How we will look back at eating animals

[Applause]

the german philosopher arthur

schopenhauer once said

that all truths go through three stages

first it is ridiculed then it is

violently opposed

and then it is seen as self-evident now

we’ve seen this throughout history let’s

go back 100 years ago

the idea that women deserve rights was

seen

as absurd it was ridiculed

then it was violently opposed by men at

the suffragette protest

and now women’s rights are seen as

self-evident

let’s go back 200 years ago the idea

that black people

deserved the right to freedom was seen

as absurd

it was ridiculed and then it was

violently opposed

we had an entire civil war over the

issue of slavery

and now anti-slavery seen as

self-evident

now we realize that our ancestors had

irrational moral blind spots

towards certain groups of individuals

and of course we look back

in shame well this is all obvious and

common knowledge but where am i going

with this

well throughout history there has been

one phrase used to describe how victims

were treated

and that phrases they were treated like

animals

now it may not seem like much but the

reason this phrase is interesting

is because we realize that to treat

someone like an animal

is to treat them harshly and violently

and unfairly so the question is if we

realize that

why are we okay with treating animals

like animals

partially violently unfairly

now i should point out that when i say

animals i don’t mean dogs and cats

because if we threw millions of dogs and

cats inside of a gas chamber

everyone would lose their minds

it would be considered animal cruelty

there would be a national

outrage there would be protests on the

street

but here’s a little fact not my opinion

or a hot take

but a fact right now in the uk

millions of pigs are thrown into gas

chambers

alive where they suffocate to death

carbon dioxide gas chambers

which burns the insides of their throats

and for what so we can use their corpse

as a sandwich filling or as we’d like to

euthanize it as bacon

here’s another fact mammals only produce

milk

when they’re pregnant and cows are no

exception

so in order for a cow to produce milk

she has to be forcibly impregnated by

humans

and then when she finally gives birth to

a baby that baby wants to drink his

mother’s milk

we can’t have that happening because we

want to drink his mother’s milk

so what do we do well we separate the

mother and baby

which causes the mother immense trauma

because cows are very maternal animals

we kill the baby for veal another

euphemism

and then we repeat the process five

times till the mother’s milk

is run dry and then what’s the thanks we

give her

we send her to a slaughterhouse of

course and it doesn’t end there

in the egg industry male chicks are

thrown into a giant blender

on the first day of life because they

don’t lay eggs

unlike their female counterparts who

spend their entire life caged

and they’re genetically modified to

produce 15 times

more eggs than they naturally would

which takes an immense tone in their

bodies

and what’s the thanks we give them for

that well slaughterhouse of course

and i can go on and on about the

atrocities that happen to animals

the worst part is is that it’s not even

a necessary evil

it’s a completely unnecessary evil we

don’t need to exploit animals for any

protein

calcium vitamins nutrients or minerals

we can get them elsewhere

rather we do it for taste pleasure now

of course i know

they taste good who can deny that

but since when has taste pleasure matted

more than the life and suffering

of someone else now you might be

thinking well what can i

as an individual do about this how can i

stop this

and some people like to reply will buy

humane meat

or humane eggs humane dairy humane

meat what does the word humane actually

mean to you

do you think anything humane happens

inside a slaughterhouse

the word humane means to show compassion

and benevolence

so i’d like to ask you how can you

compassionately kill an animal who does

not want to die

and does not have to die

the solution is simple and you may not

like it

but it is to live vegan when we live

vegan we are actively opposing the

exploitation

and bloodbath of animals three times a

day every single

meal because i hate to say it

but these industries only exist because

you

demand it that’s the reality of it

that’s the economics of it

supply and demand we buy they die

and the less we demand these products

the closer we can move to an existence

where slaughterhouses are non-existent

and ethics aside does anyone here want

another pandemic

i certainly don’t and factory farms and

slaughterhouses are breeding grounds for

pandemics

if we keep exploiting animals covert 19

is just a dress rehearsal

and i don’t even have time to go on to

the climate change

and the at the the animal agriculture

has

on the environment the impacts 86

percent of greenhouse gases

manual agriculture according to a recent

study

if you remember how i started this

speech i talked about injustices that

were seen as okay

during their time but are seen as

unacceptable now

what i’m asking you today is to consider

what side of history do you want to be

on

because as we’ve seen none of these

injustices last forever

there will come a time when we look back

at how we treated

non-human animals and say wow

what were we thinking and i think i know

which side

of history all of you want to be on

because i honestly do believe that most

people are good people

but like our ancestors we just have

moral blind spots

but we can do better i know we can do

better

thank you