Do More. Or Support The People Who Do More.
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There aren’t exactly a ton of vegan capitalists, but they do exist. Along with these rare folks, any nonvegan capitalist should be angry about this government bail-out of dairy farmers:
“the Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment Program [is] a $290 million effort aimed at helping the nation’s dairy farmers get through hard times. Earlier this year, the average Wisconsin dairy farm was losing about $100 per cow each month – $4 million a day for the state’s dairy industry – as farm-milk prices plummeted.” (source)
Either it’s a free market or it isn’t. Either we can vote with our dollars or we can’t.
It appears that we can’t.
And just to connect the dots here, it’s not just self-identified capitalists who should take note: Anyone who promotes the idea that conscientious consumption is enough to change the world must acknowledge that declining demand for immoral products won’t result in any change if governments step in and rescue immoral businesses.
Said another way,”The world is vegan. If you want it.” campaign is terribly fllawed.
Conscientious consumption/ boycotts/ personal veganism is one of many tools in our toolbox. But alone, it won’t change the world. At best, to think it will is naive. At worst, it’s delusional and distracting.
Go vegan, stay vegan, encourage others to go vegan. Do it because it’s the right thing to do, not because you have some delusion of your importance and you think your habits will change the world. Just do the right thing! Do it now!
But don’t think being vegan is enough to change the world. Do more. Or support the people who do more.
And… for those who condemn conscientious consumption campaigns completely, merely because they’re too myopic, consider the campaigns you promote and how narrow their focuses are as well. If you say “by any means necessary” you can’t also reject effective methods like culinary activism. “Creative nonviolent vegan education” won’t do everything, but it is more than “viral vapidity.”
Do you hear yourselves, Prof. Francione and Dr. Best?
I think you might be simply reading the words “The world is vegan if you want it” and may not be considering the message behind it. Like the 1969 anti-war ad that inspired it, it doesn’t simply ask people to desire change. Stating that the world is vegan if we want it is a call to action.
For vegans, it serves as a reminder that we should be encouraging others to go vegan, taking care of abandoned animals and participating in other forms of vegan activism. For non-vegans, it should say to them that veganism is accessible and that current vegans have a dream of a non-violent world.
If the message were something like “The world will be vegan, all you have to do is want it”, I would completely agree with you. However, the vagueness of the message is what makes it intriguing and gives it power. I don’t think this message in anyway implies that the world will become vegan if we all just sit around and want it privately.
Would you elucidate your point further. I’m curious to hear what you have to say.
John, I understand that Francione’s campaign is a call to action to promote “creative, nonviolent vegan education.” But I think real change requires more than that. I think real change requires vegan education plus open rescue plus legal bans on gestation crates, battery cages, etc. I think we have a whole, huge toolbox of tools for change. And we should use every last one.
In that case, it seems that the problem is not with this new campaign, but with Francione’s overall message. However, he does not state that becoming vegan is the final step. In fact, he states that becoming vegan is the moral baseline and first step.
I encourage you to listen to Prof. Francione’s commentary on the campaign. This campaign isn’t a focus on how great we all are because we are vegan. After hearing his vision for the campaign, hopefully the idea that this is “viral vapidity” will subside.
You can find his commentary here: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/commentary-the-virtual-billboard-campaign-the-world-is-vegan-if-you-want-it/
Well I sure want a vegan world – Sadly last I checked my local grocery store still had the usual assortment of animal corpses, and most of the patrons were wearing leather shoes… Yes, I want a vegan world but it’s going to take a whole lot more than wishing (and suggesting to others) to make it so…
For sure, let’s use the whole toolbox & kitchen sink to get it done…
.-= Bea Elliott´s last blog ..Silent Night – A Vegan’s Christmas Wish =-.
John, “his vision for the campaign” includes attacking people he calls welfarists and people he calls violent, though his evidence for calling them these names is extremely flimsy.
Ultimately, Francione does not seem capable of promoting a purely peaceful, optimistic message. He cannot help himself and continually attacks the methods he feels are not effective. He and his campaign are more rightly organized by a shared enemy than a shared goal.
Thank you. I for one am sick and tired of all the animal rights bashing from Francione. Verbal violence is violence and true Jain do not spend their entire day bashing others (it’s a waste of time anyway). Francione needs to focus on his own campaign to help animals rather than spending his entire energy on trying to convince everyone that his approach is the superior and only approach. What’s the point of all this finger pointing and self promotion? Does it help animals? No! I wish Francione and followers would get out and do something effective to help animals for once. I’ve never met an Abolitionist who does anything other than AR bashing. They’re like a bunch of hipster/slacker/hyper critics. So much good they are doing to NOT help animals.