Home / Political objections / The progressive left and multiculturalism
"The animal cause is a white middle-class concern that ends up attacking the cultural practices of minorities."
The progressive left and multiculturalism: the principle
Defend vulnerable groups, fight domination and respect cultural diversity.
Why excluding animals contradicts the principle
- Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson show that the animal cause is almost invisible on the left, despite its affinities with feminism, social justice and disability rights, and that this exclusion does not follow from the left's own principles.
- Part of the resistance comes from fear that talking about animal rights lowers the human dignity of groups that have already been dehumanized. But defending animals does not require denying anything to any human.
- Most animals killed today are in the industrial farming of majorities and large companies, not in minority practices.
The strongest counter-reply
The most serious version points to a real problem: animal campaigns have targeted minority practices, such as ritual slaughter or hunting by Indigenous peoples, while ignoring far more numerous majority practices.
The answer
The criticism is fair and should be taken seriously: the standard has to be the same for everyone, and starting with the most widespread exploitation is the most consistent course. That is an argument against selectivity, not against animals. A respect for diversity that did not count animals would repeat the very cut it fights (D2, J6).
See also
D2 It's cultural; criticizing it is ethnocentric.J6 There are more important human problems.L7 Comparing animal farming to slavery or the Holocaust is offensive.