Specism

I wanted to write about a bit about specism today. Specism is a term, analogous to racism and sexism. It is a form of bigotry and prejudice which causes one to discriminate against another without reason except their gender, race or species, while favouring one’s own gender, race or species. Most of us simply assume that because pigs are pigs and not humans, it is justifiable to eat them. So if you ask someone “why don’t you eat humans?” they’d be shocked and say well, “because they are human of course!”. If you asked them “so why do you eat pigs?, they’d say well “they’re only pigs! " But what is the real reasoning or assumptions underlying this statement, “only pigs”? We are making assumptions about the intrinsic value and moral status of other animal species based simply on their species.

There are many, many animals that we take for granted, the least of which being wild animals which have received much attention in the media and from scientists and activists. But domestic animals, farm animals and even those right under our noses (our pets) are very little understood or considered. Most modern farms do not provide proper care for these sentient beings, and fortunately for farmers it happens out of the public eye, thus hardly entering our consciousness. We need to become more questioning about all our cultural norms, especially those, that without consideration, cause suffering to people and animals. We as consumers do have enormous group power through our ability to choose which products to buy. Insist on cruelty-free products.