“But, the phenomenon of animal crackers remains problematic and part of a wider culture of speciesism.”

anthropocentrism: things have human characteristics
animal rights thinkers (Peter Singer et al): there are no uniquely human characteristics

being vegan and being anthropocentric are not mutually exclusive viewpoints. some people are vegan for environmental reasons -- reasons which, at their core, can stem from a desire for the indefinite perpetuation of human life. Also just because you value the rights of animals doesn't mean you value the rights of all living creatures equally. I think it's pretty understandable to be a firm proponent of the humane treatment of animals and industry reform while still putting more stock, relatively, in the plight of humans

i guess animals rights theory is obviously anthropocentric in that granting legal protection to the interests of non-human animals is rooted in abstract human concepts (exploitation, abuse, suffering, justice etc). is that what you mean? xps

Speaking of which.

https://wewastetime.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/img_7548.jpg

Um, I really have been tempted to gift these this holidays. $18.

I've never heard dumber shit than when i was vegan and dumb people would find out about it

strangely people are much less antagonistic now that i just don't eat meat. there's a demand for you to have an airtight philosophical justification when you're vegan that i guess people don't feel they require when they know that you're something as contradictory and obtuse as a vegetarian

you need the eggs

If nothing else veganism is good news for writers of Why-Oh-Why thinkpieces in right wing rags.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/03/vegan-evangelists-need-stop-behaving-divine-ordinance-religious/

Nb this was posted by me as a waddayathink rather than a lol idiots

Like I think these academics are probably answering the question 'what function does this representation of animals serve' rather than launching a movement against animal crackers. Although their responses still do tell a tale. Tail?

For my part I find both the mainstreaming of veganism and the rhetoric against it ... symptomatic I suppose and both need a critical reading

I have thought for some time that the people of tomorrow may possibly look back upon our zoos and factory farms with the same degree of saddened horror with which we look back upon numerous instances of our forebears' casual inhumanity towards their fellow humans but I have to say there's an almost entirely nonexistent likelihood that they will view our consumption of animal crackers as a significant factor or symptom of the issue at hand and a bunch of kids will probably laugh a lot at this article when they rediscover it in the year 2136.

the song "animal crackers in my soup" always weirded me out cuz the only animal crackers i've ever encountered have actually been cookies

...And?

I mean, I prefer to dump a handful of Chips Ahoy into my French onion, but to each their own.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bb/4b/36/bb4b366abb7c7936a02e3bb48666b91d.jpg

Hypocritical vegans protest animal crackers yet say NOTHING about Count Chocula.

xpost Ha, I just reread that Peanuts collection so I was thinking the same when this thread popped up.

Have to say, the separation of food into permitted and not permitted that is inherent to veganism sort of betrays its deep roots in religious tradition. That and the wanting to live without cruelty, which to me seems like a transcendent desire, one that an actual human can never fulfill in this life.

yeah its often, not always obv, of a piece with a "first do no harm" outlook that ...well ime only pretty well-off ppl or those getting by nicely without jobs can practically manage

On that note. Once upon a time, in the depths of unemployment, I found a purse left on a bus with fifty quid and a phone in it, because yes I did open it. Then I handed it in to the bus driver. Did not take the fifty or the phone. Was left with a lingering sense of shame at having looked in the purse to see if there was anything worth having. You are not supposed to look at other people's stuff and think about nicking it, whatever the context.

I have never quite been able to feel the same genuine, hammering shame over eating food made out of animals. Can certainly see the economic argument about the impact of e.g. cow farming on the environment; but in those cases where veganism says you should feel shame over eating a cheese sandwich ... that's where I start to get suspicious.

On the other hand, people in below the line comments often try to shame vegans for having principles, or for trying to engage with environmental problems, as if these are the worst of follies ... which also incurs my suspicions.

snoopy never struck me as jainist

though he did suffer at the hands of a cat, and hanged out with birds a lot

some ape ex-predators sometimes forget we ourselves were reduced to walking convenience snacks for hundreds of millions of years, it's deep history reparation time and I'm all out of that insipid winter rabbit feed that fucking doesn't taste like bacon.

joeks of course.

but not wrong neither

That and the wanting to live without cruelty, which to me seems like a transcendent desire, one that an actual human can never fulfill in this life.

"telling the truth" and "not being thick" are transcendent desires in this sense. there is a sort of conceited narcissism to ideals and vows but they're useful.

seem to have lost sight of the fact that most people not eating meat will never be as well-off as anyone on ilx, and for lots of ppl a plant-based diet is a necessity rather than a conceit. by 'lots of ppl' I mean humanity as a whole, yeah

The environmental problems that are caused by a human diet that includes animal products shares the same root cause as all other environmental problems, including, but not limited to pollution, extinction, and climate change: it's overpopulation and the accompanying appropriation of natural resources by an ever-growing number of humans. Veganism is at best a second or third order solution that may ameliorate, but cannot solve the problem. That requires a more radical approach.

why improve when you can die? all hail the first order.

I'm planning on dying.

"telling the truth" and "not being thick" are transcendent desires in this sense. there is a sort of conceited narcissism to ideals and vows but they're useful.

Although it's possible to retain an awareness of one's self as a thick liar, whilst attempting to be intelligent and tell the truth; indeed retaining that awareness is arguably crucial to any truth seeking project. I agree with you about the usefulness of ideals, but their usefulness (or even just their inevitability?) doesn't always let them off the hook.

seem to have lost sight of the fact that most people not eating meat will never be as well-off as anyone on ilx, and for lots of ppl a plant-based diet is a necessity rather than a conceit. by 'lots of ppl' I mean humanity as a whole, yeah

Like arranged marriages, high rates of child mortality, and trepanning with rocks? Obviously those are all more or less malignant, whereas a plant based diet can be benign, controversial missing vitamins aside, but they are still necessities at certain levels of poverty and I wonder how much moral glamour necessity has when seen in full.

what hook?

there is no q of glamour, i was just pointing out that not eating meat is not an abnormal phenomenon that requires special consideration

might want to change "forced" for "arranged" there cardamon

Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it. Here’s how to remove speciesism from your daily conversations. pic.twitter.com/o67EbBA7H4

— PETA (@peta) December 4, 2018

haha, perfect

Speciesism is such an absurd concept. Purest sophistry.

Like. You don’t even need “speciesism” as a concept to decide it’s immoral to eat animals! It’s a superfluous concept Peter effin Singer invented so he could trick a few more undergrads into thinking they are racist for eating hot dogs.

Basically I find any suggestion that nonhuman animals are interchangeable with humans as moral subjects to be offensive and also wrong.

so do i but possibly for a different reason, that our framework of moral subjectivity is a form of cruelty we should only inflict on ourselves

i don't really think that just saying stuff.

also i really admire my vegan roommate, he never says anything about anyone else's diet.

Yeah most vegans don’t bc most vegans like most people aren’t intrusive and judgmental

i tend toward both those qualities so i'm sure i'd be an insufferable vegan.

i should start evangelizing about the moral imperative of vasectomies irl

It's weird to actively judge people based on what they decide is the kind of food they prefer to eat. (Well, maybe apart from cannibalism, but that's a very delicate subject.) This weirdness applies equally to judging vegans harshly simply for being vegans and to vegans judging omnivores harshly simply for being omnivores.

Go with God

Well, maybe apart from cannibalism, but that's a very delicate subject.

and a very delicate prep job

HAHA

the best thing about being vegan is i feel no guilt about calling my dogs shitheads to their face bc hey at least im not eating them

now before you precious dog lovers get up in arms about that, just remember that my dogs are shitheads

cats rule dogs drool

cats are also bad

It's weird to actively judge people based on what they decide is the kind of food they prefer to eat.

Unless they crack open a plastic container of something vile-smelling on public transportation. Then you can judge away.

i have a conservative friend who voted for evan mcmullin last election not trump but often we debate trump and the GOP because he argues that trump is neither explicitly, not obviously implicitly, racist and that the left uses idpol to discredit right-wing arguments without examining them on the merits etc aka a guy ilx would really enjoy. He's very bright so it's enjoyable to argue with him. Also, he believes that almost all moral issues are debatable but the one he thinks has the least credibility is the idea that humans can eat animals. He a staunch (tho not generally evangelizing) vegan, no leather, no eggs, etc. Last night we were chatting (bc I sent him that PETA tweet), and I argued that human capacity for morality or philosophy suggested that we're qualitatively different from the animals that we eat. He asked me if that means we can eat very young children. I argued that very young children have the potential to develop into humans who can think morally, but then he argued that fetuses can do the same and I'm pro choice. Anyway the conversation branched from there but I just wanted to introduce you all to my deep thinking hardcore vegan moderate Republican friend. He used to be a progressive when he was younger (he's in his late 40s now), and he says he once went to a liberal campus meeting where they were talking about the issues of the day (apartheid, civil rights, etc) and he raised animal rights and they blew him off and he feels like that's bc it was the one time they were forced to contend with their own oppressiveness. Anyway, I love eating meat it tastes great and the Bible says I can do it so I'm not worrying about it to much from a moral perspective, tho from a climate perspective as mentioned upthread animal farming does concern me. And it seems to be awfully cruel - we should be able to farm animals and not treat them like victims in a Saw flick.

so if i come across a tribe in the jungle that practices slavery and cannibalism and rape of captives etc. then i can just do that to them?

If you have no moral philosophy, then nothing either internal or external would prevent you from enslaving, raping, or eating members of that tribe, if you had it in your power to do so.

If you are a moral philosopher and accept the tribe as being equally as human as those you have granted the right to not be enslaved, raped or eaten, then your philosophy requires you to fall back exclusively on your own right to self-defense so that you may freely resist being enslaved, raped or eaten without imposing those outcomes on this hypothetical tribe.

there are no moral obligations hows that

there are moral obligations to the same extent that there are legal obligations. it's a personal choice to follow them, but if you choose not to the community may punish you. of course the legal community's punishments are stricter and more coercively applied than the moral community's.

FREDERIK OTM

GET IT TOGETHER ILX

Basically I find any suggestion that nonhuman animals are interchangeable with humans as moral subjects to be offensive and also wrong.

I'm stuck on the pure veganism people due to a friend explaining that a local dude who is semi-prominent in some circles, who talks about the morality of veganism, going on about how he shouldn't need health insurance. Because he's not old, vegan, and has a really good motorcycle insurance policy. So there's no chance he'd have a need for a lot of medical spending.

I mean ideally 99% of people with health insurance would have that profile, that's why it's insurance but... mote in my brother's eye etc

just for that i would commit acts of violence against him, but thats just me

lots of very left-wing people are very averse to veganism and get upset about it. my favourite one i ever got - and i never, ever proselytized when i was vegan - (obviously from a fucking white person) was some concern about it being a colonialist mindset because first nations peoples' traditional ways of life include hunting and fishing, using the whole animal etc. and the very obvious rejoinder was "you're white lol and I'm not telling indigenous people to stop their very responsible stewardship of their traditional lands i just think you, white person, should maybe consume less animal products"

look if you're not eating the tongue and the cheeks then kill your children then yourself

xxp but he is vegan, which clears his moral concerns including social interests lol

xp aside: Most of the reason I have health insurance is so that I don't get charged the cash payer price. Emergency rooms in the US, especially, will demand charges drawn from thin air for anyone who doesn't have corporate negotiators working on their behalf.

do any noninsured e.r. bills get paid though?

^^^

the "I'm a very responsible person" argument completely fails when you realize insurance (in the ideal case, admittedly our insurance system is really broken) is there for the cases where you'd really have no way to pay. like, surprise! you're the one 35 year old in hundreds of thousands who has some weird cancer and treating it costs $$$

or you get hit by a car and no one can find the driver, or... really a million possibilities