Authors
Núria Almiron
Publication date
2016
Journal
Soc Mov Studs. 2016; 15 (4): 435-6
Publisher
Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Description
Drawing mainly from theories of strategic communication and the framing of social movements, Framing farming addresses the challenging dilemma that most animal rights organizations face today: how to send non-speciesist messages to (and from within) a speciesist society and at the same time raise awareness and understanding instead of fear and hostility. Freeman’s answer to this question, helpful for scholarly theorists as well as animal rights activists, is no less essential for any individual committed to peace and justice, for it clarifies why the animal rights issue should not be seen as just another advocacy sphere, but as a core contribution to moral progress.
For those not familiar with the topic, the ethical challenge behind the dilemma addressed by Freeman refers to the fact that while we currently don’t need to exploit animals for food, neither to survive nor to have a long and healthy life, we continue using them–a practice that can be carried out only by imposition and violence upon other animals’ bodies. is produces harm and suffering to billions of nonhuman animals every year. According to philosophers, psychologists and sociologists, the reasons for this human behavior are many, including tradition, cultural habits, addiction, ignorance, emotional numbing, and fear. All of them are comfortably justified by a mainstream set of ideas that puts the human species at the top of an imagined natural hierarchy. Speciesism–the ideology that assigns lesser values, rights and consideration to other individuals simply because they are members of nonhuman species–remains taboo in mainstream debates, media discourse and political discussion …
Scholar articles
N Almiron - Soc Mov Studs. 2016; 15 (4): 435-6, 2016