow when the fact of the matter is, dog or not, these poor animals are being skinned alive so that their fur can be used on a shoe!
Traditional companion animal definitions are all relative. Let’s change the definition to include all animals as worthy of compassion and respect.
