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.

Some are under the impression that they are superior somehow. This is apparently a justification for the presumed dominance and ill treatment of others. It has been suggested that some are more intellectual, can reason better, can control and manipulate their environment. My question would be to what end? Ultimately, whatever we do to our environment, we do to ourselves.

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.

Now Bryce had some friends, it's been told
Whose souls had long since been sold.
They pandered and lied,
Geoff Regan at side:
A leader with morals "on hold".

Geoff's greed was well-known in the land
(He refused to have the slaughter banned.)
He sent the Coast Guard
To where ice floes were marred
And more innocent deaths had been planned.

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.

Intuitively we know that if you seek to help someone, torturing innocent bystanders is morally perverse, like saving a village by destroying it. We don't help a homeless person by massacring a family and call it kindness.

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.

Porphyry (234-305 CE), the student of Plotinus, and elder contemporary of Iamblichus, plays a central role in the Neoplatonism of the early centuries CE. He is perhaps best known for his compilation of his teacher's works, which are today known as the Enneads , but he was also a voluminous writer in his own right. Among his writings is the famous Life of Pythagoras , from which we gain many insights into the way of life prescribed by that great philosopher, which we touched on in our article on Apollonius of Tyana. It was this way of life that influenced Porphyry and other Neoplatonists in their adoption of a diet including no animal foods. Porphyry's strong position on animal rights and veganism is demonstrated aptly in the following quote:

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. The animal righton movement states that animal have a right to swim if they have fins, fly if they have wings, and run if they have feet. From killing animals for experimentation or for food, using them to do silly tricks, putting them on display, or hunting them for fun and alleged sport, animals bear the brunt of society's violence. If only we can realize the value of all life, and see animals as sentient and necessary in the web of life, the world can then see that when we live in harmony with nature, we can find peace.

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 provided. (Some additions and modifications have been made from the earlier version and the original due to broken 20+ yr links as well as new material.)

In the TOC, "->" indicates there is more to the question than could be fitted and can be viewed by clicking on the link.

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 Buddha is taking a walk. He gazes at the beauty of the flowers of the field and says: "O trees and flowers of the field! How trustfully you turn your faces to the sun! And how trustfully nightingales and doves take shelter in you! Alas! man hurts the birds and slays the animals! The wisdom of man is drenched in blood!"

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. As a committed vegan, I am opposed to the exploitation of any living being, so it was after a great deal of thought that I decided to develop a campaign to specifically help the horse. There were several reasons for my decision. One, I had been involved in the rescue of PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) foals since 1997 and had horses of my own. These animals had touched my heart simply because I spent a lot of time observing their ways and trying to learn their language. They had impressed me as being intelligent, intuitive, and loyal. I could tell many stories about how wonderful they are, but one easily illustrates the depth and sensitivity of horses:

(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?

I am talking about what I have been learning about globalization and capitalism. It's weird, that I have lived in a country, a 'third world' country none the less (Sri Lanka), which was immersed in a violent civil war. I have felt what it like to have machine guns pointed at me wherever I go and know that I wasn't liked because of the culture and heritage I was born into, in some sense because of who I was.

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

Five brothers who were kings and their wife, the queen (this happened through a misunderstanding of the concept of 'sharing' as expressed by their mother) after a long reign were embarking on their final journey - to heaven. To do so they had to trek up a mountain and along the way they were joined by a dog. The climb was so arduous they began to die off. Even the second oldest brother, the 'hercules' of his era, fell.

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

I feel like a mermaid
Eating an Atlantis dish
To add a sea-like flavour
I needn't hurt a fish!

I sprinkle flakes on salad
Mix it into hearty stew
Blend it into veggie soup
Or snack on a piece or two!

I have two bits of pet dulse
Floating contentedly in a jar
Above a bed of stony gravel
In veganism… let's raise the bar!

"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)

The powerful words of The Declaration of Independence were announced some two hundred years ago, yet this country still toils with the problem of racial discrimination. Racism comes in many forms such as employment, wages, housing etc. There is yet another facet of racism which is being recognized called environmental racism. This is racial discrimination in environmental policymaking, law and regulation enforcement, and the deliberate targeting of people of color for toxic waste facilities. (Bullard)

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. This significance of this is especially relevant to to the current situation when the powers of light are battling against some particularly barbaric forces. It seems to be a measure of what has been unleashed in recent times as backward thinking has become increasingly manifested in various ways. A mind set does not tend to occur in isolation. What have we become?

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.

Exceptionalism suggests uniqueness. Many animal righton arguments seek to downplay human uniqueness and trivialize it in order to boost the moral position of nonhumans. Exceptionalism counters that human uniqueness is real and significant.

This is true for all our communities' children, regardless of species! A perfect example is the story of Cathy Page and a duck family. Cathy was driving home along the Trans Canada Hwy when she spotted a mother duck and her brood zig zagging between the barriers on the northbound side of the highway. They were trapped and the mother was trying to lead her line of babies to safety.

More to come, as we welcome new contributions.

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.

Often the "right to life" is not even considered applicable when it comes to non humans, the main dispute is the method in which the killing is carried out and how to deal with the failure to apply proper care and diligence in doing so.

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

The "nobody's vegan" idea stems from the delusion that there is ever an absolute manifestation of anything within a universe constructed on a foundation of relativity combined with the delusion that it is those absolute's we are talking about when we identify something with a label. No absolute ideal is ever fully, 100%, completely manifest. All manifstation is a construction of degrees, of spectrum. Just as there is no absolute light, nor absolute dark, so too is there no absolute manifestation of anything within an essentially duality-based existence, and when we use the term 'light' we do not mean absolute light, but instead we mean some level of light beyond a minimum marker on the spectrum of light to dark.

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.

This effort to extend moral concern beyond humans rests upon the other person sharing the same sense of compassion and agreeing that the uniquely human traits (real or imagined) that are often considered praise-worthy are in fact insignificant when compared to this alternative criteria.

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. Unfortunately, not only were these activities legalized, but there were many instances of illegal killings as well. That's what this is - killing regardless of the euphemisms used or the appeal to Indigenous 'rights' that are often put forth as an excuse to commit murder. [For more thorough discussions on this Indigenous issue, see KG's FAQ.]

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

I would like to inform you if you do not know already about an exciting and uplifting time of the year- it is called the Season for Non-Violence. January 30 and April 4, 1998 mark the 50th and 30th anniversaries of the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The days between these memorial anniversaries are being hailed as A Season for Non- Violence - a time to raise awareness about the principles and practices of nonviolence, to highlight the local 'heroes' and initiatives that are putting them into practice, and to honor the legacies of two great men who taught the world an alternative means for defusing conflict and transforming communities.

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.

The American Dream is a fantasy that has not come true for the millions that are toiling in the system hoping to get a piece of the wealth which America so liberally shares with its rich upper class. Mansions, expensive cars, a happy family and of course lots of money. These images adorn the minds of the less privileged of this nation.

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.

Why is it acceptable to routinely treat nonhumans in ways that would be considered atrocities if done to the most hated criminals? An answer resides in the belief taken as self-evident absolute objective certain truth: humans are better, worth more, superior in value to other life forms because of some attributes or slogans (intelligence, a soul, favoritism by a Divine creator or Nature, might makes right, etc.). When examined, every one of these traits are subjective and biased personal opinions like a belief in the importance of skin color or gender or a particular interpretation of scripture. Nature (and/or deities) cannot be proven to care or judge, as humans are just as mortal and subject to weather and physics as all other living beings. The fact that humans can and do exploit other humans and always have, is the best evidence that human superior worth is not absolute truth but merely opinion. It also means that if someone wants to justify discrimination towards humans based on race or gender or religion etc., they can use the same excuse (subjective and biased personal opinions) as used by those who deny nonhuman rights.

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.]

I hope you'll all indulge me for a minute but I can't help seeing all this media success as a partial tribute to Beth, Sarah, Emily, Jonathan Livingston, Aaron and all the other nameless animals who've died without governmental recognition.

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)

Approximately two hundred years ago the practice of vivisection began when religious leaders prohibited the dissection of human corpses. When this taboo was lifted, animals were continued to be used since the idea had become so entrenched in the minds of researchers.(Kupsinel 2) Every year in America, over 100 million animals are used for experiments. Their use is currently increasing every year worldwide by 6%.(Kupsinel 2)

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 …

You share this world! You share this world with other people! What you do impacts on other beings! Animals. The planet. It's not each to their own, buddy.