Veganism is an ethical principle based on 2 premises:
- Pain is bad.
Therefore, causing pain to animals is wrong (because they can feel pain)
- The slavery of sentient beings is wrong.
Therefore, buying, using, or selling animals is wrong (because they are sentient beings – ‘someone’, not ‘something’)
Because animals are sentient individuals with innate personhood, veganism advocates against viewing them as our property or commodity, and committing atrocities on them as follows:
- buying/ consuming animal secretions, body parts, etc.
e.g. animal breast milk (“milk”), eggs, flesh (“meat”), skin (“leather”), silk, honey, etc.
- torturing or murdering animals
e.g. farming (using) animals, animal testing, hunting, zoos/aquariums, fishing
- buying/selling animals
e.g. farming, ‘pet’ stores (pedigree dogs, fishes, birds), “service animals”
All of the above:
- Cause pain to animals
- Violate their right to be free (not be our slaves – existing only to serve us)
Important to remember:
Animals are bred into life via forcible impregnation so that we can enslave, torture, and slaughter them and their children for our personal gain (taste pleasure, financial profit, fashion/cosmetics, companionship, etc.). Then, they are killed when they are worth more to us dead than alive. Animals who would have been better off not being born.
