Anonymous asked: May I ask what is your stance on hardcore militant veganism? I have become a vegan about 5-6 months ago, and I keep hearing all of these arguments concerning human privilege and speciesism and it’s really hard for me to consider veganism anything more than a personal choice. The problem is, when I do say it’s a personal thing I get pegged as a phony vegan and a rape apologist(because of the milk industry). I am just getting tired of this bullshit.
I think that the meat industry is excessively cruel and bad for the environment. I also think that about every other industry. I don’t boycott the products of these industries because it’s ineffective as a tactic, diverts attention from the true cause of hunger and institutionalized cruelty, and it encourages bourgeois liberal ‘consumer’ politics. The nature of the industry is determined by the economic arrangement of society, and not by the consumption habits of people in first world countries.
I have no problem with people being vegan if they want to be, but I often see some problems in vegan discourse. For example, there’s a tendency towards excessively moralistic, evangelical, ‘all life is sacred/equal’ bullshit. This is the kind of thinking that fuels ‘pro life’ arguments, that all life has this magical essence that must be protected at all costs. I do not think that life is sacred, or equal. I think the life of a foetus is less important than the life of its mother, and that the life of a human child is more important than the life of a veal calf. I think that the ‘value’ of life is not a transcendent objective fact but a subjective value negotiated by society. I reckon the prawn sandwich I had earlier had about 17 prawns in it, if all life is equal that means that I committed a crime equal to that of Jeffrey Dahmer while having a cup of tea this morning. I understand if you think that drinking milk is contributing to a cruel industry, but it’s not morally wrong. If that was the case it would be wrong in all circumstances, and clearly we can imagine milking a domesticated cow in a way that isn’t cruel. It’s not equitable with rape as you say people have told you – if it was there would be a ‘good’ or ‘acceptable’ rape, and there isn’t.
I have a problem with this shift of focus from modes of production to modes of consumption, because it’s the production where the problem lies, and in the production where there is potential for change. I think vegans often have a blind spot here, for example I hear them talk about how we could solve world hunger by cutting out meat production. It’s as if all of this extra grain we can all grow will magically be distributed equally among the people of the world once the evil meat industry disappears. The fallacy at the heart of this concept is the idea that people don’t have enough food because we haven’t been able to produce enough food, and if only we could produce more, there would be no hunger. People aren’t starving because there isn’t enough food. People are starving because of capitalism.
Speaking of starving people, if eating meat is immoral, is it also immoral for the half of the world’s population that live below the poverty line? If moralistic vegans are going to be consistent then they’d have to say yes. Morality doesn’t vary according to income. Unless morality is something that you can buy into – in this case they are like the ancient Greeks and Romans, pontificating about high morality and the perfectibility of man as their slaves carry them to the circus in golden litters.
So yeah, basically I agree that the meat industry is cruel and fucked, but the only way to stop animals being treated as expendable ticks on a balance sheet is the same way as you stop humans being treated as expendable ticks on a balance sheet. Animals suffer because we are trying to breed, kill and package them in the largest possible volumes for the smallest possible price. Denying yourself animal products may make you feel less guilty, but it won’t change this situation, especially when the majority of people in the world don’t have the option of being vegan. The best hope for the animals is also the best hope for humanity – a radical restructuring of society from one based on the accumulation of capital to one based on respect, cooperation, mutual aid, workers self management and direct democracy.
This one’s for all the bloodthirsty vegans out there.
(Source: class-struggle-anarchism)
