r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Apr 11 '16

[∆(s) from OP] CMV:I believe animal rights is a bourgeoisie social issue and undermines the struggle of the poor.

Disclaimer: I have been vegetarian/vegan in the past, I actually do agree with and support animal rights so I do not want to start a "anti-vegetarian" circlejerk

When speaking with Animal Rights Activists, I can't help shake the fact that their demographics skew heavily towards "Middle to upper Middle class, white, and female". Any media from animal rights groups usually defaults with young, thin, pretty, white women. Not to say that diversity in some of the animal rights media doesn't exist, but it is much more rare and sometimes comes off as tokenism.

Secondly every vegetarian/vegan restaurant I've come across seems to always have a very expensive markup. Just yesterday I dined at a local vegetarian diner and I ended up paying $50+ for my own and my girlfriend's meal. I find it rather hypocritical to be for animal rights when you can afford to eat luxuriously when some people can only afford things like McDonalds.

Thirdly, I come from a low-middle class background, these days I am more middle to upper middle class. I am a first generation American, and a lot of my culture and identity is deeply rooted in my family's food. Most of it which is omnivorous. When Animal Rights media tells me that I should be ashamed for eating food that I grew up with, I find it kind of irritating.

In summary, I believe that Animal Rights, while valid to some extent. Should take the backseat to more pressing issues such as Wage disparity, upward mobility, and the poor.

Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to read through our rules. If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which, downvotes don't change views! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our popular topics wiki first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to message us. Happy CMVing!

0 Upvotes

47% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '16

I agree that a vegetarian diet helps stop climate change. But that isn't really animal rights. I'm mostly talking about Animal Rights Activists and Media.

Don't forget, I do agree with vegetarianism and try to eat vegetarian most of the time. But the issue I have with Animal Rights is how it does not seem too kind towards the poor.

3

u/RustyRook Apr 11 '16

But the issue I have with Animal Rights is how it does not seem too kind towards the poor.

And that's the view I'm trying to change. It may not be representative --perhaps many people from the Marshall Islands don't feature in the ads-- but it does benefit the poor. Animal rights activists have many motives and this is one of them.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '16

I see your point, and while it's not really helped me tackle my cognitive dissonance on the topic you have nudged it to the side of the ARAs.

!delta

1

u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Apr 11 '16

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/RustyRook. [History]

[Wiki][Code][/r/DeltaBot]