The Rise and Fall of the Animal Worshippers
Some societal trends die a fast death. Like the Man-Bun haircut, Pokemon Cards and screaming the word ‘YOLO’. Some seem to stand the test of time, like capitalism, the combustion engine, the church, even. But every once in a while, if you’re paying close attention, you realise that we’re smack bang in the middle of a trend. Right in the climax, the eye of the storm.
One particularly noisy storm that is currently whipping around is Vegan Animal Activism.
Who are They?
Well there’s two breeds. Militant vs passive. Shouty vs chatty. Patronising vs well, actually they all seem to be patronising. You will find these vegan activists out in the street, arguing with non-vegans. On a farm, arguing with a farmer or on youtube, arguing with a talking screen.
I feel obliged at this early juncture to make a distinction. Many many Vegans or Vegetarians I have no problem with. People choose that lifestyle for a number of different reasons. While I disagree with their reasoning in most cases, I respect their choice and their opinion (aka, I know when to shut up).
These Animal Worshippers are different. Their actions, whether they mean to or not, are causing actual damage. Not just to farmers and rural communities, but more crucially to the health and wellbeing of the countless number of people they indoctrinate.
The Formation of a Worldview
So what led these people to where they are today? I have a theory:
They’re fundamentally good people. Yes, there, I said it. Anyway, some portion of their upbringing developed inside them an extremely strong moral compass. Growing up, they were sheltered from farming and food production, perhaps even from nature and even pets. Then, someone or something exposed them to animal agriculture with a degree of suddenness and likely biassed misrepresentation. Their logical but curious and tender young minds struggled with this new information. ‘Wait so, they have to kill cows?!’ ‘So that’s where milk comes from?!’. They grappled with it all, but nothing really made sense.
“You can’t hate someone whose story you know” - Margaret J Wheatley
So they did what they knew to do. They applied logic. Reasoning. Empathy. The result? Veganism, to start with. First, they want to stop contributing to the ‘harm’ by reducing or eliminating animal products from their lives. Then, confirmation bias kicks in with its usual force. Eager to make sense of this seemingly flawed system, they can only find more examples of poor animal welfare in farming. Another natural human bias, for negativity (the same bias that helps us stay alive and avoid danger), only aggravates the findings.
Now they have formed a hypothesis. Unfortunately in this day and age, they don’t have to look far to find ample data and studies that back up the so-far untouched edges of their arguments; you and I can equally quickly find endless studies damning meat as a food source and livestock for ruining the planet.
Armed with enough leading questions to bring a lawyer to tears, along with a scripted response to every rebuttal and an armful of useless study papers, they hit the streets!
The High Horse
“Common Sense is as rare as genius” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many of these animal activists lean on their moral superiority. But here’s the thing: I would too. I too would think I was morally superior if I was as misinformed as they are. Imagine it, everyone around you seems to not care about innocent animals being murdered. Everyone around you seems to be in the dark and you feel you are in the light, sitting on a little-known silver bullet called veganism.
Here’s where we run into trouble. I believe that a good portion of people are indeed undereducated about farming and where their meat comes from. But we can’t let their first exposure be from a man in the street with an ipad showing you a pig being slaughtered. It’s plainly not right. You wouldn’t ask a prisoner to explain the intricacies of the justice system. You wouldn’t ask a young school child for help choosing a suitable university.
The circle of life and death in this world is one of the most intricate, complex and nuanced processes there is. It’s also weaved in with delicate, emotive issues such as what we choose to eat everyday and how we’re being told that the planet is burning up and dying. This is not the time for reductionism. People are sick and so is our earth. Real change is needed, led by real people who can see the big picture and understand complexity.
Brilliance, Misused
This may sound weird for me to say, but I do not wish to down-play the intellect of the people in question. They are truly excellent writers, speakers, debaters and thinkers. I mean, some of the books that have been written… wow. They’re packed with information and depth of research. On the whole, some of the more prominent animal activists and vegan advocates are, in my opinion, among the best thinkers and leaders in the farming and food industries.
But despite their brilliance, they have just narrowly missed the mark. They took a wrong turn early in their journey and they’ve ended up in an echo chamber; never really listening to new points of view or new evidence, just seeking existing ways to back up their worldview.
They’re inches away from striking gold by understanding the complexity of nature and farmed animals.
It’s like driving at 100mph and taking the wrong slip-road; you travel a real long way before you realise you went wrong. Then, we’re usually too proud and invested in our journey to make the U-turn and start over.
In the Real World
"For every complex problem, there's a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." H.L. Mencken
The ‘entry door’ for the worshippers was their focus on animal welfare. But of course that’s only one side of the many sided coin. The next obvious one is food and diet. That’s followed by climate and natural implications of farmed animals. The latter two sides especially have been skimmed over by their discernment. If only they looked deeper!
Strangely, their fundamental cause is correct. Animal cruelty is wrong. Nobody disagrees. But the conclusion they have drawn - veganism - is wildly wrong and backed up by absolutely useless evidence of the climate and human health implications.
So day to day, they have to spend their time scampering around debunking studies and nit-picking the arguments of anyone who thinks differently to them.
WHY must they obsess over numbers, studies, papers?
Because that’s the only place where their logic stands up. In the REAL WORLD, it falls short.
