Moving From Abstraction to Veganism: Advocating Alternatives to Exploitation, Not Alternative Exploitation

One of the biggest myths used to drum up support for advocating new methods for exploiting other animals is that new exploitation methods will reduce the suffering of other animals living right now. This myth is based on the abstraction of helping "existing" nonhuman animals. This is an abstraction because those other animals being exploited right now will not actually exist by the time any changeover to the new method of exploitation is instituted.

By the time legislation goes into effect (which can take many years) or the facilities where other animals are exploited are retrofitted or constructed to the specifications of the new methods of exploitation a new generation of other animals will be specifically brought into existence for the new exploitation. Therefore, advocacy for new methods for exploiting other animals, based on the abstraction that it will reduce existing suffering, is in fact advocacy that supports the exploitation of actual other animals who will specifically be bred into existence to meet the demands of the new methods of exploitation being advocated.

This cannot honestly be called a "reduction in suffering" for other animals who currently exist, because these other animals will not exist to see the changes. What we end up with is an actual increase in suffering for the individuals and for the collective group. For every individual brought into the system of exploitation every incidence of suffering is an increase, and as long as they are in the system their suffering will always be increasing, it can never be reduced – reducing suffering is a pure abstraction. It also is an increase in the collective suffering of these other animals as a groups for as long as they are exploited generation after generation, regardless of the method, their suffering is always increasing. That is, every new generation that is exploited is an increase in the over all suffering of that group of other animals. So new methods of exploitation do not in any way actually reduces suffering, but in fact add to it by perpetuating the oppression of a group of other animals.

If we're to progress in ending the oppression of other animals, we need to get past the abstraction that new methods of exploitation will help other animals who currently exist. This abstraction fuels a unquestioning sense of urgency that misses the reality that other animals who will be exploited by new means of breeding, captivity, handling, feeding, killing, and so on, do not actually exist yet, and that by supporting these new methods of exploitation we are in fact assuring that a future generation of other animals will be exploited. That is, the abstraction of reducing the suffering of existing other animals actually does nothing for those animals, and instead leads us to condemning other animals who do not yet exist to lives of oppression.

We need to acknowledge the reality that other animals have to first be brought into a system of exploitation before they can be exploited. This realization can free us to move beyond our unquestioned focus on modifying other animals' exploitation to modeling visions that will work to eliminate that exploitation. In other words, we can step back from our unquestioned sense of urgency and say, "Yes, other animals are currently being exploited, but that doesn't mean future generations should continue to be exploited." We can thus reframe our advocacy from the abstraction of "existing other animals" to the reality that those other animals will not exist, and that future generations should not have to live an existence of exploitation. Instead of attempting the impossible task of manage an abstraction of existing suffering, we can put our energy into prevention and working to avoid condemning future generations to lives of oppression.

This is what veganism is about, and it means asking, "How can we stop human animals from oppressing other animals?" This requires that we get beyond the narrowly-focused abstraction of asking about how we can reduce the suffering of other animals, and instead take a broader perspective and looking at the oppression of other animals as a whole. Which should lead us to ask, "Will our advocacy prevent or assure the exploitation of future generations?"

Ironically, veganism is often falsely labeled an abstraction, while new methods of exploitation are seen as actually helping other animals. In fact, just the opposite is true, unlike new methods of exploitation, veganism can work to prevent exploitation from occurring. After all, new methods of exploitation do nothing for other animals who currently exist and perpetuates the oppression of future generations. However, since those other animals who would be exploited by the new methods do not actually exist yet, if instead of promoting new methods of exploitation we work to promote alternative to exploitation, then we would be shifting from advocacy that perpetuates oppression to vegan-based approaches that work to prevent other animals from entering oppression in the first place.

Of course, this all comes down to the fact that what we do in the present creates the future. So are we going cling to the abstraction and thereby use the present to create new methods of exploitation that in reality bolstering the oppression of other animals? Or are we going to use the present to create a society based on the vegan ideal of nonexploitation with the understanding that exploitation does not have to exist if we work in the here and now to prevent oppression from taking place?