About four years ago now, I attended the first Wake Up Weekend vegan event at Calvin College as a skeptical pseudo-vegetarian. (Yes. I admit that at that time I was–for some inexplicable reason–still convinced that fish were not animals.) I could see why killing cows, pigs, chicken and other animals for food was problematic–especially from [...]
Thanksgiving makes me nervous. For years, I’ve gotten a sinking feeling in my stomach as the month of November draws to a close and this day looms. On the one hand, Thanksgiving is about joy and gratitude. It is a time when I travel to see family and friends, welcome a few days of rest and [...]
Nekeisha Alexis-Baker speaks about speciesism, racism and sexism, at Calvin College, January, 2009.
This past spring we helped to organize a small informational gathering on veganism at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, called “peaceable eating.” Mercy for Animals gave a presentation on the egg industry showing that not only regular eggs but also “free range” eggs are part of an industrial system that treats the chickens very poorly in many ways. We then showed a video called “Wegman’s Cruelty” which makes the point very well through images.
The response after the presentation and the video by one of our AMBS professors has had me thinking for quite a while about the use of video and imagery in making a case for veganism. This particular professor told me that everybody can agree that the way the animals are treated is just aweful and something ought to be done to make sure they are treated well. But he could not agree that using nonhuman animals for food is in itself a problem. It is the treatment that is the problem, not our use of nonhuman animals for our own purposes.
I have wondered whether the video (and perhaps the initial presentation) did not reinforce that presumption in this friend and professor.
Podcast: Embed Recently, The Progressive Radio Show had a great interview with Bruce Friedrich, vice president for policy and government affairs at PETA. During the conversation, Friedrich responded to several challenging questions about PETA’s tactics, drew connections between his Christian faith, his veganism and his activism on behalf of nonhuman animals, and discussed his book [...]