About Fairitarians
What are fairitarians?
People believe that people and animals should be treated fairly, especially if they are feeding us.
What’s fairly mean?
According to Merriam Webster dictionary fairly means treating things right1 which implies you could be treating them wrong. Right and wrong and fairness can’t apply to things that don’t feel or matter, just like you can’t treat a rock fairly. For example:
- I think it’s not unfair to throw rocks at rocks.
- But I think it’s unfair to throw rocks at innocent Mexicans
- because I care about how Mexicans feel.
In sum, I think people and animals should be treated fairly because I think they have plenty of feelings and they matter.
Who decides what’s fair?
I think most people decide that for themselves, though this site aims to help y’all come to the best decision you can.
What’s the point?
If you think the definition of a “fairitarian” is so broad that it’s pointless, I think that’s a good sign. The label may seem unnecessary if you haven’t met many people that aren’t fairitarians. But there were a lot of those people, they’re still out there, and they’ve made their mark on the world. For example:
“In Western history, animals have typically been treated as having, at best, only a low-level moral standing or status—and perhaps no moral status at all. If the latter view were correct, then humans owe nothing to animals and can do with animals as they wish.”2
“The idea that non-human animals have significant moral status is comparatively modern”3
“For virtually all of Western intellectual history, essentially no discussions existed of ethical obligations toward non-human beings, with the exception of the writings of some isolated thinkers”. 4
Long story short, this rock is how animals used to be viewed
About the site
This site is meant to help people learn about some very big problems, and empower them to contribute to their solutions, without boring or depressing them. It takes essential information, vetted by experts, and sprinkles some silliness on top. [I intend to make the next sentence true before publicizing this site:] In fact virtually every claim on this site was endorsed by experts and you can find out more about each one in the article they vetted. [For example, see Rabbi Breitowitz in the “Moses and More” article.]
About the site’s author
For now, I can’t tell you much about myself, except that I want to learn more about factory farms in part by working on them. The problem is that most factory farms wouldn’t want me around if they knew I was behind this site.
But if I could share two things about myself it would be that I’m convinced not enough people see the silver lining to factory farming: the more terrible it is, the more chances it provides to improve the world. In other words, I see factory farming as not only a huge problem, but also an exciting challenge and I’d like to show people why.
And I’m grateful you took the time to visit this site and hear me out.
Sources
[1] Well actually Merriam Webster dictionary defines fairly as “a just and proper manner”, but I think I explained it better. – www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fairly. [2] Beauchamp, Tom L. The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and R. G. Frey, Oxford University Press, New York, 2011. [3] “Ethics – Animal Ethics: Moral Status of Animals.” BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/rights/moralstatus_1.shtml#section_5. [4] Rollin, Bernard E. Putting the Horse before Descartes: My Life’s Work on Behalf of Animals. Temple University Press, 2011.