Towards Freedom

Until we are compassionate to all beings, including ourselves, we are doomed to repeat the lines ’lest we forget’, ‘stop racism’, ’equality for women’, ‘keep our ancient forests’, ‘reduce reuse recycle’, ‘do not eat our friends’, ‘rats have righton’, and so on so forth.

There once was a sealer named Bryce
Whose heart was as frigid as ice.
He clubbed ’em and snagged ’em
Then brutally dragged ’em;
Of mercy he didn’t think twice.

Vivisection is the practice of torturing and killing innocent lives, allegedly in the name of altruism and compassion. This is why it has been criticized as far back as Shakespeare, formed the inspiration for Frankenstein, and why the likes of Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, and Gandhi were opposed to it strictly on moral grounds.

As a continuation of our series on ancient vegans, we’ll attempt here to take into consideration Porphyry’s essay On Abstinence from Animal Food, written in the third century CE, and translated into English by Thomas Taylor in 1823. A full pdf of the essay is provided here.

For centuries people have exploited, mutilated and abused animals in countless ways, oblivious of animal’s sentience. Today a new movement rising is questioning societies use and abuse of non-human animals.

This essay is intended to offer a stronger alternative argument in accessible language for extending ethical regard and rights to nonhuman life forms than the “speciesism equals racism” and sentience/suffering criteria approach that is widely used in the animal rights debate.

This page is presently in construction.

This is the comprehensive ARVEG FAQ produced by KG which covers just about every imaginable attack against animal rights and vegan stances. It provides factual, effective and occasionally amusing responses.

There are many stories told about Buddha the Compassionate One. They carry the eternal message with a simplicity that any child can understand. Here is one of those gems.

The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition was founded in 2004 for the sole purpose of ending the horrific practice of horse slaughter in Canada and the export of live horses for the same purpose.

(Image generated by Microsoft Designer.)

This article deals with confusion and distress that can materialize for humans who put cats on vegan diets.

For the first time in my life, I questioned my faith in the innate goodness/beauty of all humans. I have seen and felt painful and cold aspects of being human in myself and others but nothing really shook a basic trust I had for limitless beauty in this world. Are the questions now … so what? Or what the heck are you talking about?

There is a very beautiful story from the Hindu mythology’s Mahabharata that provides an insight to the meaning of our existence.

There is a tasty seaweed
On which I like to feed
Mineral rich, purple and salty dulse is
Good on salads, grains and pulses

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (Columbo 685)

Fallacious argumentations in animal rights and vegan discussions are identified according to the rules of logic. This guide exposes standard logical fallacies that repeatedly appear and demonstrates their invalidity.

No one is perfect. Everyone is open to criticism. Any individual or group can be examined and criticized where appropriate and fair. The misery and death perpetrated against nonhuman animals is an unfathomable catastrophic hell, and one should seek to improve the lives of victims whenever possible while pursuing an end to the practices. This is what we would do with a human rights situation and nonhumans deserve no less.

Fireworks are a severe problem for many: wildlife, farm animals, pets, people with PTSD and anxiety. They are seen by some as a traditional and/or cultural means of celebration. Hence, jurisdictions often allow such activities which are a blatant abuse of an individual’s basic rights.

Cartoon by Graham Harrop.

This article was written by one of the ADAV advisors, Dr. Maidie Hilmo, PhD, and has appeared on ADAV first.

Going back to ancient times, the Spring Equinox, falling on March 20 this year, has been celebrated as a time of transition when day and night are the same length. It represents the victory of light over darkness.

Human Exceptionalism is the latest term to buzz around to describe the phenomenon of human supremacy. It is a clever term I would say, as it doesn’t have the bigot aura that supremacist carries. But in essence it means the same thing even if its users deny it.

This is true for all our communities’ children, regardless of species! A perfect example is the story of Cathy Page and a duck family.

More to come, as we welcome new contributions.

I think that there is a lot to be said in terms of how martial arts philosophy applies to life in general, and in regards to the animal righton movement it is especially pertinent and beneficial.

Many martial arts, such as Okinawan Karate and Capoeira, were developed and practiced so that oppressed people would have a means of defending themselves in lieu of access to arms.

As a martial artist, I used to wonder if there was one ultimate way to focus one’s combat skills, if a style could be developed that took out all the stylistic frills and utilized scientific principles to form a perfect combat system. My reasoning was, if most human bodies are essentially the same, surely there’s one specific method of fighting that’s superior, and the plethora of styles within martial arts are just culturally-influenced deviations from this hypothetical one-true-way.

The Golden Rule is the only moral principle that grounds itself in objective observation. The primary three systems of normative ethics: deontology, consequentialism, and virtue ethics, all share the common failure to conclusively answer the question “Why should I care?” when they make claims of how individuals ought to behave. The Golden Rule, however, does not even ask that we care about the principle at all, it simply explains that when we act in a manner toward others that is inconsistent with how we would like to be treated, then we are being hypocritical and unfair. This replaces opinion with fact, so that the desires of individuals cannot be held above it. However, the Golden Rule does have some loopholes that ought to be addressed in order to form a more solid basis for morality.

Nathan Winograd Hates Peta So Much He Loves Vivisectors and the Meat Industry.

Among the conflicts between animal righton and animal welfare is the issue of euthanasia.

Nonhuman animals are killed by the millions in shelters every year. Although this is called mercy killing in some cases, or a necessary evil, the means of execution can be far removed from anyone’s concept of compassion.

In regards to the “nobody’s vegan” idea, I’ll attempt to demonstrate why it is flawed in its essence.

The basic animal righton position is that moral regard should not be based on any characteristic alleged to be uniquely human but instead be a general compassion principle using sentience - a basic interest in living, avoiding pain, maximizing pleasure - as the standard by which we determine the moral worth of others.

We used to live near the water when we moved in 1995 to Duncan, BC on Khenipsen Road, beside a First Nations area. It was a very nice place, except for the hunting and fishing that took place there.

This is an article written by the San Diego organizer of the 1998 Season for Non-Violence event.

In 2023 Parks Canada decided to slaughter all deer on Sidney Island British Columbia. This page provides information, resources, and updates on what is an unethical process on many levels. Sign the petition to Save the Sidney Island deer. The page is still in construction.

The foundation of the ethical arguments used to defend vivisection, the meat industry, and other forms of exploitation protested by animal righton campaigners is the belief in human supremacy. It is generally taken for granted by both sides of the issue and left unchallenged. Advocates would discover they can make a stronger case if they relied less on the three S words (suffering, sentience and speciesism), and more on common sense, clear language and a frontal assault on human pride. It shifts the energy of the debate from a defensive posture (an effort to persuade the listener to embrace compassion and/or respect for non human life forms) to one that forces the most hard line adversary into a choice - either accept nonhuman righton as a necessary condition of a fair ethical system or concede that their own belief would allow humans to discriminate against other humans in unpleasant ways.

Success is what the American Dream is all about. Many people are motivated by the promise of a better life, hence they chase dollar bills all their lives in the hopes of living out the American Dream - a fantasy which only money can buy. The American economic system is designed to meet the needs of the upper class, as it ignores problems of ethnic minorities.

Chapter One: Dissecting Conservation’s Biggest Myth

I care deeply about the survival of the earth. Even as I write these words, I know that this exquisite jewel of a planet is at unprecedented risk. The land, air and seas cry out as they have never done before; the seeds of destruction have been planted by humankind and they are germinating and growing at a monstrous rate. As many have foretold, we seem to be on the eve of destruction. We can speculate that it may take a miracle to turn such a resistant, self-mutilating society around, stopping the cycle of abuse and beginning the slow process of rehabilitation.

All arguments are not created equal. There are differences in their intent and the degree to which they impact an audience’s psyche. If you wish to make the strongest case for justice and respect towards nonhuman beings, then destroying human arrogance is crucial and human nature is your greatest ally in the cause.

As the strip club business is becoming more widely accepted around the world, this industry is also proving to have harmful effects on our population. The laws set for strip clubs are too lenient. My concern regarding these establishments can be mocked by those claiming that bars offering stripteases are entertaining and that it is our choice to attend or work at them or not. However, for the sake of our future - entertainment for the human race should be beneficial, not superficial.

Editor’s introduction: Below is the tribute written by Twyla Francois, received June 20 2008, after the intensive media coverage that followed from the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition’s 2008 Horse Slaughter Investigation. It is a reminder that there is still much to do … and that there actually exist those who are willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.]

Many caring and concerned individuals both from the medical and local communities are asking if animal experimentation is beneficial to human health and medical research. (Ruesch 36) Because animal experimentation focuses on artificially inducing disease in perfectly healthy animals, and is undermined by the vast differences of non-human-animals versus humans anatomically, physiologically and pathologically, “it is inherently an unsound way to investigate the human disease process” (MMC 1)

I was encouraged by a recent editorial denouncing whaling as cruel. I have also read that 70% of Canadians agree, including such local public figures as Reform MP, Gary Lunn. I wondered, though, if there is an inconsistency with the fact that most of us eat animals regularly. My first thought was that whales are killed in a cruel way, but that animals are raised for food in a humane manner.

I came across this comment the other day: “You shouldn’t be so judgmental! Everyone should be allowed to eat whatever they want without worrying about some vegan nut judging them. It’s none of your business what I eat! Each to their own I say!”

No!!! Wrong!!!! I’m going to tell you why that’s a load of …