I find the points about positive messaging and emphasizing sentience really compelling. I wonder sometimes if the most effective organization raising sympathy for animals right now is The Dodo - a polished “cute animal videos” social media group. I think something like The Dodo with a bit more scientific/political messaging could be effective.
I would like to push back with conditions. If these cute or smart animal videos constantly fail to present some categories of animals as cute or smart, either because they chose not to, or because it is indeed very difficult to present these animals as such, then I am afraid work such as The Dodo's might have the effect of reinforcing the negligence of these animals by counterfactually showing which animals are not thought of by The Dodo as cute or smart. After all, sentience is not perfectly correlated with smartness or cuteness.
Great point, this really thrives in the dark! The only media outlet I can think of who consistently publishes stories about factory farming and animal issues is Vox (vox.com). I recently became a paid member since I wanted to support their reporting.
There's a subtlety that shouldn't be lost, i.e. that the truth we would wish that the public be enlightened to is not the nightmare of factory farming but - rather - the beauty of some salient alternative! (That is, indeed, why exhorting people to “go vegan” is more than the risk of "reducing a major social issue to a question of personal diets": people are invited to see for themselves a different, better way of being - such that what they associate is not the horror of factory farming but a future which is not limited thereby.)
Indeed, there is much to be proud of: healthy, fresh, tasty alternatives abound - all of which allow for avoiding factory farming & at marginal additional cost, albeit thanks to years of Darwinian competition in the marketplace. Perhaps an innovation in public policy is now due too, e.g. tax subsidy or special economic zones? If companies are willing to incentivize healthy behaviors (e.g. exercise, smoking cessation, etc.) & the government must make ongoing effort at encouraging healthy choices (i.e. restrictions on food assistance), then tampering directly shouldn't be out of the question - as the people who will benefit most have turned corrosive rhetoric & obstruction into their stock-in-trade (they will disagree regardless - *especially* when it is their own benefit!).
Hi! I think it's a great goal and there's a lot of good advice, but I'm wondering what does it look like to approach people as citizens with political influence?
I can see what this might look like in some campaigns by organizations, but on the level of grassroots activists and one-on-one conversations, it's pretty difficult to suggest people to take action to end factory farming, while boycotting through consumerism habits is quite easy for everyone to understand even if they're not willing. For people who aren't willing to even consider changing their consumerism habits, what would they do?
I also think using the term factory farming is great as people already view it negatively, but as a concept it seems most folks don't understand what exactly it entails and the fact that most animals are factory farmed. I struggle to understand how in the current day ending factory farming would be all that different from ending animal agriculture.
I find the points about positive messaging and emphasizing sentience really compelling. I wonder sometimes if the most effective organization raising sympathy for animals right now is The Dodo - a polished “cute animal videos” social media group. I think something like The Dodo with a bit more scientific/political messaging could be effective.
I would like to push back with conditions. If these cute or smart animal videos constantly fail to present some categories of animals as cute or smart, either because they chose not to, or because it is indeed very difficult to present these animals as such, then I am afraid work such as The Dodo's might have the effect of reinforcing the negligence of these animals by counterfactually showing which animals are not thought of by The Dodo as cute or smart. After all, sentience is not perfectly correlated with smartness or cuteness.
My instinct is that as people are develop more sympathy for certain nonhuman species, it becomes easier for them to do the same for other species
Good point! But gotta strike a balance there. Get too political and people are gonna stop watching.
Great point, this really thrives in the dark! The only media outlet I can think of who consistently publishes stories about factory farming and animal issues is Vox (vox.com). I recently became a paid member since I wanted to support their reporting.
There's a subtlety that shouldn't be lost, i.e. that the truth we would wish that the public be enlightened to is not the nightmare of factory farming but - rather - the beauty of some salient alternative! (That is, indeed, why exhorting people to “go vegan” is more than the risk of "reducing a major social issue to a question of personal diets": people are invited to see for themselves a different, better way of being - such that what they associate is not the horror of factory farming but a future which is not limited thereby.)
Indeed, there is much to be proud of: healthy, fresh, tasty alternatives abound - all of which allow for avoiding factory farming & at marginal additional cost, albeit thanks to years of Darwinian competition in the marketplace. Perhaps an innovation in public policy is now due too, e.g. tax subsidy or special economic zones? If companies are willing to incentivize healthy behaviors (e.g. exercise, smoking cessation, etc.) & the government must make ongoing effort at encouraging healthy choices (i.e. restrictions on food assistance), then tampering directly shouldn't be out of the question - as the people who will benefit most have turned corrosive rhetoric & obstruction into their stock-in-trade (they will disagree regardless - *especially* when it is their own benefit!).
People will talk about factory farming when lab-grown meat is good enough to replace legacy meat. Until then, it’ll be ignored.
Hi! I think it's a great goal and there's a lot of good advice, but I'm wondering what does it look like to approach people as citizens with political influence?
I can see what this might look like in some campaigns by organizations, but on the level of grassroots activists and one-on-one conversations, it's pretty difficult to suggest people to take action to end factory farming, while boycotting through consumerism habits is quite easy for everyone to understand even if they're not willing. For people who aren't willing to even consider changing their consumerism habits, what would they do?
I also think using the term factory farming is great as people already view it negatively, but as a concept it seems most folks don't understand what exactly it entails and the fact that most animals are factory farmed. I struggle to understand how in the current day ending factory farming would be all that different from ending animal agriculture.