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The quotes are arranged in no particular order, but colored based on how it makes me feel, vaguely, abstractly. Don't ask me! READ!
Multiples sources
“The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being?” – Jeremy Bentham (1789) – An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.
A collection of quotes (that might be by other people) included in "How to Argue with Vegans" (Benny Malone)
"They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth." (Full quote below)
It captures what I struggle to explain and says it so beautifully.
"The position that we hold — the abolitionists position — is often said to be “extreme,” and those of us who hold it are said to be “extremists.” The unspoken suggestions are that extreme positions cannot be right, and that extremists must be wrong." (Full quote below)
As impressive and moving as it might be at first read, I can see how this quote can be interpreted differently from how I will use it. Malone included the quote as an expression arguing against the point that deems veganism to be too extreme. To clarify my stance, I must state that I advocate for veganism where it is possible, practical, and ethical. I understand that, unfortunately, our current world is still solely reliant on certain animal products (ie. medical). But just because we can't go 100% plant-based, doesn't mean don't try or we stop at pescatarian or vegetarian. Yes, those are completely valid progress, but they are progress, not goals. This quote articulates my frustration when it comes to the majority of animal products which people CAN afford to omit but choose not to because that's too "extreme".
I also acknowledge that some groups or individuals who advocate for animal rights go to extreme measures to make their points or take down their opposers. I never condone or wish to be associated with such practices.
"Why should the finality of a mass slaughter be so abhorrent but a continual cycle of it receive such enthusiastic support?" (Full quote below)
"It is a no-win situation. If we advocate for an unrestrictive and easier to adopt lifestyle, they will say veganism doesn't go far enough. If we advocated such strictures, they would say it promotes unhealthy dietary restrictions and eating disorders. I think these things are best left to the individual vegan to decide their own plant-based diet." (Malone, Chapter 7 | page 201)
A collection of quotes from "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer
"Mark Twain said that quitting smoking is among the easiest things one can do; he did it all the time." (From "Storytelling" chapter | page 7)
"Shame is the work of memory against forgetting." (From "All or Nothing or Something Else" chapter | page 37)
"If we wish to disavow a part of our nature, we call it our 'animal nature.' Then we repress or conceal that nature, and yet, as Kafka knew better than most, we sometimes wake up and find ourselves, still, only animals." (From "All or Nothing or Something Else" chapter | page 37)
"CRUELTY: Not only the willful causing of unnecessary suffering, but the indifference to it." (From "Words/ Meaning" chapter | page 53)
"The justification for eating animals and for not eating them are often identical: we are not them." (From "Words/ Meaning" chapter | page 63)
"It's always possible to wake someone from sleep, but no amount of noise will wake someone who is pretending to be asleep." (From "Words/ Meaning" chapter | page 63)
“Perhaps in the back of our minds we already understand, without all the science I've discussed, that something terribly wrong is happening. Our sustenance now comes from misery. We know that if someone offers to show us a film on how our meat is produced, it will be a horror film. We perhaps know more than we care to admit, keeping it down in the dark places of our memory-- disavowed.” (From “Speechlessness” chapter | page 143)
"Having little exposure to animals makes it easier to push aside questions about how our actions might influence their treatment. The problem posed by meat has become an abstract one, there is no individual animal, no singular look of joy or suffering, no wagging tail, and no scream. The philosopher Elaine Scarry has observed that 'beauty always takes place in the particular.' Cruelty, on the other hand, prefers abstraction.” (From “Hiding/ Seeking” chapter | page 102)
“It might sound naive to suggest that whether you order a chicken patty or a veggie burger is a profoundly important decision. Then again, it certainly would have sounded fantastic if in the 1950's you were told that where you sat in a restaurant or on a bus could begin to uproot racism.” (From “Storytelling” chapter | page 258)
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