“8/29/2008, 10:24am EST”
Hypocrisy
One of the glaring hypocrisies of the mainstream progressive movement — which I cheer and aid during my “small-picture” moments — is its stated championing of reason, compassion, and humility, even while the vast majority of its members rejects those ideals everyday by supporting the meat industry.
As I wrote on DailyKos some time ago,* concern for animal welfare is in all ways a deep expression of core progressive values. Some of these include: appreciating the unnecessary suffering of others, and working to alleviate that suffering; protecting the economically powerless; protecting “the commons” from private usurpation (in this case, preserving biodiversity and stemming global warming, for just a few examples); etc.
So I can only feel dismay when I see Markos Moulitsas Zuniga — scion of the new progressive movement, founder of DailyKos (the largest progressive blog in the blogosphere), and someone whom I respect on a number of levels — expressing admiration for an ad like this:
That moment where Mr. Schweitzer slams the calf down on the ground is a really progressive touch — exactly the kind of thing that would make me feel like I can “look my family in the eye.”
Yeah yeah, I know Schweitzer is preferable to just about any Republican in existence (not that that says very much). And I know Kos says his priority is “electoral victory”. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that most mainstream progressives are not only MIA when it comes to the abuse of our fellow animals — they are actively complicit.
Hey, progressives: You say that you want to reduce needless suffering around the world? That you want to fight global warming? That your core values are worth acting on and fighting for?
Then stop eating animals. It’s that simple.
*The back-and-forth in the comments section of that DailyKos post is quite enlightening — for some reason, the meat-eaters can’t help letting their fragile egos determine their consequently fallacious arguments.
Never leave home without it.
