What Is Speciesism?
"As far as morality is concerned, a chicken weighs as much as an elephant."
-Gary Francione
A Definition
Speciesism is a belief system held by humans that other species of animals are inferior to human animals and that there is a hierarchy of importance among these other species. For example, most humans generally believe that humans are superior to dogs and dogs are superior to chickens. Like many -isms, speciesism is another form of oppression and discrimination, except the oppressors are (the majority of) humans and the victims are of different species. In the 1800s, a white family owning black slaves wasn't viewed as racism. It was just the way of life. Speciesism is similarly seen today: it's just how things are.
Why People Reject Speciesism
Some people don't believe we live in a speciesist world, but why do they think that? In order to answer this question, we must recognize that we, as humans, are the oppressors of all other living beings. If we didn't exist, this planet and all its other inhabitants would be thriving. And we don't want to think of ourselves negatively, so we choose to not believe it or to simply ignore it. If we want to move forward as a society, we must be able to look from the victims' perspective. Think, if someone showed you nothing but kindness, fattened you up by feeding you all the time, let you roam around a field — though never beyond that — all you want, and then one day dropped you and your family off at a slaughterhouse to be killed so they could eat your flesh, wouldn't you view them as your oppressor? I certainly would.
Does the Definition of Speciesism Go Too Far?
Sometimes, we vegans get a little carried away trying to care equally about all animals. We don't want to show any bias for or against certain species because then we'd be a speciesist. While I think it's good to ascertain why you feel one way about, say, fishes and another way about turtles, it's also acceptable to recognize that you simply like some animals more than others. For instance, cows are my favorite animal; but that doesn't mean I'll use that to try to justify eating a pork chop for dinner. And I prefer pigs to elephants, but I'm not going to go out poaching in Africa.
Not being a speciesist means that regardless of your personal feelings about certain species, you respect their sanctity of life. The rejection of speciesism comes from carnists (which I defined in "What's a Carnist?") who try to justify their consumption of animal products by saying they like dogs and tigers more than chickens and sheep. This argument is a fallacy used to shift blame off themselves, to say that their compassion for some creatures warrants their uncompassionate actions against others.
be conscious, be kind, be vegan