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Many animal advocates are mourning the results of this month’s election. Donald Trump, a President with deep ties to Big Meat, won a decisive victory; ballot initiatives for animals across the nation failed. (If I can brag a little, I predicted [ [link removed] ] both outcomes.) So it might be surprising to hear that I am more confident than ever in our nation’s progress towards animal rights. As I wrote in Current Affairs today [ [link removed] ]:
A critical mass is coming out in support of animal rights across the globe, ranging from tech titans in the United States to courts in Argentina. In Silicon Valley, Google founder Larry Page broke [ [link removed] ] with Elon Musk over the latter’s “speciesism,” or the favoring of humans over non-human species. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly called [ [link removed] ] meat consumption a “horror” and says that we should draw on “better morals” to stop doing it. In the U.K., one third [ [link removed] ] of the population now approves of a vegan diet, and a number of the most prominent universities, such as Cambridge [ [link removed] ] and University College London [ [link removed] ], have approved student resolutions to transition to 100 percent plant-based catering. An Argentinian court recognized that an orangutan named Sandra was a “non-human person [ [link removed] ]” who must be freed from a zoo cage. When a critical mass “comes out” for a cause, change can happen very quickly, as more and more people say, “Hey, I believe that, too.” This is the sort of cascade we last saw for gay rights—and animal rights could be next.
This is just a short list, however, of reasons to be optimistic. I was stunned to see that, in the days before the election, The New York Times’ flagship Interview podcast featured, not Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance or former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi—those guests were relegated to less important weeks—but Peter Singer, the animal rights philosopher [ [link removed] ]. I recently asked Peter about some of the things he discussed in that interview, including his provocative claim that we might have an obligation to boycott Thanksgiving. Check out the conversation below.
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And Singer is one of many thought leaders recently making waves in defense of animal rights—and on both sides of the aisle. On the right, Vivek Ramaswamy, one of Trump’s most influential surrogates and co-chair of the new Department of Government Efficiency (with Elon Musk), recently posted [ [link removed] ] that it “shouldn’t be a partisan issue to end animal cruelty.” On the left, one of the leading progressive intellectuals of our age, Rutger Bregman, called [ [link removed] ] the abuse of animals "the greatest moral catastrophe of our time”—and condemned [ [link removed] ] Democrats for their failure to address the issue. This is the sort of constellation of thought leadership and pressure that foreshadows a rising political movement.
But that brings me to the most important point: that political movement starts with you, not great thinkers or prestigious media outlets. One of the most consistent findings in the research on social and political change is that it’s driven by large numbers of ordinary people [ [link removed] ], many of whom are seen (initially) as “fringe.” The reason people like Vivek and Rutger can publicly defend animal rights is because many people like you come out to support them. (Vivek’s recent post [ [link removed] ] on animals, for example, received an astonishing 55,000 likes!)
Social media encouragement, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. We need more people to see their personal power in taking direct action to challenge these systems of violence. I’ll have more to say about that in the weeks to come, including an upcoming newsletter (and conversation with the great James Aspey) on little things you can do to push animal rights this Thanksgiving. But I’ll conclude with ten words that will transform, not just your personal impact, but the animal rights movement’s power for change.
Find your voice. Find some friends. And fight like hell.
This should be the mantra of our movement. Stay tuned for more.
What’s up this week?
I had a great conversation with Animal Think Tank’s Mark Westcombe about the Liberation Pledge. If you’re trying to navigate the holiday season, this podcast is a great place to get some ideas.
There’s compelling new research showing that the younger generation is adopting a vegan diet at rates that are perhaps 5x higher than others [ [link removed] ]. There are other bad signs in this study, including the decline of meat alternatives. But, for me, the net update from this study is positive.
We are still waiting for the Ridglan decision [ [link removed] ]. [ [link removed] ] Every day is creating incredible anxiety for me. But I try to remind myself that, no matter what happens in this case, we are moving forward on the path to change. I just hope it’s fast enough to save the poor pups trapped at that abominable place right now.
That’s all for now!
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