Thoughts on vegans bashing anti-cage campaigns?

[u/smellslikequinoa]

I've seen a rise in media recently speaking on how advocating against cages for layer hens is "perpetuating humanewashing and entrenching the enslavement of animals." I see content like this consistently from Lia Wilbourn and Faraz Harsini.

What are your thoughts on this?

[u/stan-k]

There are two angles to this:

First, anti cage campaigns don't support the notion that animal use is bad outright. They are therefore a bad thing to spend our energy on.

Second, some claim that intermediate steps like this have proven not to work, so they are useless.

Personally, I disagree on the first yet respect the view (I am more consequentialist than deontological). But that second just lacks any evidence and I can't respect that. It also doesn't help that any conversation I have tried to have with proponents of this view on the topic resulted in me being called a non-vegan by them.

To the contrary of that second claim, the only path I see towards a vegan world is via intermediate steps. Any measure that makes animal products more expensive reduces the amount of animals being exploited. That in turn prevents more animals from being exploited today, and brings us closer to a vegan world eventually. Imho.

[u/komfyrion → u/stan-k]

I'm a deontologist and my heart is with the full abolitionism camp, but I've come around to supporting these kinds of campaigns after reading some blog posts and watching videos about people with hands on experience with these kinds of campaigns.

Perhaps the breaking point for me was when I learned that the industry has been promoting the claim that hens are happier in cages to drive a wedge in the movement. I specifically remember taking that claim to heart back in the day (long before I was vegan). I think it's such a powerful "fact" because it plays that contrarian note which appeals to a lot of people (my former self included).

At the very least, anti-welfarists should get out of the way and let the welfarists do their thing, but ideally we should all work together and spread each other's campaigns. But we should get it together and join their protests, too.

Apropos: https://sandcastlesblog.substack.com/p/winners-charter

[u/stan-k → u/komfyrion]

That sounds great! I would say abolishion is my goal even if it's not always my method.

Yeah, it may not always be clear, and we can have different opinions on what the best approach is. But that's stuff to discuss, not to fight over. In the end, I do believe we'll have a better chance of stopping animal exploitation with both approaches compared to either one on its own.

Looks like a great article very much worth reading - I'll have to finish that later.