Welfare + Welfare + Welfare ≠ Rights
How will approach which states that there is nothing wrong with use of nonhuman animals lead to animal rights. More welfare usually means more efficient exploitation of nonhuman animals. Animal rights and animal welfare are two opposite approaches, welfarist approach wants to regulate use, rights approach wants to end it and usually one thing doesn’t lead to the opposite. If that’s true, promotion of racism will lead to anti-racism. And we know that’s not going to happen.
Welfarists say we can use nonhuman animals for our interests. But there are still people who claim that welfare can lead to abolition. They even say that we don’t have evidences to say that more welfare will not lead to rights. Well, we have welfare for two centuries and evidences accumulated along the way. Most important evidence is that we use more nonhuman animals than ever .So animal welfare didn’t bring us closer to ending animal use. You may ask why. Perhaps, because that isn’t their goal. Is it really hard to comprehend that advocating for rights will lead to animal rights?
I am optimistic that we will stop using other sentient beings, but it will take time, possible in this case a long time, because animal use is so pervasive and eating/wearing animal product is considered as normal as breathing and it may never happen but unequivocal vegan education will result in more vegans, therefore lesser number of nonhuman animal will be used. We, vegans owe to nonhuman animals to advocate for their rights.
