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Confronting Animal Exploitation: Grassroots Essays on Liberation and Veganism
As animal exploitation increases, animal liberation issues are of growing concern, as seen through the rise of veganism, academic disciplines devoted to animal issues, and mainstream critiques of factory farms. Yet as the dialogues, debates and books continue to grow, the voices of "street level" activists--not academics, journalists or vegan chefs--are rarely heard.
This volume broadens animal liberation dialogues by offering the arguments, challenges, inspiration and narratives of grassroots activists. The essays show what animal advocacy looks like from a collective of individuals living in and around Minnesota's Twin Cities; the essayists, however, write of issues, both personal and political, that resound on a global scale. This collection provides a platform for rank and file activists to explain why and how they dedicate their time and what is being done for animals on a local level that can translate to global efforts to end animal exploitation.
This volume broadens animal liberation dialogues by offering the arguments, challenges, inspiration and narratives of grassroots activists. The essays show what animal advocacy looks like from a collective of individuals living in and around Minnesota's Twin Cities; the essayists, however, write of issues, both personal and political, that resound on a global scale. This collection provides a platform for rank and file activists to explain why and how they dedicate their time and what is being done for animals on a local level that can translate to global efforts to end animal exploitation.
- GenresVeganNonfiction
275 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 2013
131 people want to read
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December 25, 2020
This is a unique collection of essays from animal advocates based in Minneapolis, MN. It’s always welcome to hear voices from the huge swath of America between the coasts, those for whom activism might look quite different from those in major urban centers. As writer Pattrice Jones puts it, “While an outsider perspective sometimes can be useful, the people who live in a particular place are often best able to see what needs to be done and how best to do it.”
Compassion for animals, especially for the farmed animals so universally exploited in our society, requires a strong constitution and a willingness to go against the grain that not everyone possesses. In her essay, Dallas Rising writes perceptively that humans
need to be accepted by others of our kind. We have survived in the wild by working within social groups, and the desire to belong is primal and powerful. … [G]oing against the status quo is perceived as a real risk to our feelings of safety. The connection between alienation and shame may shed some light on why many people who feel sympathetic toward animal suffering will not take the risk of speaking out against it.
Far from the stereotype of the angry vegan, Rising urges readers to put themselves in the headspace of the person who confronts the reality that nearly all animal-based foods are produced via cruel factory farming with a panicked “don’t tell/show me that!” or a more sanguine, “I just don’t think about it:”
Another primary reason people turn their heads to the realities of systemic animal cruelty is they fear the distress they may experience as a result of the betrayal of trusted people and systems. … Further, they choose not to experience the psychological and emotional consequences of realizing they have been made a victim and a perpetuator of torture and violence. Instead, they look the other way and pretend they don’t see. Life is just easier that way.
It has to be stressful and cause cognitive dissonance. Unfortunately, our society is structured such that looking away is the easiest and most socially acceptable thing to do. It is very difficult for many people to move away from this, especially if they have no social support systems. Rising quotes Melanie Joy in observing that babies are fed animals before they can even talk.
My thought is that there are many, many people who care about animals, enough so that if they all acted according to their consciences, the amount and depth of animal suffering and death would dramatically lessen.
Multiple essays explore the intersection of compassionate values and family life. Al Nowatzki writes on vegan parenting. Citing mainstream kids’ entertainment like “Babe,” “Bambi,” “Free Willy,” and many more, he observes that
[R]epresentations of [animals] are used in children’s media to illustrate life lessons …. Other stories teach us that animals should be spared suffering and death... Vegan parents take these lessons to their logical conclusions and teach their children to not only say that animals are their friends, but also act as if they are. It’s not enough to say, “Be nice to animals.” We need to actually be nice to all animals.
Chelsea Hassler discusses the struggle of speaking about factory farming with her older parents, who grew up on old-style traditional farms.
They don’t understand how much farming has changed over a generation … Despite what folks may remember about farming…these numbers [of animals raised on CAFOs] show that the small family farm is more of a quaint notion than anything else, and the overwhelming majority of Americans are now getting their meat from the living hell known as factory farms.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Cook writes movingly of her ex-husband’s mocking indifference regarding her feelings about animal cruelty, and his refusal to stand up for her when his friends became downright hateful about her being vegan. The pressure was so great she even gave up and went back to eating animals for a period, even though she knew it went against her values. Not surprisingly, the marriage did not last, and this sobering story should impress upon all veg*ns the need to create community and support each other, as you may be the only understanding voice in a person’s life.
Other essayists write about the challenges in making common cause with those who we may assume would be on our side.
Melissa Maaske writes from the world of pet rescue. She and many of her colleagues will seemingly move mountains to save a dog, but when it comes to showing even basic compassion for farmed species, this is where they often part ways. There is not even any interest in trying “free range” animal products among this crowd. This is a battle I’ve known for years with local shelters and rescues that host pig roasts and auction off gift cards to butcher shops in the name of “helping animals,” frequently while also simultaneously offering shelter to neglected/abandoned farm animals!
“I’ve faced a litany of shocking, vulgar, judgmental statements made by rescuers” when they discover she is vegan, Maaske states. On a personal note I am not at all surprised by this, as certain aspects of the dog rescue world have taken a dark turn. As high-risk dogs become more common in the rescue system, a vocal faction of the dog rescue cause wish to push animals with known dangerous histories into ordinary homes. They show no sympathy for the other pets or humans these dogs have mauled or killed, and indeed, are well-known for their “litany of shocking, vulgar, and judgmental statements” toward attack victims.
Meanwhile, the multi-author history of grassroots activism in the Midwest shows us why we should pay attention to the old timers of social movements. Don’t assume that if someone is on your side politically, it will automatically mean they have compassion for animals. One writer comments that “you would not believe the hostility” of their local Green Party to animal concerns. Co-ops, too, have changed. What were once havens for plant-based eaters have in some cases shut them out. I appreciated their words on the challenges of running a group, another experience I could, once again, relate to. As many vegan writers have observed, creating community and shared space is so important. Lack of support and social pressure are the primary reasons people give up on compassion for animals, who, as we all know, need all of the friends they can get.
One essay explores the animal themes in Stephen King’s work, with the writer, Patrick McAleer, finding often sympathy to animal suffering in the pages and cruelty to animals as a mark of villainy. However, McAleer misses the opportunity to comment upon the anti-neutering content in Pet Sematary. The main character, Louis Creed, bemoans neutering his cat, Church, using every insecure male argument imaginable against the procedure. Neutering is basically a lobotomy in the world of Pet Sematary, contributing to the damaging attitudes that has doomed millions of cats and kittens for being born unwanted.
Pattrice Jones's essay at the conclusion of the book gets a full 5 stars from me. I loved that she includes survey of sympathy toward animals in Minneapolis’s minority communities, finding that compassion is very much present in these underserved neighborhoods. And Jones doesn’t shy away from talking about the white privilege that infects a wide variety of progressive causes.
Most of the essayists in this volume come from what is popularly known as the abolitionist vegan perspective, and Jones critiques this, of which I am personally thankful. She writes,
Since only 22 percent of beef, 5 percent of pork, 3 percent of eggs, 1 percent of turkey flesh, and 0.1 percent of chicken flesh comes from any place other than factory farms, it cannot possible be that efforts to eradicate the most egregious abuses perpetuated by factory farms have stalled what would otherwise be a whirlwind ride to worldwide veganism.
I agree. I consider myself a realist. I would rather see reduced suffering rather than more or the same amount of suffering. I support Meat-Free Mondays, Vegan before 6, and One Step for Animals. I support campaigns to reduce the amount of suffering experienced by animals on factory farms. I support the vow to buy only animal foods from small farmers’ markets. I support meeting people where they are in life.
I know that animal exploitation is currently a major part of our society, and the vast majority of people are going to go along with societal norms. Ultimately, the control of what happens to farmed animals is not in the hands of activists, but rather those who are active participants in this system. Most adults can think of ways societal norms and attitudes have changed radically in their lifetimes, and also ways they have stayed the same or regressed, despite knowledge that change is in order. Will the cultural zeitgeist shift for factory farmed animals? What will the future hold for billions of animals currently at our mercy and treated in ways we shudder to imagine?
As Kim Socha writes,
[W]e know that the world doesn’t have to be this way. Only then do we have something positive to propose, as opposed to more images of suffering.
Compassion for animals, especially for the farmed animals so universally exploited in our society, requires a strong constitution and a willingness to go against the grain that not everyone possesses. In her essay, Dallas Rising writes perceptively that humans
need to be accepted by others of our kind. We have survived in the wild by working within social groups, and the desire to belong is primal and powerful. … [G]oing against the status quo is perceived as a real risk to our feelings of safety. The connection between alienation and shame may shed some light on why many people who feel sympathetic toward animal suffering will not take the risk of speaking out against it.
Far from the stereotype of the angry vegan, Rising urges readers to put themselves in the headspace of the person who confronts the reality that nearly all animal-based foods are produced via cruel factory farming with a panicked “don’t tell/show me that!” or a more sanguine, “I just don’t think about it:”
Another primary reason people turn their heads to the realities of systemic animal cruelty is they fear the distress they may experience as a result of the betrayal of trusted people and systems. … Further, they choose not to experience the psychological and emotional consequences of realizing they have been made a victim and a perpetuator of torture and violence. Instead, they look the other way and pretend they don’t see. Life is just easier that way.
It has to be stressful and cause cognitive dissonance. Unfortunately, our society is structured such that looking away is the easiest and most socially acceptable thing to do. It is very difficult for many people to move away from this, especially if they have no social support systems. Rising quotes Melanie Joy in observing that babies are fed animals before they can even talk.
My thought is that there are many, many people who care about animals, enough so that if they all acted according to their consciences, the amount and depth of animal suffering and death would dramatically lessen.
Multiple essays explore the intersection of compassionate values and family life. Al Nowatzki writes on vegan parenting. Citing mainstream kids’ entertainment like “Babe,” “Bambi,” “Free Willy,” and many more, he observes that
[R]epresentations of [animals] are used in children’s media to illustrate life lessons …. Other stories teach us that animals should be spared suffering and death... Vegan parents take these lessons to their logical conclusions and teach their children to not only say that animals are their friends, but also act as if they are. It’s not enough to say, “Be nice to animals.” We need to actually be nice to all animals.
Chelsea Hassler discusses the struggle of speaking about factory farming with her older parents, who grew up on old-style traditional farms.
They don’t understand how much farming has changed over a generation … Despite what folks may remember about farming…these numbers [of animals raised on CAFOs] show that the small family farm is more of a quaint notion than anything else, and the overwhelming majority of Americans are now getting their meat from the living hell known as factory farms.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Cook writes movingly of her ex-husband’s mocking indifference regarding her feelings about animal cruelty, and his refusal to stand up for her when his friends became downright hateful about her being vegan. The pressure was so great she even gave up and went back to eating animals for a period, even though she knew it went against her values. Not surprisingly, the marriage did not last, and this sobering story should impress upon all veg*ns the need to create community and support each other, as you may be the only understanding voice in a person’s life.
Other essayists write about the challenges in making common cause with those who we may assume would be on our side.
Melissa Maaske writes from the world of pet rescue. She and many of her colleagues will seemingly move mountains to save a dog, but when it comes to showing even basic compassion for farmed species, this is where they often part ways. There is not even any interest in trying “free range” animal products among this crowd. This is a battle I’ve known for years with local shelters and rescues that host pig roasts and auction off gift cards to butcher shops in the name of “helping animals,” frequently while also simultaneously offering shelter to neglected/abandoned farm animals!
“I’ve faced a litany of shocking, vulgar, judgmental statements made by rescuers” when they discover she is vegan, Maaske states. On a personal note I am not at all surprised by this, as certain aspects of the dog rescue world have taken a dark turn. As high-risk dogs become more common in the rescue system, a vocal faction of the dog rescue cause wish to push animals with known dangerous histories into ordinary homes. They show no sympathy for the other pets or humans these dogs have mauled or killed, and indeed, are well-known for their “litany of shocking, vulgar, and judgmental statements” toward attack victims.
Meanwhile, the multi-author history of grassroots activism in the Midwest shows us why we should pay attention to the old timers of social movements. Don’t assume that if someone is on your side politically, it will automatically mean they have compassion for animals. One writer comments that “you would not believe the hostility” of their local Green Party to animal concerns. Co-ops, too, have changed. What were once havens for plant-based eaters have in some cases shut them out. I appreciated their words on the challenges of running a group, another experience I could, once again, relate to. As many vegan writers have observed, creating community and shared space is so important. Lack of support and social pressure are the primary reasons people give up on compassion for animals, who, as we all know, need all of the friends they can get.
One essay explores the animal themes in Stephen King’s work, with the writer, Patrick McAleer, finding often sympathy to animal suffering in the pages and cruelty to animals as a mark of villainy. However, McAleer misses the opportunity to comment upon the anti-neutering content in Pet Sematary. The main character, Louis Creed, bemoans neutering his cat, Church, using every insecure male argument imaginable against the procedure. Neutering is basically a lobotomy in the world of Pet Sematary, contributing to the damaging attitudes that has doomed millions of cats and kittens for being born unwanted.
Pattrice Jones's essay at the conclusion of the book gets a full 5 stars from me. I loved that she includes survey of sympathy toward animals in Minneapolis’s minority communities, finding that compassion is very much present in these underserved neighborhoods. And Jones doesn’t shy away from talking about the white privilege that infects a wide variety of progressive causes.
Most of the essayists in this volume come from what is popularly known as the abolitionist vegan perspective, and Jones critiques this, of which I am personally thankful. She writes,
Since only 22 percent of beef, 5 percent of pork, 3 percent of eggs, 1 percent of turkey flesh, and 0.1 percent of chicken flesh comes from any place other than factory farms, it cannot possible be that efforts to eradicate the most egregious abuses perpetuated by factory farms have stalled what would otherwise be a whirlwind ride to worldwide veganism.
I agree. I consider myself a realist. I would rather see reduced suffering rather than more or the same amount of suffering. I support Meat-Free Mondays, Vegan before 6, and One Step for Animals. I support campaigns to reduce the amount of suffering experienced by animals on factory farms. I support the vow to buy only animal foods from small farmers’ markets. I support meeting people where they are in life.
I know that animal exploitation is currently a major part of our society, and the vast majority of people are going to go along with societal norms. Ultimately, the control of what happens to farmed animals is not in the hands of activists, but rather those who are active participants in this system. Most adults can think of ways societal norms and attitudes have changed radically in their lifetimes, and also ways they have stayed the same or regressed, despite knowledge that change is in order. Will the cultural zeitgeist shift for factory farmed animals? What will the future hold for billions of animals currently at our mercy and treated in ways we shudder to imagine?
As Kim Socha writes,
[W]e know that the world doesn’t have to be this way. Only then do we have something positive to propose, as opposed to more images of suffering.
October 12, 2013
Abolitionist Vegan Voices from the Trenches of the Twin Cities
(Full disclosure: at my request, the publisher provided me with a free copy of this book for review.)
Born of a beautifully simple idea, Confronting Animal Exploitation: Grassroots Essays on Liberation and Veganism provides a platform for everyday, in-the-trenches animal activists to share their stories. More specifically, these author-activists all live in or around Minnesota’s Twin Cities and subscribe to the abolitionist vegan perspective (even if not all of the contributors label themselves as such). The result is a captivating, surprisingly diverse collection of essays that addresses myriad aspects of the animal liberation movement, from the obvious (welfare reform and “humane” meat; the problems with capitalist models of reform; the alienation of being a vegan in a non-vegan world) to connections seemingly obscure (animal-friendly themes in Stephen King’s oeuvre).
The essays in CAE are grouped into four themes: Theory for Praxis, Veganism in Action, Narratives of Change, and Moving Toward Revolution. Those already involved in the animal liberation movement will no doubt see a name or two that they recognize. Longtime activist Dallas Rising, for example, kicks off the anthology with an examination of why so many people actively choose to ignore the suffering of nonhuman animals (“Turning Our Heads: The ‘See No Evil’ Dilemma”). Perhaps the most frustrating roadblock encountered by activists, she attributes this willful ignorance to ethnocentrism, a fear of social ostracism, and the pain inherent in recognizing such traumas: we are at once perpetrators and victims of animal exploitation – an idea expertly grounded in Judith Herman’s classic text Trauma and Recovery. Rising’s second contribution – “Tales of an Animal Liberationist” – is at once inspiring and heartbreaking, and highlights the power of personal narratives in changing hearts and minds (and hopefully behavior as well).
In a community in which BBQ fundraisers and meat-based “Spay-ghetti and No Balls” dinners are the rule rather than the exception, vegans who work with companion animal rescue groups are no strangers to this disconnect. People who break their hearts and empty their bank accounts to save dogs and cats think nothing of selling the dead and dismembered bodies of cows and pigs to fund their efforts – and please their own palates. Melissa E. Masske makes a moving argument for sticking it out in such situations, both because animal rescue is a rewarding and effective form of direct action in and of itself – and to introduce “animal people” to the tenets of veganism (“Introducing Speciesism to the Rescue Community”).
Also enjoyable is Al Nowatzki’s “Vegan Parenting: Navigating and Negating Speciesist Media.” Nowatzki (of the family-oriented blog These Little Piggies Had Tofu) identifies three types of speciesism (overt, easygoing, and unintentional) in media aimed at children and offers practical advice for fellow parents and guardians trying to navigate these troubled waters. He includes a thoughtful critique of Roby Roth’s children’s book That's Why We Don't Eat Animals , which illustrates how even well-intentioned media can sometimes prove problematic.
As a lifetime Stephen King fan (one of my earliest and most treasured childhood memories is of my father, reading to my younger brother and my 6-year-old self on a warm summer night in our family’s cabin in the Adirondacks, from the pages of Pet Sematary), I was pleasantly surprised by the mere existence of Patrick McAleer’s piece, “Literary Analysis for Animal Liberation: Stephen King’s Animal Kingdom.” It’s so liberating to know that I’m not alone in reading animal-friendly themes into SK novels! (Although I thought that a longer look at Under the Dome was warranted, especially given the upcoming mini-series. Not to give away the ending, but it touches upon a hypothetical long posed by animal rights activists, namely: if alien beings suddenly touched down on earth, would their superior intelligence grant them the right to oppress us?)
The major drawback with Confronting Animal Exploitation lies in its uniformity of contributors: not in their anti-welfare reform views, as proposed by pattrice jones in an otherwise-enjoyable afterward (for this was one of the prerequisites for inclusion, was it not?), but in their racial makeup. As editor Kim Socha notes in the introduction, “We are all white.” (Emphasis hers.) To their credit, Socha and co-editor Sarahjane Blum identify this lack of diversity as problematic from the outset, even if there “are no immediate answers.” Many of the essays contained within these pages have an intersectional bent, with the linking of feminism and animal liberation being the most common connection made.
To that end, if I were to recommend just one essay to my fellow activists, Kim Socha’s “The ‘Dreaded Comparisons’ and Speciesism: Leveling the Hierarchy of Suffering” would be it. Socha offers a thoughtful and nuanced critique of comparisons between human and non-human exploitation and suffering. Though she doesn’t always find such associations incorrect or even inherently offensive, she does caution activists against doing so - or rather doing so without careful consideration and an understanding of all the variables in the equation (*cough* PETA *cough*):
“In a speciesist culture, humans will always win the gold medal in the Oppression Olympics. Thus, loaded trans-species terminologies attempt to shed light on animals’ current woes without showing any understanding of the historical and contextual circumstances of other oppressed groups. I am not claiming the comparisons invalid in every situation, but acknowledging their limits and looking for ways to make those powerful associations more nuanced and productive.” (page 226)
In short: “Trans-species analogies are not fast food activism.” (page 237)
http://www.easyvegan.info/2013/06/17/...
(Full disclosure: at my request, the publisher provided me with a free copy of this book for review.)
Born of a beautifully simple idea, Confronting Animal Exploitation: Grassroots Essays on Liberation and Veganism provides a platform for everyday, in-the-trenches animal activists to share their stories. More specifically, these author-activists all live in or around Minnesota’s Twin Cities and subscribe to the abolitionist vegan perspective (even if not all of the contributors label themselves as such). The result is a captivating, surprisingly diverse collection of essays that addresses myriad aspects of the animal liberation movement, from the obvious (welfare reform and “humane” meat; the problems with capitalist models of reform; the alienation of being a vegan in a non-vegan world) to connections seemingly obscure (animal-friendly themes in Stephen King’s oeuvre).
The essays in CAE are grouped into four themes: Theory for Praxis, Veganism in Action, Narratives of Change, and Moving Toward Revolution. Those already involved in the animal liberation movement will no doubt see a name or two that they recognize. Longtime activist Dallas Rising, for example, kicks off the anthology with an examination of why so many people actively choose to ignore the suffering of nonhuman animals (“Turning Our Heads: The ‘See No Evil’ Dilemma”). Perhaps the most frustrating roadblock encountered by activists, she attributes this willful ignorance to ethnocentrism, a fear of social ostracism, and the pain inherent in recognizing such traumas: we are at once perpetrators and victims of animal exploitation – an idea expertly grounded in Judith Herman’s classic text Trauma and Recovery. Rising’s second contribution – “Tales of an Animal Liberationist” – is at once inspiring and heartbreaking, and highlights the power of personal narratives in changing hearts and minds (and hopefully behavior as well).
In a community in which BBQ fundraisers and meat-based “Spay-ghetti and No Balls” dinners are the rule rather than the exception, vegans who work with companion animal rescue groups are no strangers to this disconnect. People who break their hearts and empty their bank accounts to save dogs and cats think nothing of selling the dead and dismembered bodies of cows and pigs to fund their efforts – and please their own palates. Melissa E. Masske makes a moving argument for sticking it out in such situations, both because animal rescue is a rewarding and effective form of direct action in and of itself – and to introduce “animal people” to the tenets of veganism (“Introducing Speciesism to the Rescue Community”).
Also enjoyable is Al Nowatzki’s “Vegan Parenting: Navigating and Negating Speciesist Media.” Nowatzki (of the family-oriented blog These Little Piggies Had Tofu) identifies three types of speciesism (overt, easygoing, and unintentional) in media aimed at children and offers practical advice for fellow parents and guardians trying to navigate these troubled waters. He includes a thoughtful critique of Roby Roth’s children’s book That's Why We Don't Eat Animals , which illustrates how even well-intentioned media can sometimes prove problematic.
As a lifetime Stephen King fan (one of my earliest and most treasured childhood memories is of my father, reading to my younger brother and my 6-year-old self on a warm summer night in our family’s cabin in the Adirondacks, from the pages of Pet Sematary), I was pleasantly surprised by the mere existence of Patrick McAleer’s piece, “Literary Analysis for Animal Liberation: Stephen King’s Animal Kingdom.” It’s so liberating to know that I’m not alone in reading animal-friendly themes into SK novels! (Although I thought that a longer look at Under the Dome was warranted, especially given the upcoming mini-series. Not to give away the ending, but it touches upon a hypothetical long posed by animal rights activists, namely: if alien beings suddenly touched down on earth, would their superior intelligence grant them the right to oppress us?)
The major drawback with Confronting Animal Exploitation lies in its uniformity of contributors: not in their anti-welfare reform views, as proposed by pattrice jones in an otherwise-enjoyable afterward (for this was one of the prerequisites for inclusion, was it not?), but in their racial makeup. As editor Kim Socha notes in the introduction, “We are all white.” (Emphasis hers.) To their credit, Socha and co-editor Sarahjane Blum identify this lack of diversity as problematic from the outset, even if there “are no immediate answers.” Many of the essays contained within these pages have an intersectional bent, with the linking of feminism and animal liberation being the most common connection made.
To that end, if I were to recommend just one essay to my fellow activists, Kim Socha’s “The ‘Dreaded Comparisons’ and Speciesism: Leveling the Hierarchy of Suffering” would be it. Socha offers a thoughtful and nuanced critique of comparisons between human and non-human exploitation and suffering. Though she doesn’t always find such associations incorrect or even inherently offensive, she does caution activists against doing so - or rather doing so without careful consideration and an understanding of all the variables in the equation (*cough* PETA *cough*):
“In a speciesist culture, humans will always win the gold medal in the Oppression Olympics. Thus, loaded trans-species terminologies attempt to shed light on animals’ current woes without showing any understanding of the historical and contextual circumstances of other oppressed groups. I am not claiming the comparisons invalid in every situation, but acknowledging their limits and looking for ways to make those powerful associations more nuanced and productive.” (page 226)
In short: “Trans-species analogies are not fast food activism.” (page 237)
http://www.easyvegan.info/2013/06/17/...
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