1 00:00:01,210 --> 00:00:05,640 Grant Barnes: Would you clarify your position on welfarism. 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:06,640 Sure. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:13,630 I feel like a politician: clarify my position. 4 00:00:13,630 --> 00:00:17,730 Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. 5 00:00:17,730 --> 00:00:22,350 When I recently held back-to-back live Q&A sessions on Facebook and YouTube, there were 6 00:00:22,350 --> 00:00:25,780 so many great questions but such limited time. 7 00:00:25,780 --> 00:00:29,720 If you missed either of the Q&A sessions, the links to those videos are in the description 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:30,720 below. 9 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:35,109 So today I wanted to provide a more comprehensive answer to an important question I received 10 00:00:35,109 --> 00:00:40,859 on the Facebook live stream: what is your position on animal welfare, or more specifically, 11 00:00:40,859 --> 00:00:41,920 welfarism. 12 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,160 If you haven’t guessed by this point: I am not a welfarist. 13 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:50,519 Shockingly, the title of this video is not click bait. 14 00:00:50,519 --> 00:00:55,399 For those not familiar, animal welfare, animal rights, and animal liberation are not synonymous 15 00:00:55,399 --> 00:00:56,519 terms or approaches. 16 00:00:56,519 --> 00:01:01,010 In this video, we’re not going to get into the nuances of rights vs liberation, but I 17 00:01:01,010 --> 00:01:03,579 will explore that further in a separate installment. 18 00:01:03,579 --> 00:01:06,810 For the purposes of this video, I’ll just use the term liberation. 19 00:01:06,810 --> 00:01:11,070 Both animal welfare and animal liberation operate on the premise that non-human animals 20 00:01:11,070 --> 00:01:16,450 are sentient beings capable of suffering, and thus deserving of consideration and protection. 21 00:01:16,450 --> 00:01:20,890 The exact nature of this consideration is where the approaches diverge. 22 00:01:20,890 --> 00:01:24,880 Welfarism seeks to improve conditions for animals within the existing systems of our 23 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,670 food, entertainment, research, and commercial industries, as well as provide protection 24 00:01:28,670 --> 00:01:32,170 for pets and wild species impacted by human activity. 25 00:01:32,170 --> 00:01:37,020 In regards to so-termed “food animals,” free-range, cage-free, grass-fed, and humane 26 00:01:37,020 --> 00:01:39,180 labels are products of welfarism. 27 00:01:39,180 --> 00:01:44,159 I address the welfarist/humane approach in many videos, and I go into great depth in 28 00:01:44,159 --> 00:01:46,650 my speech “The Best We Have To Offer.” 29 00:01:46,650 --> 00:01:48,610 See the description for links. 30 00:01:48,610 --> 00:01:52,649 But I felt it would be valuable to address this question in a dedicated video and in 31 00:01:52,649 --> 00:01:56,909 a more conversational manner than my more highly academic, comprehensive speeches. 32 00:01:56,909 --> 00:01:59,950 There are several issues with the welfarist approach. 33 00:01:59,950 --> 00:02:04,130 Welfare regulations are designed to spare animals any “unnecessary” suffering—the 34 00:02:04,130 --> 00:02:09,730 unspoken implication being that some suffering is necessary when it benefits humans. 35 00:02:09,730 --> 00:02:14,860 Animals are still relegated to property status, every aspect of their lives and deaths dictated 36 00:02:14,860 --> 00:02:16,120 by humans. 37 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:21,040 Animal liberation denies the superiority of humans to other species and vehemently rejects 38 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,030 the belief that one can kill with compassion. 39 00:02:24,030 --> 00:02:27,980 There has long been active debate between welfare and liberation camps. 40 00:02:27,980 --> 00:02:32,510 There are vegans within the welfare camp who argue that though the ultimate goal is total 41 00:02:32,510 --> 00:02:36,920 liberation, there is value in improving the conditions for those animals currently in 42 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:39,290 our systems of exploitation. 43 00:02:39,290 --> 00:02:43,810 While there is certainly validity in this position, I find it vital to take an honest 44 00:02:43,810 --> 00:02:48,870 look at what welfare regulations actually mean for the beings they are designed to protect. 45 00:02:48,870 --> 00:02:51,540 This is the entire premise of my speech from Dublin Ireland. 46 00:02:51,540 --> 00:02:56,810 I spent many hours pouring over some of the most advanced animal welfare laws in the world—the 47 00:02:56,810 --> 00:03:01,400 very best we have to offer—to determine the actual implication for the animals. 48 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,000 I’ll share a particularly telling example that I covered in my response during the Q&A: 49 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,340 So the EU had this whole thing of banning battery cages for laying hens. 50 00:03:11,340 --> 00:03:16,880 And everyone was like ‘Ooh, laying hens, eggs in the EU they’re not in battery cages 51 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:17,980 - we’re great!’ 52 00:03:17,980 --> 00:03:24,360 And that’s what the public hears, but when you actually look into the legislation, and 53 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:30,050 people are like “well now, layer hens are going to get 750 square centimeters each it’s 54 00:03:30,050 --> 00:03:32,050 going to be fantastic!’ 55 00:03:32,050 --> 00:03:36,840 What actually happened is instead of battery cages—or “barren” battery cages—they 56 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:43,440 now live in “enriched” battery cages, which means battery cages with some furniture 57 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,970 and maybe a little more space. 58 00:03:45,970 --> 00:03:53,430 So, it even says in the legislation 750 sq cm per chicken, 600 of which are usable. 59 00:03:53,430 --> 00:03:54,870 So really each chicken has 600. 60 00:03:54,870 --> 00:04:00,180 A barren battery cage chicken has 550. 61 00:04:00,180 --> 00:04:05,540 So this groundbreaking thing that everyone freaked out about gives chickens an extra 62 00:04:05,540 --> 00:04:09,140 50 sq cm each. 63 00:04:09,140 --> 00:04:16,509 And now they have furniture to bump into and because laying hens are bred to produce eggs 64 00:04:16,509 --> 00:04:22,009 insanely frequently, they have very brittle bones, they are very prone to osteoporosis 65 00:04:22,009 --> 00:04:26,150 and fractures and now they have more stuff to bump into and so they actually have higher 66 00:04:26,150 --> 00:04:28,009 fracture rates. 67 00:04:28,009 --> 00:04:33,849 And non-caged hens have twice the mortality rate of battery-caged hens. 68 00:04:33,849 --> 00:04:39,470 So, when we look at this, what are we really improving? 69 00:04:39,470 --> 00:04:45,020 What it seems that we are accomplishing with welfare is making ourselves feel better about 70 00:04:45,020 --> 00:04:48,350 doing the exact same thing that we’ve been doing, but now we don’t have to worry about 71 00:04:48,350 --> 00:04:49,350 it. 72 00:04:49,350 --> 00:04:54,129 That doesn’t really do much for the animals, I don’t think. 73 00:04:54,129 --> 00:04:59,790 This was done, like 1999 or something, when it came time so now the ban is supposed to 74 00:04:59,790 --> 00:05:03,969 be in place, there were, I think it was 9 that said either we’re not going to be ready 75 00:05:03,969 --> 00:05:08,259 or we might not be ready or probably not going to be ready. 76 00:05:08,259 --> 00:05:10,439 This was 12 years later. 77 00:05:10,439 --> 00:05:18,970 They had 12 years to add 50 sq cm per chicken and some furniture, and they couldn’t do 78 00:05:18,970 --> 00:05:19,970 it. 79 00:05:19,970 --> 00:05:21,330 I mean it’s astoundingly ineffective. 80 00:05:21,330 --> 00:05:26,530 And I think it does so much damage because what the public sees, and what people see 81 00:05:26,530 --> 00:05:28,120 is: “eggs are now humane.” 82 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:34,980 And when you look at it, the EU started eating more and more and more eggs when this happened. 83 00:05:34,980 --> 00:05:43,560 So, it actually seems to make it worse for the animals because now the demand is even 84 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:44,560 higher. 85 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,760 Humane stuff is, I think, incredibly dangerous because it gives us the ability - I mean, 86 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:54,550 we’re human, and we will do anything we can to not have to change a darn thing about 87 00:05:54,550 --> 00:05:55,990 what we’re doing. 88 00:05:55,990 --> 00:06:03,240 If we can keep doing what we want to do and feel good about it, that’s like the holy 89 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,180 grail and that’s what welfarism allows us to do. 90 00:06:06,180 --> 00:06:10,550 As far as what it does for the animals - I don’t think much, honestly. 91 00:06:10,550 --> 00:06:15,039 This ability to continue exploiting animals without guilt is what I mean when I say that 92 00:06:15,039 --> 00:06:19,810 welfarism and humane treatment are worse than factory farming. 93 00:06:19,810 --> 00:06:24,240 Here is another concrete example from Ireland, one of the most idealized countries for humane 94 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,330 treatment of farmed animals. 95 00:06:26,330 --> 00:06:29,949 Just prior to this portion of the speech, I’d covered how mother pigs are confined 96 00:06:29,949 --> 00:06:35,110 in farrowing crates throughout their pregnancy, only to have their babies taken time and again: 97 00:06:35,110 --> 00:06:39,270 The sooner her babies are taken, the faster she can “re-enter production.” 98 00:06:39,270 --> 00:06:44,479 At her “time of service,” the astounding term for forceful penetration of her vagina 99 00:06:44,479 --> 00:06:49,771 with an instrument full of boar semen, she may legally be chained in place, one of the 100 00:06:49,771 --> 00:06:53,639 number of exceptions allowing the tethered restrained of pigs. 101 00:06:53,639 --> 00:06:57,909 Tethering stalls as a whole, where pigs were chained in place all the time were outlawed 102 00:06:57,909 --> 00:07:04,270 by the EU in 1995, but as we’ll continually see with all regulations, this came with ample 103 00:07:04,270 --> 00:07:08,249 exceptions, loopholes, and a 10 year window for implementation. 104 00:07:08,249 --> 00:07:15,800 In 1998 91% of Ireland’s mother pigs were still confined to sow stalls or tethered. 105 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,080 And when sow stalls, also known as gestation crates, were subsequently outlawed through 106 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:26,270 a 2001 EU decision, again with ample fine-print exceptions and only for a certain portion 107 00:07:26,270 --> 00:07:32,270 of their pregnancy, Ireland was one of nine member states found to be non-compliant in 108 00:07:32,270 --> 00:07:38,040 2013, with the European Commission stating they’d “had twelve years to ensure a smooth 109 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,180 transition to the new system and to implement the Directive.” 110 00:07:42,180 --> 00:07:47,050 The ineffectiveness of welfare legislation is not isolated to any one country or governing 111 00:07:47,050 --> 00:07:50,550 body, though the level of supposed protection does vary greatly. 112 00:07:50,550 --> 00:07:54,800 For example, in the United States there are no federal laws governing the treatment of 113 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:56,740 animals in our food industry. 114 00:07:56,740 --> 00:07:58,199 Absolutely none. 115 00:07:58,199 --> 00:08:03,919 We do have an Animal Welfare Act, first passed in 1966, but like so many welfare acts around 116 00:08:03,919 --> 00:08:08,559 the world, it completely excludes animals raised for food, as do the majority of state 117 00:08:08,559 --> 00:08:10,849 anti-cruelty regulations. 118 00:08:10,849 --> 00:08:15,449 While animal advocates blame this lack of legal protection for the allowance of such 119 00:08:15,449 --> 00:08:20,370 cruel practices as intensive confinement, routine mutilation, including the removal 120 00:08:20,370 --> 00:08:25,759 of testicles, tails, horns, beaks, or toes without any anesthetic, and the live grinding 121 00:08:25,759 --> 00:08:30,389 up of male chicks in the egg industry, among other atrocities, welfare legislation does 122 00:08:30,389 --> 00:08:33,600 not by default eradicate such abuse. 123 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:38,500 For example, it’s a worldwide standard to dispose of male chicks by tossing them into 124 00:08:38,500 --> 00:08:40,700 a grinder while fully conscious. 125 00:08:40,700 --> 00:08:45,680 This isn’t a barbaric practice isolated to corrupt, abusive facilities. 126 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:48,080 Grinding babies is a welfare regulation. 127 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:51,850 It’s part of the “necessary suffering.” 128 00:08:51,850 --> 00:08:55,890 If you’re wondering why this hasn’t been exposed on the news, it has. 129 00:08:55,890 --> 00:09:00,590 And every time it’s people are appalled, outraged, disgusted. 130 00:09:00,590 --> 00:09:05,330 They wonder how any person or industry could be so barbaric. 131 00:09:05,330 --> 00:09:12,650 And they continue to eat eggs, not realizing they’ve just answered their own question. 132 00:09:12,650 --> 00:09:18,721 The European Commission estimates that the EU kills 330 million chicks every year, with 133 00:09:18,721 --> 00:09:21,350 global estimates at 3.2 billion. 134 00:09:21,350 --> 00:09:25,060 I could talk about this subject for days and still not cover everything. 135 00:09:25,060 --> 00:09:28,060 And I’ll certainly continue to explore its depths in future videos. 136 00:09:28,060 --> 00:09:33,580 But I think perhaps what may bring the most clarity regarding the efficacy of welfarism, 137 00:09:33,580 --> 00:09:36,390 is imagining these measures being applied to ourselves: 138 00:09:36,390 --> 00:09:39,700 I mean it really is absurd when we step back and think about it. 139 00:09:39,700 --> 00:09:43,590 Do we have manuals on how to humanely rape hamans? 140 00:09:43,590 --> 00:09:45,280 Or how to compassionately kidnap? 141 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:46,380 Or ethically rob? 142 00:09:46,380 --> 00:09:48,130 Of course not because those are oxymorons. 143 00:09:48,130 --> 00:09:49,990 They cannot coexist. 144 00:09:49,990 --> 00:09:55,630 But when it comes to our treatment of animals, we will bend over backwards and create massive 145 00:09:55,630 --> 00:10:01,400 paper trails of regulations to feel good about what we are doing. 146 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,840 We turn these living beings into data points, flowcharts, and percentages—calculate to 147 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,970 a decimal point’s certainty the exact cost of every aspect of their lives and details 148 00:10:10,970 --> 00:10:11,970 for their deaths. 149 00:10:11,970 --> 00:10:17,960 We relegate the annual mass murder of over 3 billion day-old conscious, innocent babies 150 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:19,060 to a footnote. 151 00:10:19,060 --> 00:10:25,200 A footnote in a study conducted for the welfare regulations we’re so graciously creating. 152 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:31,820 We deem them legally sentient, deserving freedom from hunger, thirst, discomfort, pain, injury, 153 00:10:31,820 --> 00:10:37,140 disease, fear, distress and mental suffering, as the EU did—then use this very recognition 154 00:10:37,140 --> 00:10:44,220 of their capacity to feel the same emotions and sensations as we do to design—in language 155 00:10:44,220 --> 00:10:49,990 so disturbingly detached it’s nothing short of sociopathic—the exact manner in which 156 00:10:49,990 --> 00:10:55,630 we may legally violate, imprison, cut, burn, alter, and murder them. 157 00:10:55,630 --> 00:10:59,960 This is how profoundly illogical our thinking is when it comes to animals. 158 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:02,850 It goes against all basic human understanding. 159 00:11:02,850 --> 00:11:07,430 Knowing better but doing wrong anyway is worse than having no knowledge. 160 00:11:07,430 --> 00:11:13,730 Yet we have the audacity to hold this legislative recognition of non-human sentience on high 161 00:11:13,730 --> 00:11:18,070 as a giant step forward for the rights of animals. 162 00:11:18,070 --> 00:11:24,000 As if systematically exploiting individuals with fully admitted knowledge and comprehension 163 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:30,740 of their capacity to suffer is something to commend. 164 00:11:30,740 --> 00:11:35,660 Look what we offer ourselves as evidence of progress: one news report extolled the reduction 165 00:11:35,660 --> 00:11:41,180 in animals slipping and falling on their way to slaughter in one abattoir in one country. 166 00:11:41,180 --> 00:11:46,380 When we look at our actions from the other side, the perverse absurdity of our deluded 167 00:11:46,380 --> 00:11:49,140 self-congratulations is astounding. 168 00:11:49,140 --> 00:11:56,190 If you were in the place of these beings, how grateful would you feel if your captor 169 00:11:56,190 --> 00:12:00,220 laid down a bathmat on the ramp to your execution? 170 00:12:00,220 --> 00:12:06,140 Is this really the best we have to offer? 171 00:12:06,140 --> 00:12:09,060 Being the most courteous murderers? 172 00:12:09,060 --> 00:12:12,000 The most considerate rapists? 173 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,300 Pouring untold resources into these convoluted laws and regulations, all the while completely 174 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:19,720 blind to the fact that there’s another option entirely. 175 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:24,750 I hope this video has more thoroughly illustrated why I’m not a welfarist. 176 00:12:24,750 --> 00:12:28,590 I’d encourage you to see the links I’ve provided below as well as on the blog post 177 00:12:28,590 --> 00:12:31,300 for this video to do your own further research. 178 00:12:31,300 --> 00:12:35,350 If you really want to dive in, see my full speech from Ireland, and its respective blog 179 00:12:35,350 --> 00:12:36,350 post. 180 00:12:36,350 --> 00:12:42,120 As I’ve said many, many times, in order to make informed decisions, to look ourselves 181 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:47,240 in the mirror and ask if we are truly living the values we purport to have, we must know 182 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:48,440 the truth. 183 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:54,300 We must educate ourselves about what is really going on, not rely on what we’ve been taught. 184 00:12:54,300 --> 00:12:58,820 We must make decisions based on facts, not fantasy. 185 00:12:58,820 --> 00:13:03,970 This is why I am so emphatic about putting in the hours upon hours of research to get 186 00:13:03,970 --> 00:13:05,370 to the truth. 187 00:13:05,370 --> 00:13:10,200 To provide what the laws actually say, not simply offer my personal opinion. 188 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:14,330 I’ll leave you with the powerful words of Alex Herschaft, the founder of the Farm Animal 189 00:13:14,330 --> 00:13:18,260 Rights Movement and a Holocaust survivor: 190 00:13:18,260 --> 00:13:24,230 "I don't believe in small improvements to the living conditions of the chickens and 191 00:13:24,230 --> 00:13:25,230 cows. 192 00:13:25,230 --> 00:13:28,850 Slightly increasing the sizes of the cages is like giving me a hot meal while I'm imprisoned 193 00:13:28,850 --> 00:13:30,100 in the ghetto. 194 00:13:30,100 --> 00:13:34,610 It's like asking an abusive man to continue beating his wife but in a less brutal manner. 195 00:13:34,610 --> 00:13:40,090 The solution is for all of us to stop eating meat, eggs and dairy products." 196 00:13:40,090 --> 00:13:44,310 Please share this video with your friends, family, and within any discussions of animal 197 00:13:44,310 --> 00:13:48,940 welfare, so that others may find solid, cited information on this topic. 198 00:13:48,940 --> 00:13:53,790 I would like to thank my $50 and above patrons and my whole Nugget Army Patreon family for 199 00:13:53,790 --> 00:13:58,310 making it possible for me to conduct this research, deliver speeches all over the world 200 00:13:58,310 --> 00:14:01,130 and create hundreds of free educational videos. 201 00:14:01,130 --> 00:14:04,000 If you’d like to help support Bite Size Vegan’s educational efforts, please see 202 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:06,590 the support links below or the link in the sidebar. 203 00:14:06,590 --> 00:14:11,340 Subscribe to the channel and enable notifications for fresh vegan content every week. 204 00:14:11,340 --> 00:14:16,300 Now go live vegan, don’t buy the humane lie, and I’ll see you soon. 205 00:14:16,300 --> 00:14:20,880 Our rationalizations and justifications are of no use to those whom we exploit. 206 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:27,810 For the cow, the pig, the chicken, duck, turkey, for the lamb or sheep—they don’t know 207 00:14:27,810 --> 00:14:30,150 the name of the company or person enslaving them. 208 00:14:30,150 --> 00:14:33,570 They don’t know what size the farm is or in what country. 209 00:14:33,570 --> 00:14:38,089 They are just as robbed of their rights and their lives regardless of location.