Life in a factory farm is nasty, brutish and short. This has nothing to do with nature; we have made it that way
Cameron Green
@camerongreen.org
This is my place for putting relatively unfiltered thougths. Unfiltered by worries about grandiosity or that I might come to think better of them in time. You can read my longer thoughts here https://camerongreen.org
Self-interest shapes reason around our desires as surely as gravity bends light around a celestial body
If there is a higher meaning in the story of our species, it probably lies somewhere in our collective ethical and intellectual progress
Animal products are generally cruel and unnecessary. What you do in response to this fact is a matter of personal priorities
Any time a conservative discusses Chomsky's views on media bias, it's like a game of "Tell me you haven't read Manufacturing Consent without actually telling me you haven't read Manufacturing Consent"
To be more worried about the alignment of AI, rather than humans, or even capitalism, is to swap reality for fantasy
We reached the logical extent of creating gods long ago. They were omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent; they created all and exist beyond time and space. We are at the limits of hyperbole. The gods stopped evolving millennia ago, because there were no greater attributes we could imagine to give them
The US elite's anti-socialist paradox: Socialism doesn't work, and socialist economies will collapse under the weight of their own contradictions. Yet, we must sabotage nations following a socialist model using all political, economic and military means, just in case. #propaganda
A believer in the supernatural says, "Science doesn't know everything" as if our scientific understanding were battling for supremacy with the imagined omniscience of a god. Such a battle is unfair, as people can define their god with whatever powers they wish
Corporations use our need for social status to keep us chained on the treadmill of consumerism. As the world burns, our life energy is being used to fan the flames. Most people know this, but cannot imagine a different life. What might we achieve if we brought our truer, ethical selves to the fore?
Judging others negatively is a primary way that people can redirect their negative inner voice away from themselves
What will be the legacy of our passing through time and space be on the ocean of sentient experience?
Even our theologies must in some ways reckon with the world as it is, for there are limitations for us to ponder our existence from outside of its walls
I have spent time with cows, pigs, chickens, goats, ducks and other animals at sanctuaries. When I think about how gentle most farmed animals are, how much they appreciate a kind voice and touch, it inspires me to try to embody the way they are in how I communicate on their behalf to others
Vegans face ad hominem attacks because this is easier than engaging with the issue they represent. This has happened with many justice movements in the past. Criticising vegans is a way to sidestep the uncomfortable moral issue: the lives and deaths of billions of animals in our farming systems
I understand why people don't like vegans. People are paying for the abuse of animals. Not because they are bad people, it's just a habit they don't think about much, and just how they were raised. Then, some annoying person comes along and asks, "Is the way we are treating other animals wrong?"
Animal agriculture, and especially factory farming, is a moral atrocity. Future generations will accept this, and they will wonder how people today happily participated in it
When property rights clash with human rights, it is property rights that must be updated
The correct response to the problems and evils of our world is to live in such a way that, by your example, you give hope to others that those evils can be overcome. We need not take on all of the troubles of the world, but at the very least, we must do what we wish from others - we must do our part
Religious people will say "Science doesn't know everything", which seems a strange argument when it is their religions that make the only claims to omniscience. Rational atheism accepts resting in states of unknowing or uncertainty, in a universe which is no less beautiful for its inherent mystery
Noble intent is fine, but as we age and start to reflect on our lives, we judge ourselves more by what we have achieved than by what we wish we had done. In the process of self-realisation the most important path we can tread is that of making our actions consistent with our ethical aspirations
Veganism isn't about a "personal" choice, but rather the opposite. Veganism is about starting to take responsibility for the world beyond ourselves, and our contribution to suffering in it
Most of the ethical duties we owe to other humans, we should already owe to them by their inclusion within the word animal
A phrase one often hears about victims of unjust or violent treatment is "They were treated like animals". It is, however, wrong to treat any sentient being unjustly or violently. Teaching a more consistent ethics is the simplest and straightest path towards a more compassionate world
Self-interest warps our thinking at a subconscious level, and only a sustained effort of introspection and conscious will can overcome it. Some people's upbringing makes this harder than for others. If they can summon the sustained will to ameliorate this, however, they can become the best among us
Human suffering is animal suffering. Veganism is just being consistent in our attitudes and behaviours towards suffering. Veganism extends compassion to its logical and necessary fulfilment
The eating of animals embodies the idea that even trivial human desires, like the preference for some ingredients over others, outweigh almost any rights a non-human being should have, not a right to freedom, life, or to live according to their nature
On many important issues, such as the environment, animal oppression and global inequality, Instead of helping us to be our best ethical selves, we live in a culture that makes it easier to continue living in an unethical way
The moral baseline is simple for the average person. Reduce your material consumption, eat a plant-based diet, donate effectively, reduce your contribution to pollution, and be more involved in political causes and social justice. Unfortunately, simple truths aren't entertaining or fashionable