The controversy of comparing human and non-human animal suffering and putting it into context

Introduction for non-vegans

In industries of animal exploitation, non-human animals are subjected to rape, psychological distress, physical torture and are killed (murdered) in order to produce various animal products for human-animals to consume. Humans have no biological necessity for any of these products. They simply exist for pleasure, convenience and most of all, profit. These are trivial reasons to commit such horrific acts against sentient-persons. (For anyone who has not witnessed the reality of animal use, please watch the documentary Earthlings available free online at www.earthlings.com as an introduction).

Such industries cannot be successfully regulated. A property owner has the legal right to do almost anything to their animal property, no matter how much pain or distress this may cause the non-human animal, as long as there is a perceived purpose (i.e some kind of gain for the owner such as increased profits). A property owner can breed more animals and lethally dispose of them at will. (Check out Animals, Property And The Law by Gary L. Francione for further evidence of this). When you are someone else’s property you have no rights. Your life has no moral value. Your body is someone else’s to use against your will. Beyond exploitation, it is quite literally slavery. Welfare regulation becomes meaningless and indeed only comes into effect when it benefits the producer (by increasing production efficiency and profit). Any minor benefit experienced by the non-human animal is incidental. Welfare regulation fails as a practical matter, but more importantly as a moral one. We should not be advocating for “humane” (regulated) animal use any more than we should be advocating for humane rape or humane human slavery. Simply regulating the suffering misses the point of why it is morally objectionable in the first place.

Why I am vegan and advocate animal rights. A brief note.

I have a deep respect for non-human animals. They are sentient persons and members of our moral community. I reject violence against animals by not buying any animal product¹, or that which has been tested on animals². I oppose the enslavement, use and killing of non-human persons, so I withdraw my financial support of industries of exploitation. Similarly I do not patronize establishments who confine animals and use them for entertainment purposes³. These trivial and unnecessary practices inflict immense suffering and violate the basic rights of fellow sentient individuals not to be used as things or property. I take the rights of non-human animals seriously and consider humans using them as resources, or for purposes of pleasure, convenience or profit, an immoral violation of these rights. Intelligence or cognitive ability is irrelevant. Sentience is the only necessity for the basic right not to be used in this way.

To regard an individual to be of lesser or no moral value based on a difference in species is known as speciesism. It is the same as when a white-supremacist considers himself morally superior to non-whites, purely because of skin colour(racism); or when a man considers women to be lesser than himself purely based on gender (sexism). It is discrimination based on irrelevant characteristics that do not determine an individual’s moral value.

To be vegan is to reject speciesism and violence. Vegan individuals tend to reject discrimination, violence and exploitation in all its forms, applying the principle of equal consideration to both human and non-human animals in this regard.

I reject welfare reform as I do not wish to regulate slavery and/or support the idea that slavery is acceptable. Slavery in all its forms needs to be abolished. Speciesism needs to be tackled and the property status of non-human animals needs to be ended by the legal implement of the basic right of any sentient individual not to be owned as property. This is what it means to support animal rights. The moral baseline/minimum requirement of respecting non-humans and ending their slavery is to stop using them in our everyday lives. 

This means being vegan.

¹(e.g meat, milk, eggs, leather, wool, fur, silk, honey, beeswax, food and non-food products with animal ingredients)

²(e.g household products and cosmetics)

³(e.g circuses, zoos, marine parks)