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App not listed? Try this RSS linkIn this candid episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin and Mariann explore the striking parallels between fascism and animal exploitation while navigating our current political climate. The hosts share their struggles with maintaining focus during times of political upheaval, discussing how the same mechanisms that enable factory farming—othering, dehumanization, and secrecy—mirror tactics used by authoritarian regimes. Despite the heaviness of these topics, they find glimmers of hope in scientific discoveries about animal cognition and the natural empathy children have for animals before socialization teaches them otherwise.
This episode explores:
- How the mechanisms of fascism parallel the systems that enable animal exploitation
- Maintaining animal activism during times of political uncertainty and fear
- Recent research showing a cow named Veronica using tools, challenging the cognitive underestimation of farmed animals
- Evidence that children naturally value animals more equally with humans before cultural conditioning
- The UK government’s new animal welfare strategy targeting puppy mills, caged farming, and trail hunting
RESOURCES
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INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Jasmin Singer: Welcome to the Hen Report. This is Jasmin Singer.
Mariann Sullivan: This is Mariann Sullivan.
Jasmin Singer: Do you, do you ever leave messages for people when you call them and, and like the voicemail picks up and you're like, hi, it's Mariann, or like, hi, it's me. Do you do that? Because when I do that, I feel like I'm dating myself so much.
Mariann Sullivan: I don't call people and leave messages, like, I text people and say, do you wanna talk?
Jasmin Singer: I see.
Mariann Sullivan: Then they know I'm gonna call. Like, what? What are you in the 1990s?
Jasmin Singer: Kind of. In a lot of ways, including my outfits in very...
Mariann Sullivan: You do more business calls, but
Jasmin Singer: But it's not even just that.
No. Like, I'll call and be like, Hey, it's Jasmin. Just, and it's like, I, it it, it makes me feel so old. I started rewatching Veronica Mars.
Mariann Sullivan: I don't even understand this
Jasmin Singer: Because people would get, they'd see that it was Jasmin on their phone, you know, like they'd know it was me.
Mariann Sullivan: No, I think it's totally normal to say who it is, you
Jasmin Singer: I'm rewatching Veronica Mars
Mariann Sullivan: Then, I'm old, so I don't know.
Jasmin Singer: And Veronica Mars was made in like the aughts and it's so dated, like in this hilarious way.
And honestly, I long for those days
Mariann Sullivan: And the aughts are, are differently dated than the 90s and the, the late aughts are probably differently dated
Jasmin Singer: Yeah. This is early to mid.
Mariann Sullivan: Things just change too fast.
Jasmin Singer: Well, and I wish they would.
Mariann Sullivan: That's my opinion
Jasmin Singer: Wish they would change.
Mariann Sullivan: here,
Jasmin Singer: Wish they would change faster. But before we get into that, just a quick reminder about the Our Hen House podcasts. Rising Anxieties comes out on Tuesdays, The Hen Report on Thursdays. The long form interview on Fridays bonus for Flock members comes out on Mondays. We're a podcast, we're on YouTube.
Hit like, hit subscribe. Tell your friends about us. Tell your enemies about us. Tell the nineties about us.
Mariann Sullivan: Leave us on even when you're not actually listening.
Jasmin Singer: Well, I don't know. That's a little weird. But, uh, all right. So speaking of wishing for other time periods, whether that's in the past or the future, in, in the past few days, I heard you say something that I then echoed and then I was listening to Moore on a work meeting and I heard one of her colleagues say the same thing, and I feel like we should just sort of throw this out there, which is that it's really hard to go about anything, including animal activism right now, or just like going to get a drink of water, literally anything without thinking about the fact that, like, our country, our world is in a state of... it feels like a state of disrepair, disrepair.
And it's, it's, it's really hard to find your bearings. You know, I could go on and on about how I'm grateful for animal activism for giving me bearings, and that is true, but the, the other truth is also coexisting with that, which is, I don't know how to do this or anything else right now.
Mariann Sullivan: Yeah, I, I am obviously in the exact same place. I was thinking today, like how during the Biden administration, I didn't know who any of the cabinet members were, and now I feel like, I feel like I could list them all, um, and tell you all of their like insanity. Like I, I know way too much about what's going on politically, and it's all bad, but you kind of have to, I don't know.
You can't just let this moment like drift by and then wake up one day and say, oh yeah, democracy's gone.
Jasmin Singer: I saw this...
Mariann Sullivan: It's better to watch it it as it disappears.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah, I saw this post that Pete Buttigieg said, Buttigieg.
Mariann Sullivan: Speaking of cabinet members in the Biden administration.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah, and it said, he said, A day will come when Donald Trump no longer dominates our politics. Even though this is obvious, it's hard to keep in mind. The future will belong to those who can think clearly about what happens next.
You know, there's a direct parallel between that and being an animal activist for so many years, which is like...
Mariann Sullivan: a lot of parallels. There's a lot.
Jasmin Singer: We, we wanna keep in mind that there is a future that exists without this horrible reality.
Mariann Sullivan: Well, the horrible... the future, who knows whether it will be more or less horrible, like, like it's all up in the air right now. I mean, that's part of it is just the complete anxiety about what the hell is going to happen with this lunacy that we're living through that is completely unpredictable. Uh, and, and it's just, I mean, the thing I'm struggling with that I really wanted to, to think about in, in, in talking today on the podcast is, I mean, I, I really resist, and I think I've tried to do this... I really resist the idea that we put animals aside while we're dealing with, you know, these big problems. That is not how I think of the world. I mean, animals remain the focus, but I think that, you know, the world always wants to put them aside and people think you're even crazier if you continue to care about animals and what's happening to them in the midst of this.
And it's a lot of work to, to figure out how to keep centering them. But one of the things that I was thinking about talking about is how, you know, everybody's talking about fascism and how we are, I wouldn't say flirting with fascism. I would say taking first steps towards fascism. Uh. Not, not irretrievable steps by any means, uh, but, but we're working on it. And, uh, how it's not the same thing as animal activism, but I really think it comes from the same place. And I was looking, I just looked at kind of a list of elements of fascism, which we all know, but, you know, I was just looking at the list , and just some of them just seemed so similar. I mean, for one thing, concentration camps and factory farms have really a lot in common. You know, like round everybody up and hide them. Just hide it. Like people, like legislators can't get in to look at the ICE facilities, even though that's the law. And, and nobody can get in, nobody knows what's happening in there.
We know that people are dying. Uh, we know that the conditions are bad, but it's all just, let's keep it totally secret. And, you know, it's a little different because some people actually wanna know, and virtually nobody wants to know what's going on in factory farms. But it really, it, once you start thinking about it, the parallels are, uh, are uh, just, just so much the same. And the whole, just us and them mentality. Like, like that they're, that animals are completely the other, and that that's what they try to do with immigrants at the moment. They, they're just completely the other. Like, they talk about like, oh, and now they're attacking citizens, which, you know, is important for people to know, but like, that's really not a good way to be thinking about it.
They're attacking humans, uh, and, and regardless of the whole like elements of immigration law, what they're doing, you know, is just dividing people into, into cate... that's what fascists always do, divide people into categories. But it has always been dividing animals and humans into categories, even though we're really not that separate.
Like, but it's an absolute, absolute line. You're either human or you're not, and and being on the other side of that line means you're worthless.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah.
Mariann Sullivan: I saw the thing about extreme nationalism and I was thinking that doesn't really match, you know, animal agriculture isn't, isn't particularly, I mean, especially nationalistic. I guess it tends to be a little bit flag waving, but, but I was thinking, no, that's not the parallel, the parallel is this extreme speciesism. That we're completely different.
We're different in the eyes of God, we're different in every possible way.
Jasmin Singer: Mm-hmm.
Mariann Sullivan: Um. Uh, I don't know. There were other things too. It kind of reminds me of the work of Jim Mason, you know,
Jasmin Singer: Yeah.
Mariann Sullivan: who's been on the podcast, wrote An Unnatural Order in his new book, Madness. And, and I don't know whether he is written about this specifically, but it reminded me of his work.
Just, just, this is where it all came from. It's not just that it's the same, this is where these attitudes came from that allow us to do this to other people is this development of, uh, of these attitudes towards animals. Am I being crazy?
Jasmin Singer: No, and I appreciate that you're looking at all of this through animal activism colored glasses, because to me that's one of the only ways to deal with this is to like latch onto the things that we've been using to get through and
Mariann Sullivan: And it gi... it's the framework in which we see the world. And so it's really important to think, well, that's it. It's not a situation of, the animal issue is over there and the fascism issue is over here. It's it's really helpful, I think, to see the parallel... oh, another, another element. Can I go go through one more element?
Jasmin Singer: Yes. Only, only if you stop covering your mouth with your hand 'cause you keep doing that. And I feel like,
Mariann Sullivan: doing
Jasmin Singer: I think probably because you were raised... that's what I was gonna say. You probably raised a like as a little girl in a time when you weren't supposed to
Mariann Sullivan: time.
Jasmin Singer: do it.
Mariann Sullivan: I feel, I think maybe I feel vulnerable talking about
Jasmin Singer: You do it. You do do it.
Mariann Sullivan: it all the time.
Jasmin Singer: Not all the time. No,
Mariann Sullivan: God.
Jasmin Singer: You don't do it all the time.
Mariann Sullivan: You know that I'm on YouTube?
Jasmin Singer: I'm aware. I'm aware.
Mariann Sullivan: I didn't know I was doing this.
Jasmin Singer: You're aware. I mean, I'm aware. Go ahead.
Mariann Sullivan: Another element, really important element of fascism is the charismatic leader.
And I was thinking also, well, that doesn't really apply.
Jasmin Singer: No, it doesn't.
Mariann Sullivan: But, but I did think of a parallel,
Jasmin Singer: Tell me.
Mariann Sullivan: And it's the, this myth of the family farmer, like this idea of the family farmer that they all hold up about their stupid factory farms. Like, like that's who, it's this, you know, the salt of the earth, the best people on earth.
They, they talk about this, this theme all the time about how wonderful they are and you know how they have families and, and, and they have great mother... like all of the, so like we all have families, we all have like, well, we don't have great mothers, but most of us do. And, and I, I think it that's a real parallel like that the farmer is the salt of the earth is the, the people who we should be, uh, following. And it's just a myth. I mean, they're just people.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah. You know, I, uh, I, I had coffee with my, well, I won't say who, but someone I know. And, um, she was telling me that every year to commemorate the date of her father dying she gets a bunch of donuts and like gives them away to, um, people on the streets, basically people experiencing houselessness and uh, you know, just so that we're, just so that we're clear, she does things more than just that day of the year. But this is like part of her ritual.
And she approached, you know, some, some men, uh, experiencing houselessness and she opened the window and was like, here's some donuts. And they said to her, are you Jewish? And she said, yes. And they started like going on and on about like all this anti-Semitic stuff. And she said, she was telling me... I know! She was telling me, um.
Mariann Sullivan: They were being anti...?
Jasmin Singer: Yes. Mm-hmm. And, and...
Mariann Sullivan: What!?!
Jasmin Singer: I know, and, uh..
Mariann Sullivan: Why did they say, are you Jewish? Is there
Jasmin Singer: She looked, she looked Jewish. I mean, I will, I'll say that as a Jewish person, she appears to be someone who's
Mariann Sullivan: Are I associate donuts with...
Jasmin Singer: But that's not why. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So, so she starts saying like, look, we're all people, we've all had different experiences, and
Mariann Sullivan: My God.
Jasmin Singer: know, and so.
Mariann Sullivan: she should have run away.
Jasmin Singer: She was in her car. I mean, her window was down, she was in her car. But anyway, so they did wind up taking the donuts and she was telling me this story and she was just telling it to me from the perspective of like, there is no getting past these mindsets, sometimes.
Like it's just people wanna just say what they're used to saying over and over again. Which of course makes me wonder if that's what I'm doing too. Like am I just saying the same thing over and over again?
Mariann Sullivan: No, you're not.
Jasmin Singer: No, I, I guess I'm trying to show up with humility here because I'm also just a person.
Mariann Sullivan: No, I, you... maybe you're showing up with humility, but I don't think you're right. I, I, I don't think you are. Like, I mean, obviously we all get set in our ways a little bit, but, uh,
Jasmin Singer: Yeah. Well,
Mariann Sullivan: not like that
Jasmin Singer: Sure.
But in any case, I guess she was also making the case that it's, it's just become kind of scary and impossible to navigate and, and it's like everywhere, even when you're giving away donuts.
Mariann Sullivan: It's everywhere. I, it's
Jasmin Singer: So then how are you coping? Like what, what are you, what are you watching?
Mariann Sullivan: One of the things I've been trying to bring up on the podcast regularly, I don't know whether anybody's noticed, but is that, you know, these moments of, of change, of, of like dramatic change, good or ill, are moments where people think more about the world and life, and you never know what they might come up with.
And I was pleased to see that Heather Cox Richardson was saying something. It did not have anything to do with animals, I can assure you, because I watch her all the time. Uh, and, and, uh, no animal consciousness whatsoever. It breaks my heart. Um, and her, her husband is a lobster fisherman, so definitely no lobster consciousness, but no other, no sign of any.
But anyway, she said this thing, which I thought was very interesting. I would make the argument that in the periods of real political fear and instability, the flower that grows is new voices, new ways of looking at the world, new art, new literature, new people.
I, um, I mean that's kind of along the lines I was thinking of, though she said it better than I did. But, but new ideas, like people are more open because they're looking at the world. Um, and they might be looking at the world with fear, but they're, at least they're looking. So I try to hang onto that.
Jasmin Singer: I mean, if you.
Mariann Sullivan: And also just try to work it in like, and not, not get into that idea like, oh, well we have to stop thinking about animals for a while because this other thing is more important.
Jasmin Singer: So what do you see as the kind of common denominator between that and what Pete Buttigieg said about keeping a vision of the future and how the future will belong to those who can think clearly about what happens next? Like, what do you... do you see any, any chain links there?
Mariann Sullivan: Yeah, I mean, don't you?
Jasmin Singer: I do, I, I think that it, it's about like under... I mean, again, with the showing up with humility to some extent, keeping an eye on the fact that like newness happens all the time. And approaching the world and our days from a, a sense of like a flower just bloomed or, you know, a new idea just happened, it, it, it is inherently somewhat hopeful even though I think hope can coexist with this feeling of
Mariann Sullivan: Terror?
Jasmin Singer: Yeah, I do.
I think they can coexist.
Mariann Sullivan: I do too. I mean, in some ways it's a more hopeful time for animals than, than, you know, two years ago. In some ways, I think, because things are happening. I was just thinking, I've been listening to this radio station on, you know, on the computer. I don't know why or how I found it. I forget what it's called, but it's a Japanese radio station. It plays all of this old jazz.
It's, it's a great station. I think it's Ronan Beach. No, it's something beach. Anyway. Maybe, maybe my putting my hand in front of my face, which I'm sorry for those of you who are listening and can't hear, but at the moment, I'm putting my hand in front of my face. I'm, I'm thinking, I'm, I'm turning Japanese. Because Japanese women actually do, do that. It's considered polite. I don't know whether it's... I mean, traditionally...
Jasmin Singer: hmm.
Mariann Sullivan: When they talk, they put their hand in front of their face, which must make it hard to understand them. But, uh, that is a, that is a custom in Japan. I don't know whether it still is.
Jasmin Singer: Hmm.
Mariann Sullivan: What do you think?
Jasmin Singer: Uh, I don't think,
Mariann Sullivan: I don't, I, I,
Jasmin Singer: think that's it. I think it's just, I think you're feeling vulnerable. And I think that, I think it's... honestly, it's like my, my friend who I mentioned just with the donut story, she was, she, she was really stepping out of her comfort zone to say, yes, I am Jewish. And I think, you know, to some extent you're stepping outta your comfort zone.
Right? But to some extent, to some extent.
Mariann Sullivan: Good for her.
Jasmin Singer: I mean, like even the little tiny things that we've been doing lately, I, I feel is is it, it invokes a sense of vulnerability because
Mariann Sullivan: I have a little sign in my lawn.
Jasmin Singer: I know.
Mariann Sullivan: It says, stop Trump, save democracy. I've had it for, you know, a few months. I, I, I'm actually scared.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah.
Mariann Sullivan: I'm not gonna take it down. I'm not, I'm not like actually scared. I live in a very lefty neighborhood and, and, uh, but, but when I see it sometimes on bad days, I'm like, maybe I shouldn't have that.
Jasmin Singer: Well, and, and it, this ties directly to animal activism.
Mariann Sullivan: That's just horrible.
Jasmin Singer: I mean, this ties directly to animal activism in a lot of ways because it's like, you know. In what ways are we speaking up for them when it's, when it's outside our comfort zone? You know, like there have been times, there have been times when I have been speak... I've been in a situation many times in my life where I've been in a situation talking one-on-one with someone who I'm pretty sure is very different than me in terms of their political beliefs and, you know, religion and, and et cetera. And I would not say something like my wife, I would say my partner. Like I would say something more ambiguous 'cause I don't wanna come out in that moment. And it, it's, it's kind of the same thing. It's like, it can be a revolutionary act to say my wife, it, you know, as a lesbian in, in certain situations.
I mean,
Mariann Sullivan: I mean, I mean, and certainly in times past it was quite revolutionary.
Jasmin Singer: And in some, in some ways now, depending upon the situation, lot less often. But, uh, but it's, it's similar. And of course, as animal activists, we're not, I mean, even though we are directly benefiting from our veganism, we're not animal activists because of our, our direct benefits, you know, whether we have lower cholesterol or whatever we're, we care about justice and therefore we're vegan.
Mariann Sullivan: Yeah,
Jasmin Singer: And so we're always.
Mariann Sullivan: The thing that makes it easy though is that they don't know that. They think we're doing it for our cholesterol. That's, that's where they go.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah. Oh, I did have a little, a little tiny breakthrough. And then let's get to the, the good news. But I did have a little breakthrough. I told you recently that I had a procedure and the, the doctor who did the procedure was concerned about me getting enough protein as a, a vegan. And, you know, I've been exceeding a hundred grams of protein a day, uh, easily.
And I was talking to her and I, and she was, you know, very impressed by the way I'm healing. And I said, you know, I, I should give you a sheet of like, you know, vegan protein sources that you could give to your vegan, uh, and vegetarian patients because she had mentioned...
Mariann Sullivan: And to the rest of them too.
Jasmin Singer: Right. And to everyone else. And she said, bring it.
She was like, I'd love it. And I just feel like that was a, that was a 180.
Mariann Sullivan: Great. That was really good
Jasmin Singer: Yeah,
Mariann Sullivan: It makes me insane, but...
Jasmin Singer: A hundred percent. Yeah. Alright. But let's, let's move on because
Mariann Sullivan: really good news story today.
Jasmin Singer: Let's do it.
Mariann Sullivan: get to it. Probably everybody's heard of it because and the, the really best part of it, I think you brought it to my attention is, um, you said it's gotten loads and loads of attention and it's about this cow whose name is Veronica, I think.
Jasmin Singer: Mm-hmm.
Mariann Sullivan: And, um, and, and it's this whole article about how Veronica uses a deck brush to scratch her back. Actually, when she's scratching lower parts of, of her body, she uses the other end. Um, the stick part, which is probably not as harsh. uh, this is, this is, you know, like very adaptive deployment of tools. Um, which, you know, they used to think that only humans use tools and then they found out that loads of animals use tools.
But as this article points out nicely, um, in science as in culture, livestock species are often cognitively underestimated, reinforced by their utilitarian role and persistent mind denial biases associated with meat consumption. And so they just don't do research on cattle cognition. It's very rare. And tool use, uh, is actually something that offers a stringent test of cognitive flexibility.
And as I said, this, this article, uh, that I'm looking at is in, um, uh, Science Direct and it's the report on the study. But this has gotten press all over the place and she's so sweet and nicely, and I think this is not irrelevant, she's a pet cow. She's not in production. So like not only do they not do research on the cognitive abilities of animals, but if they did, they would probably be doing it on animals who were living unbelievably deprived lives and were traumatized, and of course their cognitive abilities would be affected.
So Veronica has had, you know, the time and space to develop her, uh, her thought processes.
Jasmin Singer: I love this. I, I have been seeing this posted everywhere, but unfortunately I would say it's a hundred percent by vegans. Like the New York Times did cover this.
Mariann Sullivan: it got, I think it got
Jasmin Singer: Yeah, I mean it's my algorithm. It's whatever my socials, but like it did, it made the New York Times. That's where I saw it. In fact, I saw it before other people were posting it.
So it was the New York Times. I was joking to you like, you know, hashtag funny, not funny that people reading this would be like, oh wow, there's a cow in Austria who's who can like scratch her back. And that must be very specific to Austria, like not my...
Mariann Sullivan: Or just that cow.
Jasmin Singer: Or that cow.
Mariann Sullivan: a genetic freak that
Jasmin Singer: Yeah, exactly.
Mariann Sullivan: That's so true.
Jasmin Singer: Ugh, it's so weird, so weird.
Well, that I, I, I will take it. That is very good news. And, uh, all right. Do you have more good news?
Mariann Sullivan: Another article that people have probably already heard about, because I'm a little late to the party on this. This was published on the 2nd of January in Plant-based News, and this was also got a lot of attention because it's big news. The UK government overhauls animal welfare strategy to target puppy mills, caged farming, and trail hunting. And they, they, this is a big, big announcement that, uh, that, that they're really going to start paying attention, um, to the fact that they're supposed to be a nation of animal lovers and they're, they're still doing all these horrible things to animals. That's not how they put it. Um, and, and, uh, so I, I recommend reading the article to get the details if you want, but also just keeping an eye on this going forward.
I did like this quote from Will Breyer, the Joint Master of the Beaufort, which is a, a boxing day meat, as they call them. Um, uh said, We're under assault, we're under siege. Like all fights. It's going to get messy.
Yeah, well bring it on. That's what I say.
Jasmin Singer: Oh my God, that makes me think of a mug that I saw today at the, I was at The Siren in the Sea, which is a bookstore cafe in which all of the baked items sold are vegan, and they have a little store, and there was a mug there. I've seen it before, but I love it. It says I, I wish, I wish I had the confidence of a mediocre white man, or something like that.
Mariann Sullivan: I've seen that one before. Yeah.
Jasmin Singer: It makes me think of that. Uh, what else have you got today?
Mariann Sullivan: Um, there's a really interesting article. This is an academic article, um, from Oxford and Child Development Perspectives, is the name of the journal. The Development of Humans' moral View of Other Animals. And this is by a whole bunch of people, Luke McGuire being the lead author, but Jared Piazza is also one of the authors and he has been on the podcast.
And this is something that we all suspect, maybe some of us know, especially if you're around children a lot, which I'm not, is that, um, human, um, moral views about what's going on with animals change over life, and that children have, uh, have very different attitudes and they're much more open to the idea, um, that animals matter. However, emerging, this is a quote, Emerging evidence suggests that when human and non-human animal lives are jointly at stake, children show a weaker tendency to prioritize humans over animals than do adults. Furthermore, children's moral judgments appear to be more sensitive to the inherent properties of animals than to considerations about what animals instrumentally offer humans.
Just, just real, some really solid evidence that, that are contempt for animals is learned.
Jasmin Singer: Hmm.
Mariann Sullivan: Um, and it's not learned, uh, really, from our experience in the world. Our inherent, our inherent attitude is to look at, you know, animals and humans as, uh, important and we learn to, uh, to disdain them. Pretty, I think that, I thought that, I mean, if that's something you're interested in, uh, we'll link to the long article, but I thought that could be really helpful to people in some, in some conversations.
Jasmin Singer: I love that you have good news for us. So what else have you got?
Mariann Sullivan: Well, this isn't really good news, but it is useful news. I, one of the people I follow on Substack is, uh, Bjorn. And, um, he writes, that's the name he goes under on Substack. And he, he writes really interesting stuff and you know, we've cited his stuff before.
I think he used to be with Sentient Media and he wrote this great article, Animal Agriculture is a Moral Atrocity, here's why. I'm not gonna go into all the reasons, but I did think it was really interesting. He has this chart, it's to show that most people underestimate how many animals are factory farmed.
And the chart shows that it, it doesn't give the exact numbers, but like around 99% of the animals in the United States, uh, raise for food are factory farmed. And then around the world it's about 96%. And then the percentage of US Americans who say they buy meat from inhumane farms is somewhere around 20%. I mean, there is an unbelievable knowledge gap. And I think, you know, I always say that people know, but I think what people know and what we have achieved in the years and years I've been doing this is people know that factory farming exists, they do not acknowledge that it's everything.
Jasmin Singer: Mm-hmm.
Mariann Sullivan: That's something just to keep in mind for activism.
It's ev, it's, they don't know that.
They think for some reason like their supermarket wouldn't sell that stuff. It's, I know it's crazy, but you know, we are where we are. We, and we have a couple of announcements too.
Jasmin Singer: I, I love this first one so much. Veg Media Watch, which is a new watchdog group that is aiming to combat anti vegan bias in the mainstream media. And the website is vegmediawatch.org. And it just like very easily lists different ways you can take action on different mentions of, uh.
Mariann Sullivan: I mean, like letters to the editor.
Jasmin Singer: Letters to the editor.
It's like very old school in a way, but I don't, I, I think this has be, this has always been and remains extremely effective and is perfect for armchair activists who wanna do something but don't necessarily know what to do. So definitely check that out.
Mariann Sullivan: Concentrate, you know, so the, like, if something is up here and if this becomes widespread enough, then it, it makes a huge difference if they get 50 letters on something than if they get one.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah, but even getting one is more than getting none. So it's vegmediawatch.org, and we'll put it in the show notes.
And we have a shout out this week, which comes from Flock Member Sandy, who has turned this onto a vegan gem in the greater Seattle area. It's called Moe Vegan Restaurant, MOE Moe.
Born from a touching family tribute this soul food sanctuary creates vegan versions of comfort classics. So the next time you're in the Seattle area, treat yourself to their crave worthy menu. It's totally vegan, it's made with love, and you could go to moevegan.com to plan in your next favorite meal.
Mariann Sullivan: I want to, I wanna go to Seattle.
Jasmin Singer: Yeah, me too.
Mariann Sullivan: Right this minute. Hungry.
Jasmin Singer: Uh, well it might, you might need a snack on the way from Rochester, New York to Seattle, but, uh, okay. Alright. Uh, so thank you so much. Sure. Uh, don't forget, we're a podcast and we're on YouTube, so hit subscribe wherever you like. If you're a flock member, bonus will come out on Monday.
And thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you for those of you who are able to support us financially. And for those of you who aren't, who support us in all of the other ways, we appreciate you and we'll talk to you next time.
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Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today.
Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
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Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series.
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The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren.