As a Vegan and animal advocate, I utilize multiple social media platforms to raise awareness and combat what I, and many others in the Vegan community term “cognitive dissonance”. Changeminds.org defines cognitive dissonance as “the feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time”. This term, in my opinion, can be directly related to those individuals who feel compelled to protest the consumption of dog/cat/other adorable animals, while simultaneously feeling comfortable putting cow/pig/turkey on the table.
Does the choice to eat one but love another make us hypocrites? How do we, as humans, rage against the choices of others while we observe the same behavior, albeit towards a slightly different version of creature? Somewhere along the line, we have given ourselves permission to kill one species (or multiple) while making family members of others. In my personal experience, suggestions to meat eaters that a cow is a dog is a pig is a cat have either a) fallen on deaf ears or b) been met with an emotionally charged debate.
All around the world, animals are cultivated on a mass scale for food production and multiple other uses including fur production and laboratory testing. In fact, 80000hours.org provides a shocking figure of 50 billion factory farmed animals being raised (and killed) for food alone, annually. Because 50 billion is rather a mind-numbing figure to absorb, I’ve had an online calculator do the math and found the following; 50 billion equates to 50,000 times 1 million.
Another example of what has been coined as speciesism, is the diametrically opposed use of animals our North American culture observe to be companion animals versus other countries choosing to consume these same species as food. Try to imagine as a Canadian walking into a grocery store and finding dog meat as an option in the butcher aisle. Does that shock us? If so, why? Farm animals have been depicted as having emotional attachments to humans and other species so, where is the disconnect between food animals and companion animals happening exactly?
Global News recently reported that massive outrage at an international level has been expressed towards the dog meat trade and annual festivals in foreign nations. Yet, how many of the dog meat consumers are protesting North Americans use of cattle, pork and poultry?
In order to directly observe this split behaviour, one simply has to scroll through social media threads where activists face off against non-vegans. Barn fire announcements populate with alarmingly negative comments such as, awesome I like my bacon crispy, or something equally as offensive. Meanwhile posts regarding injured rescue dogs and cats are met with offers to pledge funds towards veterinary costs and provide foster care.
Further to this observation, Vegans and non-vegans alike have been known to cheer the escape on an animal on its way to slaughter, however, only one group will then turn around and prepare meat for their next meal. The way the human mind works in relation to selective carnism is incredibly confusing. The cognitive dissonance referred to above, allows us to assume multiple belief systems regarding the same situation. To me, this separation of emotional availability based on perception of an animals use to humans is the real Matrix. Until a person experiences their own moment of awakening, the pattern of choosing one species, inexplicably, over another.
Does the choice to eat one but love another make us hypocrites? How do we, as humans, rage against the choices of others while we observe the same behavior, albeit towards a slightly different version of creature? Somewhere along the line, we have given ourselves permission to kill one species (or multiple) while making family members of others. In my personal experience, suggestions to meat eaters that a cow is a dog is a pig is a cat have either a) fallen on deaf ears or b) been met with an emotionally charged debate.
All around the world, animals are cultivated on a mass scale for food production and multiple other uses including fur production and laboratory testing. In fact, 80000hours.org provides a shocking figure of 50 billion factory farmed animals being raised (and killed) for food alone, annually. Because 50 billion is rather a mind-numbing figure to absorb, I’ve had an online calculator do the math and found the following; 50 billion equates to 50,000 times 1 million.
Another example of what has been coined as speciesism, is the diametrically opposed use of animals our North American culture observe to be companion animals versus other countries choosing to consume these same species as food. Try to imagine as a Canadian walking into a grocery store and finding dog meat as an option in the butcher aisle. Does that shock us? If so, why? Farm animals have been depicted as having emotional attachments to humans and other species so, where is the disconnect between food animals and companion animals happening exactly?
Global News recently reported that massive outrage at an international level has been expressed towards the dog meat trade and annual festivals in foreign nations. Yet, how many of the dog meat consumers are protesting North Americans use of cattle, pork and poultry?
In order to directly observe this split behaviour, one simply has to scroll through social media threads where activists face off against non-vegans. Barn fire announcements populate with alarmingly negative comments such as, awesome I like my bacon crispy, or something equally as offensive. Meanwhile posts regarding injured rescue dogs and cats are met with offers to pledge funds towards veterinary costs and provide foster care.
Further to this observation, Vegans and non-vegans alike have been known to cheer the escape on an animal on its way to slaughter, however, only one group will then turn around and prepare meat for their next meal. The way the human mind works in relation to selective carnism is incredibly confusing. The cognitive dissonance referred to above, allows us to assume multiple belief systems regarding the same situation. To me, this separation of emotional availability based on perception of an animals use to humans is the real Matrix. Until a person experiences their own moment of awakening, the pattern of choosing one species, inexplicably, over another.