Comments regarding a petition that calls the government of USA to stop the gassing of dogs and cats on animal shelters

My comments about a petition that calls the government of USA to stop the gassing of dogs and cats on animal shelters:

Most of the people signing this petition are sadly nonvegans, and all these petitions make them feel like heroes and animal lovers who are helping the animals from the institutionalized animal exploiters. They feel like heroes that are fighting all day long signing petitions. This is far from the truth. They should instead be confronted with their behavior of the animal exploitation that they participate in and pay for every day, and the fact that nothing will changes for the animals as long as they have animal foods on their plates and pay someone for killing animals for their clothes, etc.

Furthermore, the petition in itself is actually sending the implicit message that it is morally acceptable to kill animals in animal shelters, but that it should be done in a more "humane way". This is the problem with almost any petition. It almost always sends an underlying implicit speciesist and/or racist and/or sexist message.

The animal foods on their plates (meat, fish, milk and eggs) or clothes (leather, down, fur, etc.) come from individuals that had an equally horrible death.

A good petition would have been: Stop killing animals on animal shelters. You can help animals by rescuing them and adopting them from shelters. Stop breeding animals. Stop perpetuating this system where animals are property and can be killed by her owner for any reason (Watch this video: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/media/slides/theory2.html about this). Stop participating in animal exploitation for food, clothes, entertainment, breeding of pets and any other reason. If you breed or use animals in any other way you are an integral part of this problem. Go vegan!

I challenge every vegan to stop perpetuating speciesism, which is done e.g. by sharing speciesist petitions; and every nonvegan to stop the hypocrisy and animal exploitation of consuming and using animals and go vegan.

And while we are on the issue of gassing animals. PETA are advocating that chickens should be slaughtered by being gassed to death. Where are all petitions complaining that supposedly “animal rights”-organizations go hand in hand with animal exploiters?: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/peta-and-kfc-no-differences-of-opinion-about-how-animals-should-be-treated/

More to learn about single issue campaigns in this excellent podcast (please listen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__oszGN5PjM

Problems of placing a dog at an animal shelter

The problem is that we have been indoctrinated by our culture to treat many animals in a way that reflects that they don't have any moral value (which is wrong), and that we have the right to enslave, domesticate, hurt, use, exploit, kill and eat animals (and steal their produce) for trivial and completely unnecessary reasons, such as “taste”, habit, pleasure, convenience or tradition [It is a myth that we need animal products for our health, in fact they are bad for our health: http://www.adelicatebalance.com.au/ ]. We have reduced beings who are eternal consciousness just like us, into commodities, who can be abandoned into “animal shelters” and mistreated in other ways.

We all agree on that it is morally wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering upon sentient beings, yet we (our culture) daily inflicts unnecessary suffering and death routinely upon animals, for food, clothing, in pet industry, zoos, etc.: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/what-michael-vick-taught-us/

Apart from the animals sadness felt by the abandoment, and many other problems, putting animals animals in an animal shelter do result in animals getting killed (either at the animal shelter, or people having dogs killing their dogs while waiting to get a place in an all-full no-kill animal shelter).
We need to extend our love and compassion to everyone. Everyone wants to live and to live in freedom. If we hurt another being, we hurt ourselves. In order to kill someone, we have to violate this individual's love and wants, we have to crush hopes, destroy a family and friend relationships; We have to sacrifice part of our inner love and compassion; we have to say to ourselves that 'I don't care' in order to take someone's purpose and life. And this has destroyed us, destroyed our society. The reason why people inflict violence and suffering upon others is the lack of empathy and love to others. If we instead would reinforce love and empathy at each meal by living a vegan lifestyle, instead of destroying parts of our love and empathy at each meal by hurting and killing someone for 'convenience' or taste, we would surely attain world peace. As long as we sow violence and wars by our eating choices, our society and culture will be absorbed in violence and wars.
We should stop hurting our family. We should treat everyone with love, compassion and nonviolence, i.e. go vegan . More information at www.vegankit.com and the fantastic and transformative book World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle (http://www.worldpeacediet.org/)
Furthermore, all animals want to be free individuals, they don’t want to be controlled, no animals want to live in confinement. Can’t we respect this? We should end all breeding and all domestication, and let all animals be born into a life of freedom in the nature, where they can live a natural life without being controlled and limited by us. I recommend this article:
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/animal-rights-and-domesticated-nonhumans/

Gary Francione, Steven Best, Abolitionist approach, vegan education

My reply to a person in a forum who came With erroneous accusations against Gary Francione and the Abolitionist Approach. I think that accuracy and truth is important.

You are misrepresenting Gary Francione and the Abolitionist Approach.
E.g. this is supported: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/emergency-at-peaceful-prairie-sanctuary/
His books and teachings has inspired thousands of people to go vegan. Regularly there are testimonials on his Facebook-page from people going vegan.
Resuce of animals from animal shelters is regularly advocated (legal adoption, not violent illegal rescue: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/veganism-and-nonviolence/).

Steven Best is completely misrepresenting the Abolitionist Approach and the approach to vegan education.

Quote:"If he's not actually on the payroll of the meat and dairy and egg industry or on the FBI - he ought to be because he's doing the job for them."

Incredible. It is not ethical to slander another person - that is violence towards another persons character. The statement is totally false.

Posting articles like this in Philadelphia Daily_ http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/media/links/p3906/michael-vick.pdf ; spreading many vegan posters every week from his Facebook-page directly aimed at non-vegans;
waking the consciousness of friends and strangers he meets daily...

" his influence is diminishing"???
His message growing all the time, more and more people sharing Abolitionist Approach-posters. More and more educating their community by vegan stalls. More and more people going vegan.

In this interview Gary Francione comments on Steven Best's approach: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/media/pdf/Gary_Francione_Animal_Voices2.pdf

Some more comments:
Divisive?? Just showing the great divide between different approaches:
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/there-is-nothing-invisible-about-the-ideology-of-animal-exploitation/
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/animal-rights-animal-welfare-and-the-slavery-analogy/#.UYlmX8qiG1Q

Why no single issue-protests? Why dedicate all of ones time to vegan education, and adopting animals from animal shelters:
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/single-issue-campaigns-and-in-human-nonhuman-contexts/#.UYllrcqiG1Q
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/upcoming-abolitionist-approach-podcast-on-effective-animal-rights-advocacy-a-preview/#.UYlnaMqiG1Q

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I wouldn't spread a speech that contains such a violent rhetoric against another group of vegans. I think substantiative criticism is okay, but not judging and misrepresenting people and their methods, and to paint a picture which distorts the true and complete picture.
One of several misrepresentations by Steven Best:
"To be an Abolitionist means to do no nothing constructive."
Gary Franciones books and teachings has inspired thousands of people to go vegan. Regularly there are testimonials on his Facebook-page from people going vegan.
Resuce of animals from animal shelters is regularly advocated and encouraged (legal adoption)
I have inspired many people to go vegan and to work towards becoming vegan. I know many other Abolitionist who are doing and have doing the same.
And I can go on, and on...

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24.05.2012:
I wrote some about the misrepresentations by Steven Best in my blog post. I also updated it. Steven Best is not trying to understand the Abolitionist Approach.
Abolitionist Approach are educating people why 'happy exploitation'-campaigns by 'Animal advocate'-organizations is morally wrong and counter productive, and they critize organizations that don't hold to veganism as a moral baseline [1]. And then some people call e.g. this for 'attacks' and call this for being 'divisive'. Everything is so generalizing, he doesn't take any time at all to explain what exactly Abolitionist approach critizes and why they do so, and why he is against this.

The Abolitionist Approach are critizeing these campaigns because they are creating moral confusion in people, and they are making it harder for people to understand the necessity of going vegan, and because such campaigns are morally wrong. The campaigns are perpetuating the myth that you can exploit 'compassionately' and that some animal use is morally justifiable.

He is creating the impression that Abolitionist Approach are doing nothing and are just being counter-productive, and are serving the animal exploitation industry through their methods.
He creates an erroneous characterization and he attacks this characterization.

1. See this article: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/the-paradigm-shift-requires-clarity-about-the-moral-baseline-veganism/#.UZ9HMZxc18E

1. See this article: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/the-paradigm-shift-requires-clarity-about-the-moral-baseline-veganism/#.UZ9HMZxc18E

Rebuttal of the claim that pacificsm and the Abolitionist Approach is paralyzed:
http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/05/gandhi-pacifism-veganism-and-nonviolence.html

Why critize other organizations that do "happy exploitation"-campaigns ?:

Gary L. Francione: The Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights Jane Eagle: You may have read the essay but you missed the point: by promoting such a thing, we reinforce the idea that animal "abuse" is what happens in certain pathological situations to dogs and cats. It leaves out the hideous treatment that dogs and cats receive that is and will never be covered under anti-cruelty laws because it is perfectly legal and the treatment of all of the animals who are used for food and other purposes, which is as pathologically cruel as anything that happens to dogs and cats. Campaigns like the registry campaign are not small steps forward; they are big steps back. They seek to reinforce the notion that the animals who "count" are our "pets." It's 2013; it's way past time to get away from that 19th century welfarist idea.

That is what I argued. Your reply: people won't have "overnight enlightenment." The point is that campaigns like this will ensure that the public will never become enlightened.

See a very interesting article here:
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-welfarist-dream-come-true/#.UZ4lh0ryB8E




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Another interesting comment:

Sarah K. Woodcock As Professor Francione's work exemplifies, the property status of animals inhibits them from having "the legal rights of 'persons.'" And as long as we have domestication and breeding, they will be property -- that is the *purpose* of domestication. So our task at hand is to get to the root of the problem -- speciesism -- and change hearts and minds with creative nonviolent vegan education. Change must happen first person by person, not law by law.

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I wouldn't spread a speech that contains such a violent rhetoric against another group of vegans. I think substantiative criticism is okay, but not judging and misrepresenting people and their methods, and to paint a picture which distorts the true and complete picture.
One of several misrepresentations by Steven Best:
"To be an Abolitionist means to do no nothing constructive."
Gary Franciones books and teachings has inspired thousands of people to go vegan. Regularly there are testimonials on his Facebook-page from people going vegan.
Resuce of animals from animal shelters is regularly advocated and encouraged (legal adoption)
I have inspired many people to go vegan and to work towards becoming vegan. I know many other Abolitionist who are doing and have doing the same.
And I can go on, and on...