FAVQ (Frequently Asked Veganism Question):

“Since morality is an implicitly private matter, why do you feel it is right to convince others to stop eating factory-farmed* meat?”

Answer:

This is a comment that I get fairly often from some of the most intelligent debaters that question my views on animal rights. Sometimes, the first part of the question is asserted in less eloquent forms, such as “why do you feel it is right to force others to YOUR way of thinking,” “what makes your opinions more moral than MINE,” and naturally “I love meat, and you’ll never take that way from me, you meanie!” Well, allow me to justify my actions in campaigning.

I would like to recognize morality as an “ informal public system applying to all rational persons, governing behavior that affects others, and has the lessening of evil or harm as its goal” (Gert, 1998). This has significant bearing on the ethics of campaigning (whether is be for animal rights, or otherwise). So we see that morality is not a private matter. Morality is a set of public rules that apply to all members of that system.

To solidify morals as being public, here is an example [taken from Ethics and Technology] of what could happen in a world where morals were privately contained. “Suppose you happen to believe that stealing is morally wrong, but I believe that stealing is okay (i.e., morally permissible). One day, I decide to steal your laptop computer. Do you have a right to complain? You would not, if morality is simply a private matter that reflects an individual’s personal choices. Your personal preference may be not to steal, whereas my person preference is for stealing. If morality is grounded simply in terms of the preferences that individuals happen to have, then it would follow that stealing is morally permissible for me but is not for you. But why stop with stealing? What if I happen to believe that killing human beings is okay?” And so on…

Similarly, moral beliefs should not be confused with personal choices/preferences. Moral issues have effect on some being(s) or system(s), whether your involvement is direct (such as robbing a bank) or indirect (such as driving the getaway car). Moral preferences effect only you. An example of a preference would be preferring Coca-Cola rather than Pepsi. I wouldn’t try to convince someone to switch to one or the other based on my tastes, because someone else’s preferences doesn’t morally effect anyone else. However, if I found out that Pepsi blatantly pollutes the environment beyond regulations (which they don’t, to my knowledge), then I would have a case for building a moral argument.

Finally, I will bring this back to animal rights. Choosing to not support factory farming* is my moral belief. Being that morality is a public system, campaigning against the cruel practices of factory farming is justified. This would not be the case IF my campaigning was based on personal preferences (such as, nutritional benefits of veganism, or a distaste for meat).

* The link about factory farming directs you to Wikipedia.org, a non-baised, non-graphic source of information on the subject. Please read it for more information.