Guest guest Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Hi All, A work colleague of mine who is a well respected African American social justice advocate (and omnivore) used the term, "Animal Racism" to describe eating meat. This was in the context of my being a vegan (he said with a smile, "It's animal racism, but it tastes good!") I thought the term might resonate more for some non-veg people than "animal rights," so wanted to share it with you in case you wanted to use it. Carla Personals Skip the bars and set-ups and start using Personals for free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 I am sure all parties to the discussion about " animal racism " were well-meaning. But, I have to ask, please don't use that term. There is waaaaaayyyyy too much equating of all struggles in this country, which really means there is waaaaaayyyyy too much conflating of all terms of oppression in this country. It is why whenever someone starts talking about poverty the vast majority of people think about blacks, then they think about racism--and then, they do nothing to address the class-based power structure. It is why we have no language of class in this country, which is why the black Congressional Caucus had to accuse Bush of racism in the Katrina disaster, instead of pointedly noting that poor people up and down the Gulf Coast had been abandoned by the administration regardless of race, and that this had also happened in Florida when Bush's father was President and Hurricane Andrew hit. By erroneously framing the issue in terms of race, they may have made themselevs feel better, but they missed a God-given chance to move toward forging a cross-race coalition of the poor. So, as a sociologist, I am begging you, please don't use this obfuscatory term " animal racism. " It will only further confuse the issues. Thanks a bunch. Sam On Fri, 2 Dec 2005, Carla Din wrote: > Hi All, > > A work colleague of mine who is a well respected African American social justice advocate (and omnivore) used the term, " Animal Racism " to describe eating meat. This was in the context of my being a vegan (he said with a smile, " It's animal racism, but it tastes good! " ) > > I thought the term might resonate more for some non-veg people than " animal rights, " so wanted to share it with you in case you wanted to use it. > > Carla > > > > Personals > Skip the bars and set-ups and start using Personals for free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Another way to word the same idea...which I also use, is to compare if with racism, but to call it *Species-ism* which it literally is. I often say that animal rights activists ARE the Abolitionists of our day....fighting the same fight...and were even more unpopular than the abolitionists a couple hundred years ago, because our *racism/speciesism* is planetary, and popular almost everywhere. It is a powerful argument! Brother John , Carla Din <dindelion1> wrote: > > Hi All, > > A work colleague of mine who is a well respected African American social justice advocate (and omnivore) used the term, " Animal Racism " to describe eating meat. This was in the context of my being a vegan (he said with a smile, " It's animal racism, but it tastes good! " ) > > I thought the term might resonate more for some non-veg people than " animal rights, " so wanted to share it with you in case you wanted to use it. > > Carla > > > > Personals > Skip the bars and set-ups and start using Personals for free > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 The term " animal racism " wouldn't be correct and does not make any sense whatsoever since racism is about race. Speciesism would make much more sense. Warren SamL <saml Carla Din <dindelion1 Cc: SFBAV ; SamL Fri, 2 Dec 2005 10:22:49 -0800 (PST) Re: Animal rights slogan I am sure all parties to the discussion about " animal racism " were well-meaning. But, I have to ask, please don't use that term. There is waaaaaayyyyy too much equating of all struggles in this country, which really means there is waaaaaayyyyy too much conflating of all terms of oppression in this country. It is why whenever someone starts talking about poverty the vast majority of people think about blacks, then they think about racism--and then, they do nothing to address the class-based power structure. It is why we have no language of class in this country, which is why the black Congressional Caucus had to accuse Bush of racism in the Katrina disaster, instead of pointedly noting that poor people up and down the Gulf Coast had been abandoned by the administration regardless of race, and that this had also happened in Florida when Bush's father was President and Hurricane Andrew hit. By erroneously framing the issue in terms of race, they may have made themselevs feel better, but they missed a God-given chance to move toward forging a cross-race coalition of the poor. So, as a sociologist, I am begging you, please don't use this obfuscatory term " animal racism. " It will only further confuse the issues. Thanks a bunch. Sam On Fri, 2 Dec 2005, Carla Din wrote: > Hi All, > > A work colleague of mine who is a well respected African American social justice advocate (and omnivore) used the term, " Animal Racism " to describe eating meat. This was in the context of my being a vegan (he said with a smile, " It's animal racism, but it tastes good! " ) > > I thought the term might resonate more for some non-veg people than " animal rights, " so wanted to share it with you in case you wanted to use it. > > Carla > > > > Personals > Skip the bars and set-ups and start using Personals for free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 For people who have never read Animal Liberation or don't have any understanding of animal rights, I think the term "animal racism" has value in introducing the concept of animal rights and speciesism. For anyone interested in how the term 'speciesism' was coined, here's more info:http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1543799,00.html Cheers, Tammy __ "This is my protest against the conduct of the world. To be a vegetarian is to disagree--to disagree with the course of things today. Starvation, world hunger, cruelty, waste, wars--we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement and I think it's a strong one." -- Isaac Bashevis Singer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Here are some equally useful ideas: For all those who never read The Feminine Mystique or don't have any understanding of women's rights, I think the term " sex racism " has value in introducing the concept of women's rights and sexism. For all those who never read The Socialism of Fools or don't have any understanding of jewish rights, I think the term " jew racism " has value in introducing the concept of Jewish rights and anti-semitism. For all those who never read Homosexual Liberation: A Personal View or don't have any understanding of homosexual rights, I think the term " homosexual racism " has value in introducing the concept of homosexual rights and homophobia. For all those who never read The Other America or don't have any understanding of the poor's rights, I think the term " poor racism " has value in introducing the concept of rights of the poor and classism. I could go on, but I think you get my drift. Plopping " racism " behind every noun or adjective of an oppressed group--yeah, that really helps clarify things. I mean, everyone in the United States *really* understands racism, so it can be easily used to help them understand other phenomena of oppression. That's why we made sooooo much progress in eradicating racism, so we don't have that problem now. Take care. Sam On Sat, 3 Dec 2005, Tammy, Bay Area Vegetarians wrote: > For people who have never read Animal Liberation or don't have any > understanding of animal rights, I think the term " animal racism " has value > in introducing the concept of animal rights and speciesism. > > For anyone interested in how the term 'speciesism' was coined, here's more > info: > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1543799,00.html> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1543799,00.html > > Cheers, > Tammy > > __ > > > " This is my protest against the conduct of the world. To be a vegetarian is > to disagree--to disagree with the course of things today. Starvation, world > hunger, cruelty, waste, wars--we must make a statement against these things. > Vegetarianism is my statement and I think it's a strong one. " > -- Isaac Bashevis Singer > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 According to the American Heritage dictionary, race is "A subspecies, breed, or strain of plants or animals" and racism: "The notion that one's own ethnic stock is superior". According to Webster's, racism is racial (of, relating to, or based on a race) prejudice or discrimination So, while the term speciesm is part of the vegetarian and animal rights dogma, I think Carla's friend made a shrewd observation based on his experience, and one (if we just consider the definitions of the words) that is valid. He made the comment linking the oppression of people and oppression of animals by calling it animal racism. Of course, if he knew the term speciesism had been coined, or just more familiar with the topic, he may have used that term instead. But, for me, the most important point made was that Carla's friend understood racism and could connect how veg*ns extend that concept of oppression/exploitation/animal cruelty by chosing not to eat animals. So, for those of us who do talk to non-veg people about these issues, the words "animal racism" has value in introducing the concept of animal rights and speciesism. Yes, speciesism is a better term, but I also think it a difficult one to grasp, especially without showing the relationship to other 'isms. As Peter Singer writes in his original preface to Animal Liberation, "I ask you to recognize that your attitudes to members of other species are a form of prejudice no less objectionable than prejudice about a person's race or sex". Cheers, Tammy __ "The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" - Jeremy Bentham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 There is a(nother) " problem " with the analogies of the struggle for animal rights to that of peoples' rights. ...I'm reminded of a Sarah Silverman comment (re: comedy & offensive material): " Comedy is subjective. If they don't find it funny, then it IS offensive. " True as well w/ metaphors, similies, arguments, & words in general. Although one is attempting to " bring animals up " into a light of being seen as equal to humans, which is a nice thing.... Others would inevitably, and quite rightly, see it from the other perspective: that, at the same time, one is comparing the very people who have been marginalized (abused, enslaved, discriminated against, killed) to animals. There's a history of that, too, you know. I know the offense is inadvertant; but, in essense, it is quite easy to see this as a terribly insensitive direction to take an argument, depending on the sensibilities & sensitivities of the person to whom you are making the argument. Hence, not a candidate for a bumper sticker, regardless of its efficacy as a " teaching tool " at all. (In fact, I agree that using " -isms " only obfuscates the issue(s), & lets the self-identifying Right and/or Left (paid mouths in Media & politics & the zealots who love them) make all " *isms " interchangable and/or lump them into a generic Left and/or Right set of " issues " ... Then, '-ism' of the day " X " can be: * mocked, or, * shown less important an issue than '-ism' X+1 (and therefore can be ignored), or, * used & abused as a power-card (until it too loses value) * clearly shown to raise your taxes & give you poorer quality education for your children, and possibly put our 'great nation at risk' of something very, very bad indeed....) Until equality of being, inequality of speech, (phrase 234 in the list of " sounds cooler in Latin " ) -Michael , " Tammy, Bay Area Vegetarians " <t@b...> wrote: > > For people who have never read Animal Liberation or don't have any > understanding of animal rights, I think the term " animal racism " > has value in introducing the concept of animal rights and > speciesism. > > For anyone interested in how the term 'speciesism' was coined, > here's more info: > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1543799,00.html> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1543799,00.html > > Cheers, > Tammy , SamL <saml@d...> wrote: > > I am sure all parties to the discussion about " animal racism " were > well-meaning. But, I have to ask, please don't use that term. > There is waaaaaayyyyy too much equating of all struggles in this > country, which really means there is waaaaaayyyyy too much > conflating of all terms of oppression in this country. It is why > whenever someone starts talking about poverty the vast majority > of people think about blacks, then they think about racism--and > then, they do nothing to address the class-based power structure. > It is why we have no language of class in this country, > which is why the black Congressional Caucus had to accuse Bush > of racism in the Katrina disaster, instead of pointedly noting > that poor people up and down the Gulf Coast had been abandoned > by the administration regardless of race, and that this had also > happened in Florida when Bush's father was President and Hurricane > Andrew hit. By erroneously framing the issue in terms of race, > they may have made themselevs feel better, but they missed a > God-given chance to move toward forging a cross-race coalition > of the poor. > > So, as a sociologist, I am begging you, please don't use > this obfuscatory term " animal racism. " It will only further > confuse the issues. > > Thanks a bunch. > Sam > > On Fri, 2 Dec 2005, Carla Din wrote: > > > Hi All, > > > > A work colleague of mine who is a well respected African > > American social justice advocate (and omnivore) used the > > term, " Animal Racism " to describe eating meat. This was in > > the context of my being a vegan (he said with a smile, " It's > > animal racism, but it tastes good! " ) > > > > I thought the term might resonate more for some non-veg people > > than " animal rights, " so wanted to share it with you in case you > > wanted to use it. > > > > Carla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.