Have you ever wondered how you would have reacted to the greatest injustices in history? Well, I have an idea on how to answer that.
What do the champions of science and reason, Brian Cox, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael Shellenberger, Bill Gates, Steven Pinker, Wendy Zukerman, David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, Hannah Fry and Sam Harris all have in common?
Hint: it’s something they share in common with famously open to debate public intellectuals such as James O’Brien, Ayishat Akanbi, Dave Rubin, Joe Rogan, Peter Boghossian, James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, Caroline Criado-Perez, Cassie Jaye, Louis Theroux, Triggernometry (Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster) and Rajiv Malhotra have in common.
In fact, the same thing also unites popular well-being speakers who preach compassion such as Sadhguru, Laurie Santos, Pema Chodron, Alain de Botton, Dandapani, Ryan Holiday and the Dalai Lama.
The same thing also unites politicians as Trump, Obama, Alexandra Occasio Cortez, Narendra Modi, Bernie Sanders, Angela Merkel, Bolsonaro, Kim Jong-un, Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon, Jacinda Ardern and Xi Jinping.
THEY ARE ALL CARNISTS.
Do you struggle to imagine how historical injustices could have even been serious, good-faith topics of discussion at any point in history, let alone the norm? Have you ever read the arguments for slavery? The justifications of the colonisers and expansionists? The arguments against women’s suffrage and rights? I could go on. Do you think that you’d have done any differently than go with the crowd if you were around then?
Veganism is a science issue — the science is clear that humans are animals, there is no trait that makes us unique in kind (only in degree), that animal agriculture is a major factor of climate change, that fishing is destroying the ocean ecosystems and that a vegan diet is appropriate for all stages of life, including infancy and pregnancy. So why aren’t popular scientists even talking about this?
Veganism is a philosophical issue — it seeks to exclude (as is possible and practicable) all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. So why don’t we have discussions on veganism flooding the insane number of podcasts these public intellectuals have or go on?
Veganism is a compassion issue — innocent beings are being bred, mutilated, tortured and massacred by the trillions; food that could go to starving children in the poorest regions of the world, is being fed to animals eaten by those in richer countries. So why aren’t well-being speakers telling us to walk-the-talk when reducing suffering in this instance?
Veganism is a political issue — countries have outlawed other forms of discrimination based on sex, race, ability, sexual orientation. So why is it that when all sorts of political ideas like UBI and carbon-taxes are being discussed, ending speciesism is simply missing from the conversation?
Veganism is a neglected issue.
VEGANISM IS OUR SOCIETY’S BLINDSPOT.
If you need help imagining a vegan world, I highly recommend the hilarious movie (about an hour long) Carnage by Simon Amstell.