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