The New York Times finally published an article that was unequivocally vegan. “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable” by Gary Steiner makes a strong ethical case for veganism. For example, he wrote:

“The fact that my cat can’t appreciate Schubert’s late symphonies and can’t perform syllogistic logic does not mean that I am entitled to use him as an organic toy, as if I were somehow not only morally superior to him but virtually entitled to treat him as a commodity with minuscule market value.”

The professor of philosophy at Bucknell University is the author of “Animals and the Moral Community: Mental Life, Moral Status and Kinship.” His website links to two other vegan professors: Gary Francione (law) and Bob Torres (sociology).

Certainly, these professors and their books have helped the animal movement by providing well-reasoned and well-articulated discussions of animal rights theory in the language and format that appeals to a number of influential people.

I strongly believe that animal rights are self-evident, that cages and fences are obviously oppressive, and that animals’ own voices and actions of resistance are plentiful and apparent, but I understand that many people cannot or will not adopt or promote an animal rights perspective without an intellectual hook. Too many people are uncomfortable trusting their moral intuitions regarding animals. Too many people resist their gut reactions. Too many people muffle their animal-friendly instincts. These people need to hear a respected, educated, authoritative man tell them it’s OK to care about animals. Gary Steiner’s article does that. It provides an intellectual argument for animal rights based on concepts of justice and fairness.

If you haven’t read it, go read it now >>

However, I have three criticisms of Steiner’s NY Times article:

1. He wrote, “The number of vegans I know personally is … five. And I have been a vegan for almost 15 years, having been a vegetarian for almost 15 before that.”

I find that astounding. Someone who only knows five or fewer vegans is someone who is probably a little out-of-touch with the vegan mainstream. Indeed, he calls himself “a strict vegan,” meaning he strives for personal purity and abstinence of all animal products – including things like Band-Aids. The actual definition of veganism as defined by those who coined the term, The Vegan Society, is more worried about the vegan basics (obvious animal flesh, skin, and secretions):

Question: What is a vegan?
Answer: A vegan is someone who tries to live without exploiting animals, for the benefit of animals, people and the planet. Vegans eat a plant-based diet, with nothing coming from animals – no meat, milk, eggs or honey, for example. A vegan lifestyle also avoids leather, wool, silk and other animal products for clothing or any other purpose.

Question: How did the word vegan come about?
Answer: It is the beginning and end of the word, ‘vegetarian’. It was coined in the UK by Donald Watson in 1944 when The Vegan Society was founded. It symbolises that veganism is the logical conclusion of the vegetarian journey to good health without the suffering or death of any animal.

The mainstream vegan abstains from animal products like meat, milk, eggs, leather, and fur. But there’s a lot of disagreement over things like honey, egg-derived vaccines, and other lesser-known or lesser-exploitative animal uses. Usually, there is absolute agreement in the desire for an animal-friendly and non-oppressive future. The disagreement isn’t generally in principles, rather the disagreement stems from the fact that 100% vegan purity isn’t possible in a nonvegan world.

To be a mainstream vegan is not nearly as difficult as Steiner makes it out to be. The essence of veganism is the intention and habit of avoiding animal use as much as practical and possible. Veganism isn’t as much about the details as it is about the overall picture. The billions of animals tortured and killed every year in animal agriculture are the result of a culture that ignores animals’ screams for mercy and pleas for freedom in favor of the taste of flesh, eggs, or milk and the fashion of fur or leather. The millions of animals tortured and killed every year in animal research are the result of a culture that prefers tradition and habit over good science. The billions of suffering beings are not the result of the use of a few Band-Aids (though if you can, why not use vegan bandages?).

2. Steiner wrote, “Many people soothe their consciences by purchasing only free-range fowl and eggs, blissfully ignorant that ‘free range’ has very little if any practical significance.” For someone like Gary Steiner who is a prominent enough vegan to get an article published in the New York Times, yet only has five vegan friends, I have to wonder what he means by the word “many.” How accurate is he when he worries about the effects of “humane” labels?

Indeed, labels lie and there is a “humane myth,” but in my experience, most people who think about eating “humane” meat either a) realize the humane myth eventually and go vegan or b) they lie. The latter group says “I only eat humane meat,” but in reality they eat all kinds of meat, including the most common kind: cruel factory farmed meat.

(I don’t mean to say they are intentional liars, I mean that they lie to themselves about the reality of animal product production. They are the kind of people who admit, “I like to think the animals die peacefully,” halfway knowing it’s just something they like to think, not something that actually happens. If you have any doubts, know now that every animal resists slaughter.)

The majority of people buy factory farmed animal products without a second thought at all. The majority of this year’s Thanksgiving turkeys will have lived and died in tremendous pain.

3. Steiner wrote:

“How can intelligent people who purport to be deeply concerned with animal welfare and respectful of life turn a blind eye to such practices? And how can people continue to eat meat when they become aware that nearly 53 billion land animals are slaughtered every year for human consumption? The simple answer is that most people just don’t care about the lives or fortunes of animals.”

People may or may not care. I’d like to see the evidence of this “simple answer” because it is simple, too simple. I believe people do care. I believe the reason animal agriculture isn’t more transparent is that they know that people care. Animal agriculture knows that people will stop eating animals when they learn the truth. So animal agriculture does their best to mask the truth and hide reality.

One of the luxuries of blogging (rather than writing op/eds for large newspapers) is that I can embed video. Here, see if you care:

Sections: Vegan Theory
Topics: animal rights, bird, Bob Torres, ethics, Gary Francione, Gary Steiner, instinct, mainstream vegan, moral intuition, morality, oppression, self evident, thanksgiving, Theory, turkey, veg