Attention, Vegans: Please Consider Your Response to the Swine Flu

by Stephanie Ernst · 2009-04-27 15:38:00 UTC
Topics:

AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills

If Bob Torres of Vegan Freak had written this piece prior to this morning's roundup, I certainly would have included it. I've noticed in recent months that a small minority (and please do note--small nonrepresentative minority) of vegans struggle, out of frustration, to maintain compassion for non-vegans and that members of this minority sometimes act and speak in rather hostile ways toward non-vegans, including when illnesses or injuries related to their own, or to society's, animal consumption befall them. And this is a problem. I've been meaning to write about the issue for several weeks but haven't yet; putting together what I want to say is going to require some energy, time, and thought and may result in some negative reactions, so I've kept delaying the writing. But parts of Bob's post today have reminded me that I do need to finally write it out. Maybe later this week.

In the meantime, please read this: "Swine Flu and Empathy." Following is a snippet, but you really must read the entire commentary:

In our haste to point fingers in faces with a “told you so,” we’re losing the empathy and compassion that are supposedly at the heart of veganism. Those who will suffer the most in this entire catastrophe deserve our empathy. The many billions of people in the world who have no access to health care will pay the price of this pandemic disproportionately, and I suspect that if it goes global, the global South will suffer the most. Many millions or more could die from this pandemic if it gets bad, and none of the “told-you-so’s” can really help any of them now. We have a duty to remind people of what has caused this problem, but we should do it in a way that educates them about the problems involved, and without the triumphalism.

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Continue to Speak Up for Pigs in North Dakota
NEXT STORY:
Super Bowl Countdown: 5 Actions in 5 Days to Protest Skechers' Dog Racing Ad

COMMENTS (3)

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.