Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights Critical Animal Studies 2
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Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights Critical Animal Studies 2 General Editors: Helena Pedersen, Stockholm University (Sweden) Vasile Stănescu, Mercer University (U.S.) Editorial Board: Stephen R.L. Clark, University of Liverpool (U.K.) Amy J. Fitzgerald, University of Windsor (Canada) Anthony J. Nocella, II, Hamline University (U.S.) John Sorenson, Brock University (Canada) Richard Twine, University of London and Edge Hill University (U.K.) Richard J. White, Sheffield Hallam University (U.K.) Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights Carrie P. Freeman Amsterdam - New York, NY 2014 Critical Animal Studies 2. Carrie P. Freeman, Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights. 1. Kim Socha, Women, Destruction, and the Avant-Garde. A Paradigm for Animal Liberation. This book is printed on recycled paper. Cover photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents - Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 978-90-420-3892-9 E-Book ISBN: 978-94-012-1174-1 © Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam – New York, NY 2014 Printed in The Netherlands Table of Contents List of Images 9 Foreword 11 Author’s perspective and background 11 Acknowledgements 14 Dedication 15 Chapter 1: Introduction 17 Themes and Theses in This Book 19 The Unique Contributions of This Book 20 Social Significance of Vegetarianism & Animal Rights 22 The Structure and Content of This Book 26 Word Choice 29 PART I OVERVIEW OF ANIMAL RIGHTS, VEGETARIANISM, AND COMMUNICATION Chapter 2: Ethical Views on Animals as Fellows & as Food 33 Development of Animal Activism in the United States 34 Western Thought on Other Animals 36 Western Vegetarian Ethics 43 Human Eating Habits 62 Chapter 3: Activist Communication Strategy & Debates 67 Communication and the Social Construction of Reality 68 Strategies for Social Movement Organizations 75 Ideological Framing Debates in U.S. Social Movements 81 Ideological Framing Debates in the Animal Rights Movement 85 § Distinctions between Animal Rights and Animal Welfare 85 § Framing around Incremental Abolition Goals 88 § Farmed Animal Framing Debates in the Animal Rights Movement 89 § Framing of Vegetarianism 95 6 Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights PART II HOW U.S. ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS FRAME FOOD CAMPAIGN MESSAGES Chapter 4: Defining Problems & Culprits, Proposing Solutions 103 Animal Rights Organizations in My Study Sample 105 § People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) 105 § Farm Sanctuary 106 § Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM) 106 § Compassion Over Killing (COK) 107 § Vegan Outreach 108 Descriptive Findings From my Study of Activist Framing 108 § Framing Problems 109 § Framing Solutions 119 § Summary of Findings 121 My Evaluation of Activist Framing in Context of Animal Rights 122 § A Vegan Solution as a Fit with Problematizing Agri- business’s Existence Not its Cruelty 123 § Making a Commodification Problem Frame (of All Animal Farming) Fit a Vegan Solution 125 § The Problem Frame of Killing as a Fit for the Solu- tion Frame of Veganism 126 § Problematizing a Meat-Based-Diet’s Harm to Hu- mans, the Environment, and Wild Animals 126 § Problem Frames and Their Relation to the Value of Moral Integrity 127 Chapter 5: Appealing to Values – Constructing a Caring Vegan Identity 129 Appeals Made to Altruistic Values 130 Appeals Made to Idealistic Values 138 Appeals Made to Personal Wellbeing Values 144 My Evaluation of the Implications of Values-Based Appeals 152 Chapter 6: Appealing to Altruism or Self-Interest? 165 Animal-Centered Versus Anthropocentric Appeals 167 Anthropocentric Altruism 171 Environmental Messages, Both Altruistic and Self-Interested 172 Table of Contents 7 Mental Health & Morality: How Self-Interest Overlaps with Altruism 174 My Analysis: In Support of Promoting Animal-Centered Altruism 175 Chapter 7: How Movement Leaders Explain Their Strategic Choices 177 What They Had to Say 180 § Justifications for Choosing Animal-Centered vs Anthropocentric Appeals 180 § Animal-Centered Messages 183 My Assessment of Decision-Making Choices in Strategic Communication 197 PART III STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VEGAN ACTIVISM Chapter 8: Activists’ Latest Insights & Projections 203 Latest & Greatest Veg Campaigns 204 Core Causes of Animal Exploitation 206 Strategy 207 Values 213 Defining the Problem with or as Animal Agriculture 215 Meat Reduction Vs. Veganism or Meat Reduction to Veganism 217 Future Vision for Farmed Animal Protection 220 Chapter 9: My Recommendations for Ideological Authenticity in Framing Animal Rights 225 Recommended Problem Frames 228 § Injustice 228 § Cruelty & Suffering 232 § Environmental Destruction 235 § Where to Place Blame for Problems 236 Recommended Solution Frames 238 § Values-Based Solution: Respecting the Mutual Subject Status of Fellow Sentient Animals 240 § Consumer-Based Solution: Eating a Plant-Based Diet 243 8 Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights § Citizen-Based Solution: Working Collectively to Create a Just Humanimality 247 My Recommendations Considered In Theory 251 § Ideological Authenticity with Expediency in Mind 251 § Increasing the Resonance of Transformative Frames 253 § Changing Worldviews 256 § Demonstrating Flexibility to Avoid Extremism 257 § Inspiration to Act 262 A Caveat: Keeping Independence In Mind 263 Works Cited 265 Index 281 List of Images Used in the Book Pg. 111 Vegan Outreach’s “Even if You Like Meat…” anti-factory farming booklet for leafleting. Used with permission from Vegan Out- reach. Pg. 115 FARM’s “Stop Global Warming” poster for the Great Amer- ican Meatout. Used with permission from Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). Pg. 117 FARM’s “Save some lives, yours and theirs. Go Veg!” bill- board for World Farm Animals Day. Used with permission from FARM. Pg. 150 COK’s “Why not? You eat other animals, don’t you? Go vegetarian” T-shirt featuring a live dog on a dinner plate. Used with permission from Compassion Over Killing (COK). Pg. 232 PETA’s “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, or experiment on” button. Used with permission from People for the Ethical Treat- ment of Animals (PETA). Pg. 241 PETA’s “I am not a nugget” chick sticker. Used with per- mission from PETA. Pg. 241 FARM’s “I don’t eat my friends” button for LiveVegan.org. Used with permission from FARM. Pg. 242 FARM’s “Put yourself in their place” poster asking humans to make the connection to the suffering animals endure in factory farms and slaughterhouses. Used with permission from FARM. Pg. 243 Farm Sanctuary’s “Someone Not Something” campaign T- shirt image. Used with permission from Farm Sanctuary and Brown Street Marketing. Pg. 261 Farm Sanctuary’s Veg For Life recipe book cover page. Used with permission from Farm Sanctuary. Foreword Author’s Background & Perspective This book reflects my own American perspective as a long time ve- gan, animal activist, communication practitioner, and now communi- cations professor. I first became involved in animal rights and envi- ronmental issues in 1989 as a freshman at the University of Florida, thanks to a vegan girl who lived on my dorm floor. As my college meal plan wasn’t amenable, I vowed to go vegetarian upon gradua- tion. By 1996 I had gradually shifted to a vegan diet, as I was espe- cially encouraged to avoid eggs, dairy, and leather in preparation for a week long gig volunteering at PETA, where they expect interns to lead a vegan lifestyle. While working paid positions in public relations and professional development training, I founded and ran the grass- roots group The Vegetarian Society of Southwest Florida for four years in the late 1990’s. My interest in becoming a communication professor was spawned by a desire as an activist (hosting literature tables and documentaries) to uncover the methods and messages that could encourage other people to care about fellow animals as I did. So I went to the University of Georgia to earn my master’s in media stud- ies, where I co-founded the student animal rights group Speak Out for Species in 2003, writing my thesis on national news coverage of farmed animals. For my doctorate in communication, I headed to the University of Oregon in the eco-conscious Pacific Northwest, where I learned about forest protection and also helped to reinvigorate their Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group, serving as its co- director for a year while writing the dissertation that would become the foundation for this book. Today, in my sixth year as an Assistant Professor of Communica- tion at Georgia State University in Atlanta, I get to teach classes about media ethics, strategic communication for social change, and com- 12 Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights municating about animal and environmental issues. Now that my paid job involves some animal advocacy, I’m taking a break from running grassroots groups. But I enjoy co-hosting a weekly animal rights radio show (Second Opinion Radio) with Melody Paris and Sonia Swartz and a semi-monthly environmental show (In Tune to Nature) on At- lanta’s non-commercial indie station, WRFG (Radio Free Georgia), to give a much needed voice to activists who work on behalf of animals and nature. Because of the magnitude of animal exploitation in the food indus- try and the myriad social and environmental benefits to which vegan- ism contributes, I personally believe that promoting a plant-based diet should be a priority for the animal protection movement, as well as movements on behalf of human justice and the natural world. There- fore, I have made animal agribusiness and food a priority in my own activism as well as in my academic research. So this book represents the culmination of several decades of my own experience, reflection, and study on the subject of vegetarian advocacy. Before reading the detailed review of scholarly literature and my analysis of vegan activism, readers may appreciate having a preview of the theories and worldviews that inform this study.