Negative effects of feminism

[Animal Rights]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1021293/How-mothers-fanat...

I post this article year because it reminds of some of the things I've heard of veganism/AR.  Some people have called veganism/AR a cult/religion; though that is disputable, I have heard about and find disheartening how many supporters of AR become dogmatic and even turn on people who become ex-vegans.

Speaking of which, I am going to plug the blog Let Them Eat Meat (LTEM) again.  I feel that many AR supporters have maybe latched onto the concept of speciesism too much without giving it enough thought (or maybe I haven't given it enough thought).  LTEM, however, acts as a good challenge to accepted AR philosophy and can even help the movement.

[red dog]

The heading "Negative effects of feminism" is a bit misleading because the article centers on a dispute between two people. It also only presents one side, and the author? interviewee? makes sweeping generalizations about "feminism" when her real issue seems to be a bad family relationship. I enjoyed Alice Walker's novels in university but I don't remember the poem mentioned in the article and wonder if her daughter may have misinterpreted it?

I was disappointed to hear that Walker had apparently backed away from her earlier support for AR but can't say I see the same connections the OP is seeing. A good analogy might be if someone had a personal grievance against an AR supporter and went to the papers denouncing the concept of rights for nonhumans. (Maybe this person would have done that too if Walker had continued to support AR and it was the most important issue for her?)

[red dog]

If you're planning to edit the subject line, how about one of the following?

Two family members can't stand each other--film at 11

Daughter complains about famous mother in UK tabloid, reveals little of interest

Why isn't Alice Walker talking to her daughter? (Wait, that story would have required some research ...)

Tabloid story analyzes famous author's little-known poem (You'd think they'd let us know the title of the poem so we could look it up!)

I'm not familiar with this publication, but I think Roger's point was that the story wasn't very substantial and wasn't really worth publishing. It also seems a bit unethical to run something like that without giving Alice Walker a chance to respond (since she's the subject of accusations) or explain what lengths the journalist went to to reach her.

[red dog]

In response to the OP's comments about speciesism, it's hard to believe anyone here is guilty of "latching onto the concept ... without giving it enough thought." On the contrary, we've all been raised/indoctrinated to ignore speciesism--we have to think about it just to see it. Acknowledging its existence is a very challenging step for many animal advocates, even those who care a lot and have done a lot to help other animals.

I think animal advocates are constantly evolving in their understanding of what speciesism is and what it means to challenge it: Peter Singer made some good points, Tom Regan went a step further, Gary Francione went further than Regan and Joan Dunayer went further than Francione (at least when it comes to the dog question). More recently, Oscar Horta brought up some additional points in his ARZone podcast that I hadn't considered before. Surely you're not saying Oscar Horta hasn't thought about speciesism enough? I think it's clear that he has, and so have Carolyn, Tim, Barbara, Roger and the other admins here at ARZone.

I've seen the blog you mention but haven't followed it closely enough to form an opinion--however, from what I have seen the blogger seems obsessed.