I hate doing animal rights activism.

It’s not a “passion.”

People have commented that they admire my passion for animal rights activism. This is especially disheartening if they’re not going to stop eating animals. It feels that I am being made a spectacle of, instead of the animal liberation message being understood.

It’s not a passion. People have a passion for sports, or art, or music. This isn’t that. People enjoy doing those things. I don’t enjoy doing animal rights activism. It’s physically and emotionally stressful, and it makes me nervous. Every time I walk past a busy restaurant or see a horse-drawn carriage (I’m in Philadelphia where that shit still happens) I have an obligation to speak out against it. If I don’t, no one else will. Because I am one of the few people doing this, I have to project my voice to be worth that of hundreds.

I am not passionate about animal rights activism. Animals are in a constant state of tremendous suffering every waking second of existence, and human beings are actively causing and participating in it. This is an injustice. You can’t be “passionate” about correcting something that’s wrong. It’s an obligation. Anyone with a conscience would feel this way. If you saw someone slit the throat of an innocent animal before your eyes you would stop them. You wouldn’t want that done to you. We’re all just trying to make it.

Stop telling me that you admire my passion. I’m passionate about programming. I love playing video games. Trying to unfuck the world isn’t a passion, it’s something that every single one of us should be working towards. Eating animals is wrong. Instead of telling me you admire my passion, stop eating animals. Recognize that their lives have value, just like yours.

Telling me that you admire my passion is making this issue about me. This isn’t about me; it’s about the animals. Stop making this issue about me. Just stop eating animals. They don’t fucking want to die, and they don’t want you to pay someone to kill them either.