Entries tagged News
We just posted Vegan Freak Radio #99 over at our podcast site.
On today’s show, we feature an interview with Mark Love, a fitness trainer with over ten years of experience in training all kinds of people, from athletes to sedentary adults and people recovering from illness or injury. Mark gives tips on how to get motivated and keep yourself motivated to exercise, and discusses what it’s like to be a vegan in the fitness industry.
We also have our usual Vegan Freak fare: we discuss articles about dog rental services and about the subjectivity of our perception of food, and in response to listener voicemails we talk about standing up for what you want in a restaurant, the “manliness” of eating what you want and dying young, and why it isn’t healthy to channel your anger and sadness over the state of the world inward.
Hope you enjoy, and see you next for the big 100 show!
Enjoy!
Posted by Bob Torres 
Filed under: Every so often, kind readers or listeners will forward us particular bits of the news that make me wish that I had nothing to do with the so-called animal “rights” movement (when it comes down to it, it really seems to be a movement that is less about rights and more about humane treatment). Here are 3 things that are not only embarrassing for us as animal rights activists, but damaging to our overall message and potential impact:
1. PETA ad compares Greyhound bus attack to slaughtering animals
Playing off of the heinous stabbing-decapitation death aboard a Greyhound bus in Canada, PETA came up with an ad comparing the suffering of the decapitated passenger to the suffering that animals experience in slaughter. While there is little doubt that animals do suffer significantly during slaughter, the subject of this ad makes PETA not only appear to be completely fucking bonkers, but also insensitive to the plight of human suffering. It drives home the idea that any and all animal rights activists focus on animal suffering to the exclusion of all other suffering. None of this does the animal rights movement on the whole any favors, and PETA gets what PETA always wants: attention. The question is, at what cost?
2. PETA wants to advertise vegan message on border fence
Speaking of PETA’s stupidity, we again see them riding the coattails of another current news item in a desperate attempt to draw attention to themselves. This time around, PETA wants to put up billboards near the US border with Mexico that say “If the Border Patrol doesn’t get you, the chicken and burgers will—go vegan.” In the article linked above, PETA tries to play this off as concern that the undocumented workers from Mexico will be leaving behind a relatively healthier diet in favor of the standard American fast food fare. While there may be something to this on a factual basis, it stretches the bounds of rational comprehension to imagine that PETA actually cares about the well being of undocumented immigrants. As far as I can tell, they care about one thing and one thing only: shamelessly forcing themselves into the spotlight, so much so that any message that they originally had about animals or vegetarianism is lost.
3. Firebombings at Homes of 2 California Researchers
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The police and federal authorities are investigating firebombings at the homes of two researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The attacks, which the university described as “antiscience violence,” occurred nearly simultaneously before dawn on Saturday, just days after the police in Santa Cruz discovered pamphlets in a coffee shop warning of attacks against “animal abusers everywhere.” The pamphlets included the names, addresses and other personal information of several researchers at the university, according to a news release put out on Friday by the university.
In my book Making A Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, I discuss why violent property destruction is a poor solution to the problem of animal exploitation. First and foremost, it makes animal rights activists look like hypocrites. If we claim to care about “life,” there’s certainly no point in doing things that threaten human life. As I wrote in the book:
Today, most people see the violence and torture done for their palates as absolutely acceptable: animal exploitation is the norm, despite the contradictions inherent in it. Given how overwhelmingly strong the societal currents run against treating animals as anything more than commodities and property, the kind of change we need will require more than violence, more than property destruction, and certainly more than a re-creation of the exploitative dynamics that got us here to begin with. If we are to ever win or advance, we must do so by changing the social relations that are at the heart of the problems we face. If we re-create those damaging social relations by relying on the dominance and oppression of violence, we are essentially doing nothing but deepening the problem we are, more often than not, claiming to fight.
In short, we can’t force people to make decisions about morality while they’re staring down the barrel of a gun (or on the receiving end of a bomb). We have to do the hard and often inglorious work of creating a broad-based social movement that will call into question the speciesist dynamics that underlie our social and cultural norms. Bombs or guns or violence or completely shameless attention whoring cannot achieve this, ever.
I was quoted in a recent article in Metro Newspaper (along with Denyse of Urbanvegan) about which diet is most affected by the rise in food costs. The article doesn’t delve very deep into the issue, but basically the conclusion seems to be that vegans are the most affected by these increases in food costs, because our costs are higher to begin with and we are hit harder when there’s bad weather that wipes out crops. Of course, none of this is borne out by actual studies, which would actually be interesting to see.
Our grocery bill has definitely increased over the last several months, which I’m pretty sure is due to the cost of fuel that affects everyone no matter what they eat (unless you grow absolutely everything you eat yourself). But from what I understand, there are other factors involved in the high prices. Increased demand for wheat around the world is making flour more expensive. Bad weather has hurt rice prices. Floods in the midwest have ruined a lot of grain crops. The price of milk, meat, and eggs is increasing because the cost of the animals’ food (corn and other grains) is increasing from all of these factors.
Now, it seems to me that if you eat a diet heavy on meat, dairy, eggs, and processed foods (SAD, anyone?) that tend to contain a lot of wheat, corn, and soy by-products, then your prices are going to be through the roof.
Our diet mostly consists of fresh produce, beans and other legumes, a few grains, and a few processed things like tofu, veggie burgers, and seitan. Unless bad weather affects every single crop we eat (which is unlikely), then I don’t see how vegans are affected any worse than your average omni consumer. It seems to me that everyone is affected in different ways by higher prices, but that vegans really don’t take a bigger hit than other groups unless you subsist solely on bread and processed foods.
I get frustrated when people have the misconception that veganism has to be expensive. It can be, certainly, depending on how you structure you diet, just like if you’re an omni with a penchant for Kobe beef and truffles, it can be expensive. (And unfortunately in this country, it is often more expensive to eat healthy than unhealthy, but that is a topic for another blog entry.) But there are plenty of things that vegans can do to lower their grocery bill no matter what state the economy is in. As I said in the article and in a previous blog entry, you can eat locally, and try to eat what is in season, since it will tend to be the cheapest (and most tasty!) then. You can stock up on bulk grains and dried legumes. You can plan out your meals before you go to the store, and not buy on impulse. You can stay away from expensive frozen or boxed processed foods. You can make large batches of things like soup one day to eat throughout the week so you aren’t tempted to go out to lunch. You can eat high fiber fresh veggies that fill you up so you aren’t eating more later in the day. Veganism doesn’t have to be incredibly expensive or complicated if you get into the habit of knowing where your money is going and what to look for.
There’s a response on Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s blog Disease Proof to the study that links soy and infertility that we discussed in Vegan Freak Radio 97:
Disease Proof: Does Soy Really Lower Sperm Count?
Dr. Fuhrman points out that more likely mitigating factor for low sperm count was the obesity of the test subjects, and that the study used highly processed soy, rather than tofu or soy beans themselves. I like how he emphasizes staying away from highly processed foods rather than soy itself, as well as reminding people to eat a variety of legumes rather than just relying on one.
According to this piece in the New York Times labor abuses were rampant at Agriprocessors Inc., the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse. According to the article, underaged workers sometimes worked as long as 17 hours a day, and worked while injured:
“‘My work was very hard, because they didn’t give me my breaks, and I wasn’t getting very much sleep,’ he said. ‘They told us they were going to call immigration if we complained.’
Elmer L. said that he was clearing cow innards from the slaughter floor last Aug. 26 when a supervisor he described as a rabbi began yelling at him, then kicked him from behind. The blow caused a freshly-sharpened knife to fly up and cut his elbow.
He was sent to a hospital where doctors closed the laceration with eight stitches. But he said that when he returned, his elbow still stinging, to ask for some time off, his supervisor ordered him back to work.
The next day, as he was lifting a cow’s tongue, the stitches ruptured, Elmer L. said, and the wound bled again. He said he was given a bandage at the plant and sent back to work. The incident is confirmed in a worker’s injury report filed on Aug. 31, 2007, by Agriprocessors with the Iowa labor department.”
It is important to note that these abuses are the necessary by-product of the cheap meat that consumers rely on and demand. A giant disassembly line, slaughterhouse work is dangerous, violent, dirty, and exhausting, as workers are often butchering animals that are still alive, and often still kicking, mooing, or otherwise resisting. This work must be done quickly, as the contemporary slaughterhouse relies upon quickly moving animals in one side and animal flesh out the other. Illegal immigrants are often chosen for this work, for two reasons: first, they work cheap; and second, they are less likely to complain to authorities about abusive and dangerous work situations. Like every other sector of the animal economy, profit is the motivating factor:
Another Guatemalan, Joel R., who gave his age as 15, said he dropped out of school in Postville after the eighth grade and took a job at Agriprocessors because his mother became ill. He said he worked from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. in a section called “quality control,” a job he described as relatively easy that he got because he speaks English.
But he said he and other workers were under constant pressure from supervisors. “They yell at us when we don’t hurry up, when we don’t work fast enough for them,” said Joel R. He and Gilda O. did not want their last names published because they are illegal immigrants and they were not arrested in the raid.
Animal rights activists often say that there’s a little veal in every glass of milk. By this, they mean that the production of milk relies on the production of veal. Similarly, it appears there’s also a little blood in the meat. It is the blood not only of the slaughtered animal, but of the exploited, abused, and powerless worker who suffered to bring that meat to market.
We just posted Vegan Freak Radio #97 over at our podcast site.
Yes, there are more sensationalistic headlines in the news these days about the evils of soy, and we use some of our critical thinking skills to analyze why the studies aren’t necessarily what they seem on the surface.
No voicemails this show, but we do finally get around to some positive email stories and other articles that listeners have sent us, including some very pragmatic nutritional advice, jewelry made of cicadas (?!), and female butchers who feel like cavewomen.
I wanted to add to Bob’s critique of Mark Bittman’s response to his vegan critics. Bittman also relies on this tired argument against veganism and abolition:
Humans do not tread lightly on this planet (understatement of the year, I know). Many of us agree we need to minimize our footprint. I’d rather argue against unnecessary cruelty, against overconsumption, for better human and planetary health, than for a strict regimen that the majority of the earth’s citizens will reject outright. I think people can hear “eat less meat,” and I can say it. But “eat no meat?” Few people are listening, nor will they.
I’m sure the welfarists are loving this part of Bittman’s article, because it legitimizes their approach to reform: call for nicer methods of production and reducing animal consumption, but don’t you dare mention not eating animals at all, because people won’t listen. While vegan education might not be easy because of the societal and psychological blocks it has to overcome to be successful, it is the only way to be morally and logically consistent if you claim to care about animal rights. Bittman’s (and the welfarist) arguments make veganism sound completely untenable, unsustainable, and unnecessary, which is great if you want to keep convincing yourself that humans have to eat meat to be happy and healthy. After all, it tastes good and it’s our tradition!
But those of us who lead happy, healthy lives without consuming animal products know that veganism is doable, and necessary. We’ve listened to the arguments for and against veganism, and we’ve make the choice for living our ethics. There are many, many more people out there who will change if they are given information and support. Our radio show is proof positive of that - I can’t tell you how many emails and voicemails we get from people who, once they heard all the arguments for veganism, decided to make the leap. Yes, change is difficult, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t or shouldn’t try. We owe it to ourselves and to the future of the planet to do so.
Last week, on Vegan Freak Radio, we discussed an article by Mark Bittman in the New York Times. In the article, Bittman made a compelling case against the mass consumption of meat, linking its production and consumption to concerns about the environment, human health, and animal welfare. In our estimation, the article was a good mainstream treatment of the subject, but we discussed on our show, Bittman stopped short. Our reasoning was plain: if meat is troubling on so many levels, why continue to eat it? Why not just go vegan? After all, no one can honestly maintain—in the face of such overwhelming evidence—that eating meat is in any way necessary for human well-being.
If we don’t need to eat meat for our health, then why do we eat it? The reasons are multiple and obvious: tradition, taste, and convenience. We justify what we do to animals—at the tune of 10 billion lives a year in the US alone—simply by referring back to the old adage that “this is how we’ve always done it.” Collapsing into this odd logic of “might makes right,” when pushed, most people who eat meat cannot really justify it much beyond this simplistic thinking. Like the privilege of any other form of domination, those who benefit from the privilege are hesitant to see the relationship of their benefits to the exploitation of others. Men are often hesitant to see the domination of sexism; white people are often hesitant to see the wages of racism. Similarly, those of us that enjoy species privilege are hesitant to honestly acknowledge how our privilege benefits us at the expense of the freedom of others.
Sadly, Bittman falls into this trap in his blog at the Times when he responds to some of his vegan critics. In his piece, Bittman treats meat like any other resource when he writes:
Maybe I’m thick, but I don’t get it. If I write a piece about Americans driving too much, do I get trashed for owning a car? For using too much electricity, do I become a bad person for turning on the lights? This would seem to counter 90 percent of the arguments about continuing to eat meat: I choose to; it’s part of my life and my work; in general, I eat the most conscientiously raised meat I can find; and — relatively — I don’t eat much of it.
In this clever little comparison, Bittman ignores one central point: animals are unlike other resources in so far as they are sentient and feel pain. Clearly, driving too much has horrible impacts that have ethical implications, but it isn’t like driving your car makes it suffer. Similarly, using electricity depletes natural resources, but no one would really ever argue that electricity can feel pain, or have a continuous mental existence. Thus, while we do treat animals like resources—indeed, this is the central problem of animal exploitation—animals are sentient beings, which changes our obligations towards them. In this regard, the moral wrong of consuming animals is one that cannot be mitigated by doing less of it. Simply put, either consuming animals is a moral wrong or it isn’t. If it is a moral wrong, doing less of it or doing it more nicely does not mitigate that moral wrong. Analogously, several hundred years ago, Bittman could have argued the same thing about slavery: he chooses to treat his slaves well; they’re part of his life and work; and really, he only has a few slaves. Most of us (I hope) would find this logic objectionable concerning humans. The only reason we can stomach it for animals is that we are conditioned to view animals as somethings and not as someones.
Bittman continues on with his justification for eating meat, writing:
It’s traditional. It’s mainstream, and almost everyone alive who can eat meat does so.
Traditional “values” have been used throughout time immemorial to justify all manner of exploitation. Women should be most sensitive to this particular line of reasoning, for “tradition” has often been used as an argument to keep women in positions of domination within patriarchy.
In the end, what we get from Bittman is another weak justification for eating “happy meat” (and sadly, this is a position most of the animal rights movement is happy with, too). By falling back on the old, unexamined arguments about tradition, Bittman does little to really challenge the central dynamic of animal exploitation. In doing so, Bittman will only help to drive the creation of a niche market for the consumption of “happy meat” for the wealthy “ethical consumer,” the “conscientious omnivore.” Bittman sees animals as just another commodity; this mistaken logic undercuts his own arguments on welfare, and will ultimately condemn many more animals to a life of pointless suffering.
The other day, we realized that it has been more than a year since we updated our blog. What has kept us away? Well, we’ve been busy with other projects, including our podcast, our day jobs, and our various writing projects. We’ve been steadily cranking out radio shows, but not so steadily cranking out blog entries, and we decided that it was time to get our collective vegan asses back in gear, to get back on the blogging wagon, and to crank out some posts.
So, we’re back, but the hundred-plus old entries may or may not make it back over here with us. We’ve had a hell of a time importing them, and so we may just let them drift off into the ether, another bit of Internet ephemera lost to the tides of time....
With that said, we’re back with some tofu-powered blogging. Stay tuned, loyal reader.
MakingA Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights explores the intersections between human and animal oppressions and their relation to the exploitative dynamics of capitalism. Combining nuts and bolts Marxist political economy, a pluralistic anarchist critique, as well as a searing assessment of the animal rights movement, Bob Torres challenges conventional anti-capitalist thinking and convincingly advocates for the abolition of animals in industry — and on the dinner plate.
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we don't eat nothin' that farts. or anything with a face. or anything from anything that farts or has a face. Basically, vegans avoid animal products to the greatest extent possible, with the overall goal of abolishing animal exploitation. No eggs, meat, dairy, honey, wool, leather, etc. This sounds onerous, but trust us, it isn't. Why kill to eat when you don't have to?
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