Posted: Jul 12, 2016 4:23 pm
Veganism woefully fails to account for symbiotic relationships. They split things into the simple binary of interaction = exploitative and non-interaction = non-exploitative. I do not see how this can withstand logical scrutiny. What is so special about humans that our interactions with other animals cannot be symbiotic while the other animals seem to manage symbiosis quite admirably? Keeping pets isn't exploitation, it is commensalism. I can state this with just as much credibility as some asshole vegan has when they try to claim that, by housing, feeding, and defending my cats from predation I am somehow exploiting them. Keeping bees isn't exploitation, it is commensalism. Beekeeping is one area where veganism veers into the realm of abject silliness- and the reason I cannot respect it as a philosophical viewpoint.
It is oversimplified to the point where if it were about other human beings it would be bigoted. It is broken reasoning, bereft of logic. I can support vegetarianism. I can support eating plant matter before meat because it is more efficient and has less environmental impact. But you cannot deal with all of animalia painting with such a broad brush and talking about rights and protections. Jellyfish cannot benefit from the same rights and protections that dogs can. Dogs cannot benefit from the same rights and protections that apes can. All animals are different, and to treat them the same is just as harmful as making generalizations about groups of humans. It's too bad vegans cannot seem to grasp this.
It is oversimplified to the point where if it were about other human beings it would be bigoted. It is broken reasoning, bereft of logic. I can support vegetarianism. I can support eating plant matter before meat because it is more efficient and has less environmental impact. But you cannot deal with all of animalia painting with such a broad brush and talking about rights and protections. Jellyfish cannot benefit from the same rights and protections that dogs can. Dogs cannot benefit from the same rights and protections that apes can. All animals are different, and to treat them the same is just as harmful as making generalizations about groups of humans. It's too bad vegans cannot seem to grasp this.