A quick note on my theory of change
I recently spoke over the phone and email with some prominent people in the cultivated-meat space who disapprove of what I’m doing here at Slaughter-Free America. I’m not going to name them, because, really, that’s not important, and I don’t want to create an uncomradely atmosphere.
So far as I understood these critics’ objections, they boiled down to three points: (1) by publicly protesting I am being needlessly antagonistic, (2) I am inviting conservative backlash, and (3) I am ignoring the fact that the Connecticut congressional delegation has been relatively open to alternative-protein legislation.
I could respond to these points, and I tried to when talking with these critics, but I don’t want to go into too much depth here. In short, I hardly think peacefully protesting once a week for an hour is needlessly antagonistic. Only thinking about the risk of conservative backlash is a recipe for inaction. And the Connecticut delegation could always do more.
But really, and I think my critics would agree here, it comes down to a difference in our theory of change. When I first learned about cultivated meat, back in 2011, I wrote the following in my hometown paper, The Lake Placid News: “Once the science progresses to the point at which in-vitro meat is cheaper than, and indistinguishable or superior in taste to, slaughtered meat, it’s hard to imagine how simple market forces will not make animal agriculture a thing of the past.”
More or less, I think this is my critics’ view. Since I wrote those words, I’ve come to think the truth is more complicated. Perhaps cultivated meat will establish the conditions under which animal liberation starts to become possible. But it won’t make activism unnecessary. Despite the various incentives to adopt cultivated-meat production, many will cling to old ways. Campaigners will be needed to marginalize reactionaries and push for laws banning nonhuman exploitation.
Anyway, I wanted to briefly try to explain where I’m coming from. I genuinely wish these critics nothing but the best. Despite my disagreements with them, I think they’re doing God’s work.