'Pets' and Judgement

1892:

Being ‘animal-lovers’ many liberationists are owners/guardians of carnivorous-animals. But being responsible for feeding these companion animals forces the vegan to have to visit the meat counter, just as meat-eaters do themselves. There on the meat counter are other animals, now dead, made ready to feed our cat or dog. How do vegans square that one?

But that aside, what we are condemning in others, for disregarding farm animals, we do so because, to some extent, it makes us feel good, because we know we are ‘right’. But it come across as conceit, where condemnation and value judgement also sound like conceit - for this reason our ‘right-speak’ won’t work. Meat eaters won’t be bullied into giving up their meat. They might even enjoy our vegan outrage, especially if they think we’re whacko anyway.

Some vegans are like bullies, and even amongst each other there’s a tendency towards being vegan-police-types, criticising one another’s inconsistencies (as I’ve just done with vegans with carnivorous companion animals). But it’s not the details of our various judgements, but judgement in general which is so unproductive. None of us likes to be judged and most of us respond badly to it. So, overall, the blunt instrument of judgement, real or perceived, works against everyone’s best interests. If we make use of judgement we can’t, in my opinion, be effective advocates for animals. We do damage with it.