David Sztybel on Gary Francione

David Sztybel writes possibly the best critique of Gary Francione’s work I’ve yet seen. It’s a thoughtful and well-crafted argument that doesn’t lend itself well to excerpting, so go and read the whole thing.

My take on Francione is that he came up with a persuasive, reasonable sounding, but utterly wrong position a couple decades ago—and has clung to it ever more rigidly despite a growing mass of evidence to the contrary. Unfortunately, Francione’s ideas remain incredibly persuasive to newcomers to the movement. And advocating for animals as a Francione-style abolitionist is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

It kills me that several years back, Bob and Jenna Torres gave Francione all sorts of fawning coverage on their then-popular podcast.  Thanks to them, a new crop of vegans bought into Francione’s line of bullshit, and much of the potential these vegans had as animal advocates went down the drain. (Thanks, Alistair.) Link.

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