Published in Psychology Today, 25th November 2016. We should avoid the unnecessary suffering of animals—no one but the most disturbed among us would disagree. Unfortunately, pointing out that this moral square peg doesn’t usually fit in the round hole of meat-eating is distasteful to many. The ideological zeal with which many preach their love for…
Tag: vegan
Is Vegetarianism a Religion?
Over the past year, author and neuroscientist Sam Harris has made his abandonment of eating animals public – and it’s been inspiring. As I previously noted in an unfortunately titled Salon article, Sam’s secateurs of reasoning attend to the weeds in his own garden as much as those that lie over the fence. Last year…
Why It’s Impossible To Not Actually Be A Cannibal
Published in The Daily Banter, 29th April 2016: Why It’s Impossible To Not Actually Be A Cannibal. A dizzying number of publications recently ran a piece titled “Why It’s Impossible To Actually Be A Vegetarian”. Within it, philosopher Andrew Smith argued that because ecosystems tend to involve the transfer of matter from both plant to animal…
Don’t Let Veganism Make The Same Mistakes As Feminism
Published in The Daily Banter, 24th February 2016. Are you a feminist? Unfortunately, the number of people who respond ‘yes’ to this question is currently falling off a cliff. The belief that men and women should have equal opportunities represents one of the most direct routes towards a more humane society, yet the name for…
‘Vegan’ and ‘Veganism’: Ideas Versus People in the Wider Fight For Progress
Published in The Daily Banter, 17th January 2016: ‘Vegan’ and ‘Veganism’: Ideas Versus People in the Wider Fight For Progress. Excerpt: “When one demands their right to criticize religion, they can do so by appealing to their fundamental right to lambast any idea. In the words of Maajid Nawaz, “No idea is above scrutiny, just…
New Atheists Must Become New Vegans: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the extra burden on moral leaders
Published on Salon, 10th January 2016: “New atheists must become new vegans: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the extra burden on moral leaders”. As some of you might know, Salon altered the title of the article without my consent to include the words “must”, “moral leaders”, and include the names of Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. This was misleading,…
The Pollution of Good Ideas
It is surprising to see how easily some promising ideas continue to be smeared, tarnished and highjacked by misinformation. For example, discussions on meditation are shrouded in so much ignorance that identifying any proven benefit seems akin to finding decent music on the radio; it’s there, but only if you know where to look, what…
Steve Stankevicius 