Glasshouses
In 2020, the social media influencer know as ‘That Vegan Teacher’ posted that she would not be consenting to donation of her organs, as “The only people I would ever want [to donate to] would be vegan animal rights activists because I will give those organs to those people and I know that they will not be murdering animals to put into that body that would have been saved.”
Across her social media channels, the post was viewed a million times.
A discussion on Reddit about the appropriateness of vegans donating their organs agreed, commenting that it “seems wrong for me to donate my organs to someone who would use them to prolong their life to contribute to unnecessary animal exploitation.”
There are similar stories from across the internet, with Dr. Corey Wrenn, author and Lecturer at the University of Kent, saying a friend confided in her, declaring “Saving [non-vegan] human lives would mean ensuring nonhuman deaths.”
Dr. Wrenn adds, if someone who is not vegan has found themselves in unfortunate situations which require assistance, such as domestic violence, cancer diagnosis, or a humanitarian situation, “Should vegans withhold resources and support?” Most people in those situations are not vegan.
Might these same vegans accept, if they or a loved one was in need of an organ transplant, that an organ was appropriate for them but was designated for a meat-eater only?
If we are selective in who we offer our compassion to, then others can be too, and it becomes harder for us to criticise their actions.
It also highlights a common blindspot with vegan activism in that much outreach does not appreciate the place people are on their journeys. Most vegans at some point ate meat and they were mostly oblivious to the harm they were causing animals in their daily lives. We are all at different points in our lives, in time, in knowledge, in morals, and we must, if we are truly compassionate towards others, give others the time we took to reach their realisations and change their behaviour to match their morals.
The world doesn’t change just because we do. We didn’t change because someone else had. We took our time, often at the expense of the ‘advice’ which was given to us.
As advocates, we want people to listen to us, to hear our reasoning, and to change their actions to match ours. But rarely do we afford others the same.
During the fallout of the Covid-19 lockdowns in Melbourne, Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick reported on the abuse he, his staff, and his family received during and following the pandemic. “My staff are scared - they remove their passes on their way in to work to not identify themselves.” Protesters also found his home address.
These actions were rightfully condemned by his supporters, however animal activists engage in these actions towards researchers and animal farmers. Some occasions have been significantly more extreme than threats, with one instance involving a fire-bomb placed underneath a car.
We often look at ourselves, animal activists, as the “moral baseline”. We tell people how they need to improve. But, apart from abstaining from using animals for our benefit, we rarely look at ourselves and how we can improve.
My mother used to say, “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”.
