Your Positions

• We should all be vegan. Animals should never be exploited, because they are sentient and have the capacity to suffer. (Start over)

• Buying leather, honey, meat, dairy, and sweatshop-produced goods is never OK. Paying to go to a circus or zoo for the purpose of entertainment is never OK. We should be more-or-less devoting our lives to protesting and working against these practices, even when it makes other people feel bad or comes with personal sacrifice. (Go back)

• Some degree of violence is justified to protect animals, but only when it is sure to be the most effective strategy for bringing about change. (Go back)

Things to Consider

Arguments in Favor of More Violence:

• There are very few situations where it is unequivocally clear that a particular act of violence will be the most effective action to achieve long term change. Neville Chamberlain, after striking a peace accord with Nazi Germany, celebrated it with the phrase “Peace in our Time”. His position was that diplomacy should be used up until you can be absolutely sure war is the only effective option left. This was widely considered to be a mistake: Chamberlain should have declared war and used military violence to head off Hitler’s growing power before it got worse. Over the past few decades, we have seen globally a massive expansion of factory farming. Current strategies of amelioration and compromise are doing basically nothing to curb this. While the population of people who actively support animal liberation has risen over that same time period, it is still inconsequential in scale. Delaying until you can sure there are no other options available will lead to many lives being lost unnecessarily, and unfortunately, people simply aren’t responded to reason. We can never be sure of the long-term consequences of any action, but this should never be used as an excuse for inaction.

Arguments in Favor of Less Violence:

• Use of violence, even in pursuit of a noble purpose, would discredit animal rights activists and hurt public perception, which would stall the widespread acceptance of animal rights philosophy. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were both effective using non-violent protests, and there is no reason why animal rights activists could not also be effective using those same techniques. It may take more creativity, and may be frustrating to watch your fellow creatures be abused in the meantime, but we need to check our emotions for the greater good. In addition, veganism is explicitly about avoiding unnecessary violence towards sentient beings. Even though there is no internal inconsistency with being both vegan and in support of the use of violence to protect the innocent, it would greatly muddy the waters around what veganism is all about, and would stir up accusations that vegans don’t care about humans.

Select the Position that Best Represents Your Views

1. We have not yet run out of non-violent options. It may take a few decades, but we are making steady progress. We should wait a decade or two to re-evaluate before seriously considering violent actions.

2. We are out of non-violent options. The animal agriculture industry is too entrenched in our society and our political system. We need to fight like guerillas or rebels, and we need to start doing so soon.