{"id":4087,"date":"2016-11-04T09:57:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T17:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=4087"},"modified":"2016-12-04T09:59:44","modified_gmt":"2016-12-04T17:59:44","slug":"the-animal-rights-revolution-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2016\/11\/04\/the-animal-rights-revolution-is-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"The animal rights revolution is coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spectator
\nCharlotte Gill<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"euro\"Some will scoff when I say that we are in the first wave of an animal rights movement which will see our furry friends elevated to a new status in our society. But it\u2019s true. In the last few years, concern for animal\u00a0welfare has grown. Even the last week has demonstrated this. Take the fury which greeted the decision of a\u00a0Japanese ice rink<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to entomb 5,000 dead fish beneath skaters\u2019 feet. Or the scores who\u00a0complained<\/span><\/a>\u00a0about the torture of live insects on ITV\u2019s I\u2019m A Celebrity.\u00a0And those upset about the animal-fat loaded \u00a35 note.\u00a0These isolated events speak volumes about a new moral reality we\u2019re entering.<\/span><\/p>\n

The animal rights revolution is coming, at a pace the pro-meat lobbyists just can\u2019t get their heads around. When I first gave up meat as a teenager, people laughed and told me I would soon\u00a0abandon this phase of rebellion. That didn\u2019t happen, though; in fact, many others have since joined the movement. The UK now has 1.68 million vegetarians, and the number of vegans has risen by\u00a0360 percent over the last decade<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are plenty of reasons why people are joining the cause \u2013 all of which make total sense, to the annoyance of\u00a0rabid meat eaters. Yet to rationalise their dietary habits,<\/span>\u00a0the carnivorous still rest on the tired arguments of pleasure, tradition and nature<\/span>. But the truth is that all of these are as outdated\u00a0as other phenomena they once justified: gladiator games and incest, <\/span>to name a few.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What I believe is pushing animal issues into people\u2019s consciousness is a new\u00a0<\/span>Maslowian\u00a0<\/span>enlightenment. Meat serves as a primary need when resources are low for populations, but once people have\u00a0food and shelter and their\u00a0other needs are met, there is time for introspection \u2013 which can lead to a redressing of age-old behaviours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the UK, it is high time we reflected on the excessive consumption of meat, which is not just unnecessary, but wrong. It<\/span>\u00a0discredits our intelligence that we eat vast quantities of\u00a0meat that has been reared in such cruel, mechanised ways. Our senses have been dulled and we have become autonomous; brainlessly crunching through the world\u2019s species without a second thought.<\/p>\n

So mindless\u00a0are our meat-eating habits that no one questions the logic behind why we consume certain animals, most of whose fate rests upon cultural relativism. This means we sit crying over China\u2019s Yulin \u2018dog meat festival<\/span><\/a>\u2018 while defrosting a chicken pie. Our species-specific\u00a0treatment of animals runs contrary to the way we treat humans; as equals regardless of their abilities. Never is there acceptance or acknowledgement that animal minds have potential. Their destruction runs counter to evolutionary theory, which argues\u00a0that no species is ever a finished product \u2013 any more than cavemen were the completion\u00a0of our own kind.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only way to make people abandon meat is to expose them to the\u00a0processes that produce it, and to ask whether they are comfortable with them. Our complacent attitude is brought about by the\u00a0distance between the mechanisms of slaughter and the sight of our own plate. But shove hideous ITV challenges into the public conscience and something hits home. We\u00a0realise that we\u00a0do not like cruelty\u00a0to animals, any more than we\u00a0enjoy watching gladiatorial games.<\/span><\/p>\n

The public reactions to the Japanese ice rink, I\u2019m A Celebrity, and the new \u00a35 note are great symbols of animal rights flooding into the mainstream. Changes\u00a0will be brought about most by young people<\/span><\/a>, who are more likely than older generations to subscribe to animal-friendly diets. Inevitably they will hold the reins over the food industry in years to come, quietly driving meat out of general consumption. Tools like\u00a0Instagram<\/span><\/a>, which have greatly sold the young into veganism, will encourage introspection in others; acting as magnifying glasses to animal issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the revolutionary waves that will change the way we interact with our fellow species, which will no longer be seen as inferior \u2013 but different to ourselves. Enjoy your Christmas turkey now; all the signs are there that slowly, but significantly, the world is changing dramatically.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spectator Charlotte Gill Some will scoff when I say that we are in the first wave of an animal rights movement which will see our furry friends elevated to a new status in our society. But it\u2019s true. In the last few years, concern for animal\u00a0welfare has grown. Even the last week has demonstrated … <\/p>\n

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