Hello everybody, this is The Jungle blog,
Something I’ve noticed in The Animal Rights movement is that not a lot has been said about what our end goals are. A lot of focus is on maintaining groups from day to day; generalized boycotts against injustices like the meat industry, animal experiments, etc; and starting campaigns against the worst offenders (the importance of that last part can’t be overstated.) But we also need a linear timeline of what we intend to do. Such a method by itself can be stiff and inflexible, however, the movement is in dire need of some focus. The best analogy for dividing up a movement would be The Cold War. The long conflict would be like The Cold War itself. Within it there are the actual wars with their various strategies and goals, and within wars, there are battles. But after The Cold War ends, there are new conflicts; like the current international power games between America, China, and Russia.
Older generations of animal rights activists couldn’t have imagined certain issues being solved close to their lifetimes. For example, when it comes to the meat industry, the consensus is that ending it will be a gradual process; where demand goes down, and the new groups of animals simply aren’t born. Perhaps there are other factors which make killing animals for meat no longer viable, but the idea behind this view is basically, “I’m optimistic about Animal Rights, I’m not delusional.” But the current leaders of The Modern Animal Rights Movement started out when it was in its infancy. They couldn’t have anticipated the rapid spread of awareness for Animal Rights, or the future advancement of stem-cell technology. However, my idea of what could happen is not as simple as you think – and needs to be described in a little more detail.
Shutting down the meat industry – and having animals no longer be labeled as ‘property’ won’t be the end of Animal Rights. It would be the end of a major phase, but we have been abusing animals for thousands of years. It’s deeply intertwined into our culture, and its practices. There would still be animal rights abuses all over the place and other areas where Animals live in deplorable conditions. There may be legal protections for animals that were overlooked. Similar to how America winning the Cold War wasn’t the end of all global conflict, this won’t be the end of Animal Rights. Reaching this point wouldn’t even be the period when Activists can rest for a little bit. After every change, there is entropy and backlash. The moment of victory is when you have to fight the hardest because success goes to your head. You have to hold on to what you’ve achieved, and stop things from going backwards. Even with boycotts, support from the majority of the population, and technology to ease us in, those who are angry and afraid of change will support exploiting animals even harder. Before you know it Animal Exploiting Industries will recover from their recent setback, and fight against new reforms.
Of course, animals being used for food isn’t the only major Animal Rights issue. There are other fights along the way. For example, the pain caused by experiments comes very near to the pain caused by Factory Farms. We need more protections for animals in the entertainment industry. There are zoos – which are basically like prisons, and the breeding houses which sell dogs to Pet Shops. There are other examples. But the end of the meat industry would definitely mark a major shift in how things are done.
An important piece needed for this is stem cells. These are blank slate cells in embryos which turn into specialized cells like skin cells, heart cells, nerve cells, liver cells, etc. However we don’t need to get them from embryos. Full grown animals, including humans have them too. We just need some from a few animals, and then we’re good. Because they can replicate, the stem cells of a single animal hypothetically could produce enough meat to feed every human on the planet. The issue would be perfecting the process of turning it into meat, and making it affordable for the common consumer. We also need to use stem cells to create animal products like milk and eggs.
Some people may then ask, “Why should we do anything for animals at all? Why not just wait for stem cell technology to improve?” First of all, change doesn’t happen by waiting around for other people to do things. We need to take control of the process. Governments and institutions don’t act like something is an emergency until we do. Achieving change any other way leads to unintended consequences. Without understanding animal issues, you’ll miss important details. For example, you won’t know just how intertwined the meat, leather, dairy, egg, and wool industries are; along with issues like workers rights, pollution, and disease outbreaks. Everything is efficiently tied together by Factory Farms to maximize profit. For example, male animals are less efficient, so they’re killed earlier. With male chickens, it’s as soon as they’re born. Animal Rights has to become a political issue, people need to be informed about things the average person currently doesn’t know about, and Animal Rights has to gain as much attention as possible. The second thing I want to point out is that the main reason why corporations like Tyson Meats are funding research for stem cell meat is because they’re anticipating a rise in vegetarianism and veganism. Thirdly, you don’t know what the future will bring. You can predict an increase in technology, but you don’t know what will happen for sure. Fourth, the switch between meat made from killing animals, and meat from stem cells won’t be instant. Replicas may be imperfect at first, not every variant of meat may exist, and producers will want to test a few products with consumers before releasing more. Fifth, even as an individual your actions lead to difference. Refusing to eat meat, or finding other ways to deprive Factory Farms of their money leads to less profits, which over time leads to the industry breeding less animals for their next quarter. Sixth, there is a power struggle between Animal Rights Activists, and Animal Exploiting Industries. This dietary boycott is one of our most important tools.
By the time the change I describe takes full effect, Animal Rights will be completely inseparable from Human-Related Issues. They will be inextricably connected with economics and politics. This will secure the dilemma where issues must have some element of self interest to receive attention. For example, without Animal Rights, there are no Workers Rights. Farm work is amongst some of the least unionized industries in the country. Many legal protections for workers don’t apply to farm work. Workers have to butcher an average of 250 Cows per hour and work in ammonia gas. Factory Farms are built next to minority neighborhoods – untreated hog waste is dumped into the water supply. Factory Farming increases the likelihood of pandemics now more than any other point in history. Over-breeding animals for food uses up land, plants, and water which could be used to feed humans. This wasteful, inefficient, method of producing food is the biggest contributor to the climate crisis. Also, in the future, people will be unable to ignore Animal Rights because within large political networks, Animal Rights Groups will be some of the most important smaller turn-key networks which provide political support and funding.
But what has to happen first before we reach this point? The numbers may vary, but the basic idea is the same. Currently, ten percent of the American population identifies as Vegan or Vegetarian. The higher the number gets, the faster it will increase. Animal Rights has to become a political issue. It needs to gain attention. Things like providing legal protection for downed animals; or abolishing battery cages, force feeding, and intensive confinement need to become major talking points. Issues related to Animal Experiments need to be on the ballot every election. Over the decades, becoming vegan will become increasingly common. You’ll see it all around you. It’ll be easier to prioritize making the switch if everyone else is doing it. There will be increasingly better provisions to make switching your diet easier. It may get so easy that more people will feel comfortable starting out as vegans, rather than being vegetarian first. Once a combined twenty five percent of the American population is vegan or vegetarian, and stem cell technology is sufficiently advanced, all we need is for sixty percent of the population to either be strongly in favor of switching to stem cell meat, or at least in favor of basic Animal Rights positions. This will be the point where the issue is still an issue, but we have support from the majority of the country. The remaining forty percent will likely be those with a strong reaction against change, rather than those exhibiting anything similar to the hesitancy we see in this decade. Some centrists could swing in favor of animal rights, while others might swing in the other direction; telling people to ‘slow down’ or saying, ‘I’m in favor of your goal but not your methods.’ This is the point where we can shut down the meat industry. Legally, animals need to be individuals with rights, not property. This will set an unusual precedent, because usually when we come up with rights for humans, since we are all part of the same species, we share the same basic needs. Nevertheless, even if two creatures’ needs differ, we still ought to give them equal consideration.
Things won’t just fall into place. This is merely the goal. There is a long road ahead. There are a lot of issues in the present to address before we get there. We need to spread awareness, and build the actual structures and groups required to carry things out. For now, we need so-called ‘sweeping reforms’ to address Factory Farming. I think these are actually just basic emergency measures to relieve animal suffering. Half measures, like a few extra inches of cage space won’t do. We need better funding and enforcement for Animal Welfare regulations. Especially in The United States. We need to shut down more animal labs, pass regulations that relieve suffering for lab animals, and eventually ban Animal Experiments completely. The hardest fight will be once we arrive at our goals and have to deal with the inevitable backlash. In fact, a ‘counter-revolution’ is usually in the process of cooking before any change actually happens. I think Gen-Z will merely lay the groundwork to get there, the way previous generations laid out the groundwork for us. I imagine that by the time Gen-Alpha is in their twenties, we will have caused a sort of Vegan Craze to sweep the country that people will want to participate in. This is purely speculation, but I believe they will be a very political generation, and will be the ones to carry out the switch.
Anyways, it’s just a thought. Have a good day everyone.