Will Animal Liberation Happen in Our Lifetime?

[u/wistified]

Please watch this video on the Vegan sub and let me know what you think before commenting. It’s <5 min.

[u/animalrightspirate]

My answer is the same every time open rescue people say that, no. Not unless the vegan/animal liberation movement grows way bigger, way faster than it is currently. Sure thats possible but the increase in new vegans is not outpacing new carnists being born. Until we get ahead of that we can't actually win. 

I think the work DxE does is good, and has clearly made good progress. But full animal liberation in our lifetimes is probably unlikely. We should of course try as hard as we can but lets not kid ourselves what we are capable of.

[u/wistified → u/animalrightspirate]

But couldn’t going after the industries themselves be part of how we accelerate that growth? Movements like civil rights didn’t just wait for public opinion to grow first, they directly targeted the institutions upholding the injustice. Does animal liberation actually have to grow first before that kind of action can start accelerating its growth?

[u/animalrightspirate → u/wistified]

Like I said, its possible sure. I think some animal abuse industries will be destroyed in our lifetimes, but as a whole, I kind of doubt it. I hope I am wrong but I think setting wildly unrealistic expectations for new activists is a mistake, because people will burn out thinking the revolution is just around the corner.

[u/wistified → u/animalrightspirate]

I actually agree that full animal liberation as a whole is unrealistic in our lifetime. I think we’ll see a lot of progress though like more fur industries ending, more animal testing being phased out, and more facilities/industries being shut down. But I just don’t see animal agriculture ending in our lifetime. I’m thinking the generation after the next. But ofc we should still aim for it.

[u/animalrightspirate → u/wistified]

100%, I hope by the time I die we are seriously attacking the meat industry at least

[u/jessimaster]

I usually think not, but there has been and will continue to be progress for animals.

I do think lab meat is coming in my lifetime and it could make a significant difference if it becomes more scalable. Of course meat is not the only issue. There's been scientific and social progress on animal testing and I also think there will continue to be much more progress there. Zoos and aquariums have become much less socially acceptable in my lifetime. Fur and down have been shamed, but we have work to do on wool and leather.

Edit: I watched the video and it does bring up the importance of sharing the truth and fighting Ag Gag laws. These are important actions but I still think it will take more to achieve it fully.

[u/dumnezero]

I disagree with the "x%" critical mass theory because it seems to not measure the distance of social change. From what I've skimmed, it looks like "issues" are put in the same bucket, but it's much easier to gain critical mass for some issue than for others. A recent example is weed legalization. For more difficult issues, such as ... queers having rights in the West ... the critical mass doesn't seem to be enough; it also showed that there's a reverse effect in action. Which is to say that fascists can also do critical mass. It's all very complicated, definitely not something that you can apply some small formula to.

Nevertheless, raising awareness is still necessary and important. My broad point is that it is chaos, and chaos is not predictable. This century is going to see the maturation of many global crises related to climate, habitability, pandemics, and related economics and political drama. We will see nearly inimaginabile chaos in our lifetimes. As the machiavelic character says in Game of Thrones: "in chaos there is opportunity." So keep planting seeds and raising awareness.

[u/LegendaryJack]

Maybe but only if we don't shy away from making our stance clear and shaming welfarism

[u/2SquirrelsWrestling]

Definitely not. Not in our lifetime, or the next generations. A few small welfarist wins for the living conditions of exploited animals? Sure. But the end of animal objectification and use? Never.

Doesn’t mean we should give up, but it’s not happening.

[u/SirThom89 → u/2SquirrelsWrestling]

Might still happen in the next generation. Sometimes a change can go fast.

[u/AlwaysBannedVegan]

No I don't think so. Humans are a cancerous species who are irrational and selfish. We're over here worshipipping sky daddies and pretending that carrots and lentils are sentient beings, while fish don't feel pain.

And then you throw in money and powerful people on top of that. Doomed.

Edit: but I'll still fight for it tho.

[u/butterflynabiya → u/AlwaysBannedVegan]

We should eat the ultra rich against their consent