Sentientism | "We gotta make friends... that's the path to liberation" - DxE's Matt Johnson - Ep:129 @Sentientism | Uploaded September 2022 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
Matt (sentientism.info/sentientist-pledge/matt-johnson) is Press Coordinator & investigator for @DirectActionEverywhere. He has conducted investigations, been threatened with prison for rescuing farm animals & pranked FoxNews by posing as the CEO of Smithfield Foods.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The audio is on our Podcast: apple.co/391khQO & https://anchor.fm/sentientism.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
02:50 Matt's Intro
- DxE press & investigations
03:28 Eyes open to animals
- Deer hunting uncles. "Factory farms everywhere" in Iowa
- 4 yrs old "I don't want to eat animals"
- Family push back
- A religious family "God gave us animals for food"
- Being "a silent vegetarian" at school... in secret... feeling shame
- "Good friends of mine... through 13 yrs of grade school... never knew I was vegetarian"
- An aunt: "you're going to die if you don't eat animals"
- Uncles painting a dead deer's nose red for Xmas
- "These people around me are monstrous"
- The dissonance of "be kind" messages in kindergarten
10:24 What's Real?
- "In adulthood I'm not a religious person"
- New atheists, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris
- As a child: "The ethics smacked me in the face" (Problem of Evil)
- As an adult "facts & rationality"
- Jehovah's Witness dad... "I was hating the prospect of doing the door to door evangelising"
- Shunning. It's worse where the JW community has more power
- "#Freewill is an illusion" so "I don't... have any anger towards anybody"
- JW "We have will, we make choices, but they're not 'free'". Removing #retribution from the justice system? #MoralLuck
- An investigation "As cruel a practice as you can imagine" #VentilationShutDown... "The COO shows up ... I was straining my free will determinism in that moment"
- "Guilt & shame can be useful"
25:11 What & Who Matters?
- #Utilitarianism ?
- "High-minded philosophical ideals... often used to launder right-wing ideas"
- "Sorry humans... but I have to put my energy towards the 99.99%"
- #Offsetting & totalising utilitarianism
- Animal agri as a core case most ethical systems should reject
- Boundaries & degress of sentience: Oysters, worms, insects?
- Not letting edge cases distract from the most urgent core cases
- "99% of animal rights focuses on less than 1% of the good it ultimately can do"... "Stopping harm vs. proactively helping"
- Wild animal suffering. Genetic modification & bioengineering for less suffering & more flourishing?.. "an inspiring message"
- Is a #vegan focus on human-caused harms #anthropocentric ?
- LiveKindly: "Nature... is arguably flawless"!!! MJ: "something seems less than flawless."
- #Biocentrism / #Ecocentrism / #environmentalist "Non-sentient stuff matters to the extent it impacts sentient beings"
- "I gave up plastic straws to save the fish!"
- AOC & Sunrise movement joking about eating dairy
- JW: "We want farmed animals dead so we can eat them & wild animals alive because they look pretty"
- Common concern for local wild animals by people who still consume sentient... "There is a strain... that gives me some hope"
45:04 A Better Future?
- Are most people theoretical Sentientists already? :)
- DxE Direct action: investigations, animal rescue, non-violent civil disobedience
- Pretending to be animal ag CEOs on @FoxNews & @NewsmaxTV
- Whistleblowers. Tapping into latent compassion... "You can help overturn this system... you're not a bad person... you were born into it"
- Instead of blame, giving permission to change
- @Harpers1850 : harpers.org/archive/2022/10/standing-trial-should-we-care-about-animal-liberation-ag-gag-laws-iowa-slaughterhouse
- Press/law/politics/indiv change levers
- DxE approach: systemic... "staying away from the 'v' word"
- #veganism 's normative power
- DxE criticisms
- JW: "If you were rescuing pets people would say DxE isn't doing enough!"
- "We tried the established channels."
- JW "Violence can be effective in social change... when it's used against you"
- The threat of being sent to prison for saving animals
- Human & non-human oppressions
- Asking Gavin Newsom about CAFOs "OK but we first need to worry about climate change, pollution, working conditions" !!
- "A thoughtful lefty person is gonna cut you off faster"
- Left (care / rights / justice) / right (purity / environment / freedom) perspectives on speciesism
- An "X" case for animals (libertarian, religious, progressive...)
- Narratives & messaging
- "We gotta make friends... that's the path to liberation"
... & much more! Full show notes at sentientism.info
#Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all #sentient beings.” More at sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall sentientism.info/wall/.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. E.g.: facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
Matt (sentientism.info/sentientist-pledge/matt-johnson) is Press Coordinator & investigator for @DirectActionEverywhere. He has conducted investigations, been threatened with prison for rescuing farm animals & pranked FoxNews by posing as the CEO of Smithfield Foods.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The audio is on our Podcast: apple.co/391khQO & https://anchor.fm/sentientism.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
02:50 Matt's Intro
- DxE press & investigations
03:28 Eyes open to animals
- Deer hunting uncles. "Factory farms everywhere" in Iowa
- 4 yrs old "I don't want to eat animals"
- Family push back
- A religious family "God gave us animals for food"
- Being "a silent vegetarian" at school... in secret... feeling shame
- "Good friends of mine... through 13 yrs of grade school... never knew I was vegetarian"
- An aunt: "you're going to die if you don't eat animals"
- Uncles painting a dead deer's nose red for Xmas
- "These people around me are monstrous"
- The dissonance of "be kind" messages in kindergarten
10:24 What's Real?
- "In adulthood I'm not a religious person"
- New atheists, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris
- As a child: "The ethics smacked me in the face" (Problem of Evil)
- As an adult "facts & rationality"
- Jehovah's Witness dad... "I was hating the prospect of doing the door to door evangelising"
- Shunning. It's worse where the JW community has more power
- "#Freewill is an illusion" so "I don't... have any anger towards anybody"
- JW "We have will, we make choices, but they're not 'free'". Removing #retribution from the justice system? #MoralLuck
- An investigation "As cruel a practice as you can imagine" #VentilationShutDown... "The COO shows up ... I was straining my free will determinism in that moment"
- "Guilt & shame can be useful"
25:11 What & Who Matters?
- #Utilitarianism ?
- "High-minded philosophical ideals... often used to launder right-wing ideas"
- "Sorry humans... but I have to put my energy towards the 99.99%"
- #Offsetting & totalising utilitarianism
- Animal agri as a core case most ethical systems should reject
- Boundaries & degress of sentience: Oysters, worms, insects?
- Not letting edge cases distract from the most urgent core cases
- "99% of animal rights focuses on less than 1% of the good it ultimately can do"... "Stopping harm vs. proactively helping"
- Wild animal suffering. Genetic modification & bioengineering for less suffering & more flourishing?.. "an inspiring message"
- Is a #vegan focus on human-caused harms #anthropocentric ?
- LiveKindly: "Nature... is arguably flawless"!!! MJ: "something seems less than flawless."
- #Biocentrism / #Ecocentrism / #environmentalist "Non-sentient stuff matters to the extent it impacts sentient beings"
- "I gave up plastic straws to save the fish!"
- AOC & Sunrise movement joking about eating dairy
- JW: "We want farmed animals dead so we can eat them & wild animals alive because they look pretty"
- Common concern for local wild animals by people who still consume sentient... "There is a strain... that gives me some hope"
45:04 A Better Future?
- Are most people theoretical Sentientists already? :)
- DxE Direct action: investigations, animal rescue, non-violent civil disobedience
- Pretending to be animal ag CEOs on @FoxNews & @NewsmaxTV
- Whistleblowers. Tapping into latent compassion... "You can help overturn this system... you're not a bad person... you were born into it"
- Instead of blame, giving permission to change
- @Harpers1850 : harpers.org/archive/2022/10/standing-trial-should-we-care-about-animal-liberation-ag-gag-laws-iowa-slaughterhouse
- Press/law/politics/indiv change levers
- DxE approach: systemic... "staying away from the 'v' word"
- #veganism 's normative power
- DxE criticisms
- JW: "If you were rescuing pets people would say DxE isn't doing enough!"
- "We tried the established channels."
- JW "Violence can be effective in social change... when it's used against you"
- The threat of being sent to prison for saving animals
- Human & non-human oppressions
- Asking Gavin Newsom about CAFOs "OK but we first need to worry about climate change, pollution, working conditions" !!
- "A thoughtful lefty person is gonna cut you off faster"
- Left (care / rights / justice) / right (purity / environment / freedom) perspectives on speciesism
- An "X" case for animals (libertarian, religious, progressive...)
- Narratives & messaging
- "We gotta make friends... that's the path to liberation"
... & much more! Full show notes at sentientism.info
#Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all #sentient beings.” More at sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall sentientism.info/wall/.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. E.g.: facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
