
Activist James Aspey says: “Animal rights is an anti-holocaust movement. Leave the death cult. Go vegan. Be happy.”
Australian vegan activist James Aspey is facing backlash for comparing the slaughtering of animals to the Holocaust.
The 34-year-old, who has been vegan for eight years, is best known for pledging a year of silence to raise awareness for animal rights.
The influencer has 254000 followers on Instagram. His bio, reads: “Animal rights is an anti-Holocaust movement. Leave the death cult. Go vegan. Be happy.”
Several posts on his page compare animal farming to the Holocaust, slavery, and rape.
‘Context matters’
However, his aggressive stance has divided people’s opinions on the use of words that are deemed offensive and hurtful.
“When you shove dictionary definitions of the word ‘holocaust’ in the faces of Jewish people to justify using [the] word to describe animal agriculture, you know that you sounds like the ‘all lives matter’ crowd,” one social media user wrote.
“All lives matter’ is a slogan associated with criticism of the ‘black lives matter’ social movement, created in response to racism and violence against people of colour.
“Context matters when using historically triggering words.”
‘Ineffective activism’
Another wrote: You can talk about veganism without comparing it to the Holocaust. This is counterproductive to having conversations about food production and is anti-Semitic. Do better.”
“Comparing it to the Holocaust might make sense to you, but it pushes people away. It’s ineffective activism,” a third added.
‘They are speciesist’
Aspey remains unfazed by the criticism. In a statement to VICE World News, he said: “If people are so easily hurt that hearing a word can cause them significant trauma, I would suggest they have a lot of healing to do before they use the internet, which has violence and triggering words all over it.
“The truth is, they aren’t actually hurt by hearing the word ‘Holocaust,’ they simply disagree that non-human Earthlings deserve to have their situation described using the same terminology that was used to describe human atrocities, and that is because they are speciesist.”
According to him, the word ‘holocaust’ has got him more media attention than ever before.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, he said: “They think their suffering is being trivialized by comparing human suffering to animal suffering.
“For one, it isn’t a comparison. It is a fact that non-human animals are experiencing a holocaust. And two, when we suffer, we all suffer the same. Humans are animals, too.”
He furthers his argument by adding another post on Instagram, which reads:
“Speciesism is a mental illness.”
Share this story: Vegan activist slammed for equating animal slaughter to the Holocaust.
Lifestyle
Vegan culture, food, beauty & more
Puma ditches kangaroo leather for ‘better’ vegan fabric
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 3rd March 2023
Puma’s King soccer boots are made with vegan K-Better, a new animal-free upper material. Puma SE is officially phasing kangaroo leather out of its soccer boots this year. Instead, it will begin using a vegan fabric following rising consumer opposition to animal-made products. The German sporting goods company has redesigned its legendary KING football boot …
Continue reading “Puma ditches kangaroo leather for ‘better’ vegan fabric”
More than a third of Brits intend to reduce animal products this new year
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 10th February 2023
Research from The Vegan Society showed that an increasing number of people are looking to reduce their consumption of meat and dairy for environmental reasons. More than one-third of Britons plan to cut back on their consumption of meat and dairy in 2023, according to a survey by the Vegan Society. The world’s oldest vegan …
Continue reading “More than a third of Brits intend to reduce animal products this new year”
VEGAN MEMES
NEED A LAUGH?
QUIZZES
All the quizzes you love to binge!
QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert
- Marlon Farrugia
- 10th January 2020
How much vegan knowledge do you have stored away? Do you have to Google your way through a shopping trip, or do you have all the bad E-numbers memorised? Find out now with this quiz. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …
Continue reading “QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert”
QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 13th October 2019
Spook Season approaches. There will be ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and glucose. You need a costume, and you want to it to show off your personality, which means VEGAN. But what to choose? Take our quiz to find out your perfect outfit. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a …
Continue reading “QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?”
QUIZ: What kind of vegetable are you?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 26th September 2019
“If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be?” A question that has tormented humanity throughout the ages – until now. Read: QUIZ: If you score 19/20 on THIS quiz, you’re a Vegan God Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …