Why are animal rights anathema to humans?

[bgmnts]

Even in left wing spaces, the rights of sentient beings to not be tortured and slaughtered by the billions annually for profit is something that is either ignored or ridiculed.

I've experienced everything; the false equivalencies (you're using a laptop made by exploited workers which is EXACTLY THE SAME as mass suffering inflicted on sentient life); the tutting; the 'hobby horse' dismissals; the 'you'll never convert anyone by being aggressive' as if people should be patted on the back and coddled instead of letting then understand they're complicit.

Now, as an autistic vegan, it's extra hard, as it's just impossible to discard my thoughts, or even come close to applying the same mental gymnastics and double standards human beings can do in order to be complicit in this. There will be nights where it'll dominste my thoughts and prevent sleep, and of course it makes establishing human relationships nigh on impossible, which obviously kills any advocacy or change dead in its tracks.

So why do we think that this is just something human animals just cannot understand? Is there something in the brain or psyche the vegan person possesses that most do not? The vegan is presumably quite varied, spanning class and culture and religion etc.

Will the left wing/liberal folk ever incorporate this ethical belief into their ideologies in the future? Will the human race even last long enough to reach a point where they'll look back on our treatment of animals with disgust?

 

[1956]

Even in left wing spaces, the rights of sentient beings to not be tortured and slaughtered by the billions annually for profit is something that is either ignored or ridiculed.

I've experienced everything; the false equivalencies (you're using a laptop made by exploited workers which is EXACTLY THE SAME as mass suffering inflicted on sentient life); the tutting; the 'hobby horse' dismissals; the 'you'll never convert anyone by being aggressive' as if people should be patted on the back and coddled instead of letting then understand they're complicit.

Now, as an autistic vegan, it's extra hard, as it's just impossible to discard my thoughts, or even come close to applying the same mental gymnastics and double standards human beings can do in order to be complicit in this. There will be nights where it'll dominste my thoughts and prevent sleep, and of course it makes establishing human relationships nigh on impossible, which obviously kills any advocacy or change dead in its tracks.

So why do we think that this is just something human animals just cannot understand? Is there something in the brain or psyche the vegan person possesses that most do not? The vegan is presumably quite varied, spanning class and culture and religion etc.

Will the left wing/liberal folk ever incorporate this ethical belief into their ideologies in the future? Will the human race even last long enough to reach a point where they'll look back on our treatment of animals with disgust?

@bgmnts I share your disappointment in the Majority of the Human Race - at least that’s how I’m hearing what you said…
For me it is the Environmentalist’s who are not Vegan that Baffle me! How can you claim to care about the environment and climate while continuing to support animal agriculture?!?

Unfortunately, I think that there are probably a few left wing/liberal folks who Would like to include animal rights interests into their ideologies, but they feel that it would lose them support from the broader community… In my view this is what has been happening in the USA recently with the Democratic Party being supportive of issues that are considered
Controversial by some who are maybe not completely Conservative but are still slightly conservative…
Sadly I think that at the moment most politicians are not going to speak out for the animals…

Now - as for just the left wing/liberal person in general - I have no idea How they are able to have the cognitive dissonance that they have…When I became Vegan over 30 years ago it was not widely being talked about - back then even being vegetarian was a bit strange! Today though there is So much information out there that I don’t understand how people can turn a blind eye to the torture that is happening…

We can’t force the world to become Vegan, however, being Vegan ourselves and setting a good example is something that we Can do…

 

[Graeme M]

I guess there are a couple of things at play, but the main reason is that humans think they are either not animals themselves, or at worst a very different sort of animal. Allied with that concept is that animals are also resources - they represent food and other useful things we need to survive. You cannot award similar rights as humans enjoy to something that is lesser than us and which we depend upon for survival. Yet in the distant past, the few humans there were had a somewhat fairer relationship with other animals - part of today's context is so many people. We can no longer hunt and take at a subsistence level so we have had to industrialise animal production and that's an added barrier to awarding rights - whoever heard of rights for products?

What does surprise me is the abandonment of animal rights by the progressive left, the very people who could be expected to understand the cause of animal justice. Sadly though, the issue there is that means actually doing something - challenging one's beliefs and doing differently. It's too uncomfortable for most.

I posed that question on my blog earlier this year.

Veganism and the modern Left

A question: why do left-leaning Australians (in particular modern progressives) overwhelmingly appear to reject veganism and animal rights? You might retort, how do you know that leftists reject ve…

justustoo.blog

 

[Lou]

Now - as for just the left wing/liberal person in general - I have no idea How they are able to have the cognitive dissonance that they have…

I didn't know about Cognitive dissonance till I was in a college class and had to write a paper on it. And now I think most vegans use the term incorrectly. For the most part when we bring up cognitive dissonance what we are referring to is willful ignorance.

Although willful ignorance is a.part of cognitive dissonance, in order for it to meet the textbook definition the person has to be uncomfortable with the beliefs or actions. I don't think many carnists are uncomfortable with eating meat.

- Cognitive Dissonance and Ways to Resolve It

We can’t force the world to become Vegan, however, being Vegan ourselves and setting a good example is something that we Can do…

Don't remember where I heard this phrase first but " not eating meat is both the most and least we can do" .

 

[Tom L.]

Actually... I think leftists are somewhat conformist in their mentality. To be fair, I don't think they're any more so than folks along the the rest of the idealogical spectrum, from what I've seen. But consider how (comparatively) recently women's rights were upheld in most parts of the world (and still aren't in some places). Ditto for slavery., which was ended in this country less than 200 years ago. This doesn't mean these issues weren't seriously discussed in some circles- I think Ben Franklin tried and failed to include a ban on slavery in the U.S. Constitution when it was first ratified, and warned (correctly) that it would cause a national crisis sometime in the future. I don't think most of the population is ready for animal rights yet.

Two other problems I see: 1) Animals themselves often can't be held to human standards of behavior. Mind you, I've personally known several animals who acted more ethically than the two worst humans I've known, and I'm honored to have known those animals- but they were the exceptions. Predation is common, as everyone knows. I don't see that this would justify my adding to the animals' problems, but unfortunately, most people evidently don't see it that way.

2) I generally base rights largely on sentience, and I'm not sure where to draw the line. Mammals and birds are unquestionably sentient- but reptiles have appreciably simpler brains than either of those, and "sentience" gets progressively harder to demonstrate the farther out you go. I give even simple animals- arthropods (such as insects, millipedes, etc.), worms, etc the benefit of the doubt. Their brains are much simper than the two groups I mentioned just above- but how could a grasshopper do what it does if it weren't sentient- that is, aware- on some level? So I use a sort of "sliding scale", and am ready to revise that scale if/when I get new information.

It's complicated.

 

[bgmnts]

I draw the line at sentience regarding the capacity to feel pain and quite simply not want to die or be hurt or injured. Add to the act the psychological factor of exploitation and lack of consent in general etc.

I do like to think that even most meat eaters would baulk at the way their meat is made, and are wilfully ignorant. I have my own theories and plump with certain explanations. There is the idea that whilst rationality is quintessential to ethical behaviour, it also can be used to justify anything you are inclined to. And that is perhaps where the cognitive dissonance or mental gymnastics factors.

I believe it is cognitive dissonance - admittedly my shallow understanding of the psychological phenomenon- that is the main factor in why many leftists and liberals hate vegans so much. When introduced to the conflict in their ideologies or previously known ethical positions, it fries brains.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Why are animal rights anathema to humans?​

I haven't read all the comments, but the rights are not anathema. What is anathema is being told what to do, have your beliefs and ethics questioned, or have to change what you're used to doing.

In addition to being logically and ethically correct, think about human psychology when promoting veganism.

The book by Tobias Leenart is worth a look, or even free content on his website: About - The Vegan Strategist

 

[Graeme M]

I don't think most of the population is ready for animal rights yet.

I doubt we will ever see a general decalaration and legislative support for animal rights as we have for people - that's way too difficult to achieve. What we can want is for people to behave as though other animals have basic rights. Which is, after all, what the Vegan Society's definition largely represents.

Animals themselves often can't be held to human standards of behavior

And that's the point. Animal rights are actually about us, not other animals.

I generally base rights largely on sentience, and I'm not sure where to draw the line

Basic rights for other animals are safe to assign for the vast majority of (probably all) complex animals. Sentience only really becomes questionable as a basis for rights/protection of interests when we have reason to doubt the level of sentience and I think that largely only applies to simpler invertebrates. Personally, I don't feel any particular need to award rights to insects. Their sentience is questionable, they are r-selected reproductive strategists (so high death rates are common and part of their standard lifecycle) and we are hard-pressed to avoid harming/using them. I'm comfortable with killing insects far more casually than I would for say dogs and horses, but still will go out of my way when I can to not harm them. But that's nothing to do with rights.