Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, and the Slavery Analogy
Many vegans become irritated with non-vegans who claim to care morally about animals but who continue to consume them. The former will often invoke an analogy to human slavery. It goes like this: we...
View ArticleHugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Right About British Rose Veal
British celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, promotes “happy” British Rose Veal. He’s not alone. Large animal welfare groups, such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals...
View ArticleThe Paradigm Shift Requires Clarity About the Moral Baseline: Veganism
If we are ever going to see a paradigm shift, we have to be clear about how we want the present paradigm to shift. We must be clear that veganism is the unequivocal baseline of anything that deserves...
View ArticleReplacing One Cage With Another
In 2007, Peter Singer, as part of a campaign to promote cage-free eggs, praised the Europeans for supposedly phasing out battery cages: “Battery cages are being phased out in Europe – why are we...
View ArticleNew Atheism, Moral Realism, and Animal Rights: Some Preliminary Reflections
Certain secularists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens, often referred to as “New Atheists,” are the latest to tell us that we should look to rationality and science...
View ArticleTruthout.org: Thinking About Mitt Romney and Seamus, Michael Vick and Dog...
My essay, Thinking About Mitt Romney and Seamus, Michael Vick and Dog Fighting, and Eating Animals, was published on Truthout.org. You can read it here. The World is Vegan! If you want it. Gary L....
View ArticleSome Thoughts for Mother’s Day 2012
There is no better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than by putting an end to your support of the exploitation of nonhuman mothers represented by milk, cheese, and other dairy products. A cow raised for...
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Garbage as Property
A sign on the side of a dump truck in Los Angeles: It is not enough to be unashamed that we have the level of poverty that we do; we criminalize the efforts of the poor to survive by asserting property...
View ArticleMoral Concern, Moral Impulse, and Logical Argument in Animal Rights Advocacy
Anyone who has ever done animal advocacy has had the experience of explaining rationally why animal exploitation can’t be morally justified, only to have the person with whom they are talking say...
View ArticleViolent Imagery in Animal Advocacy
I am asked with some frequency about whether it is advisable to use violent imagery, such as films depicting slaughterhouses or factory farms, as part of abolitionist vegan education. When I express...
View ArticleUpcoming Abolitionist Approach Podcast on Effective Animal Rights Advocacy: A...
This past week, I posted two essays: Moral Concern, Moral Impulse, and Logical Argument in Animal Rights Advocacy and Violent Imagery in Animal Advocacy. The response I got was overwhelming and it’s...
View ArticleDebate with Professor Michael Marder on Plant Ethics
Professor Michael Marder, author of the forthcoming book, Plant-Thinking: A Philosophy of Vegetal Life, and I had a brief debate on the issue of plant ethics at the Columbia University Press website....
View ArticleA Facebook Exchange
This is from an an exchange that occurred in a thread on the Abolitionist Approach Facebook page: Someone asked: Doesn’t the bible inform us that animals are provided by its god for the use of man, and...
View ArticleGot Practical Vegan Information? You Do Now.
Adam Kochanowicz and Sandra Cummings have produced a terrific resource, the Vegan Starter Kit. This sort of project is of great practical value and I am glad that Adam and Sandra did this. I am sure...
View ArticleAnimals Today on Sunday, July 8
I will be a guest on Animals Today, airing Sunday, July 8, at 2 p.m.-3 p.m. Pacific; 5 p.m.-6 p.m. EST. ********** If you are not vegan, please go vegan. It is easy and better for your health and for...
View ArticleThe Legacy of Lennox
Yesterday, July 11, 2012, Lennox, allegedly a pit bull, was killed by the Belfast, Northern Ireland, City Council. Pit bulls are illegal in Northern Ireland. There had been an international campaign to...
View ArticleSentience
A sentient being is a being who is subjectively aware; a being who has interests; that is, a being who prefers, desires, or wants. Those interests do not have to be anything like human interests. If a...
View ArticleCommentary #24: Lennox and Moral Reasoning in Animal Rights
It’s been a while since I did a Commentary and I have been meaning to start up again but, alas, it’s been a busy time. I was planning to do a podcast on the topic of my essay, Moral Concern, Moral...
View ArticleRoad Kill, Abandoned Eggs, and Dumpster Diving
I am frequently asked whether it is “vegan” to eat “road kill,” the abandoned eggs of hens who are kept as companions, or animal products that you find in a dumpster. The short answer: no. The...
View ArticleVeganism and Nonviolence
If the principle of nonviolence means anything, it means that you cannot justify any killing or suffering for transparently frivolous reasons such as pleasure, amusement, or convenience. And doing...
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