“Live and let live”: a saying often used to shut down those fighting for collective liberation, so that people don’t have to listen to -let alone act upon- the facts we lay out about the suffering behind the animal industry.
The suffering of the animals, brought into existence only to “serve” humans.
The suffering of humans – be it Indigenous communities losing their lands to the production of feed for the animals, slaughterhouse workers exploited because they are vulnerable and have few to no alternatives, or communities facing hunger while crops are fed to the animals instead of to these communities.
The suffering of Mother Earth, as her resources are depleted for the animal industry: land use, water use, nitrogen pollution, methane emissions, deforestation. Just to name a few.
To respond to these facts by saying “live and let live” is, in fact, a way to preserve a supremacist worldview that protects the acquired “privileges” obtained by said supremacy.
To use the saying in this way is gaslighting. Gaslighting those fighting against injustice, only to uphold that very injustice: human supremacy over animals, white supremacy as a structural system that marginalizes entire communities, and wealth supremacy that places the comfort of the wealthy ones above the rights of exploited workers.
Using “live and let live” therefore becomes a way to uphold a colonial supremacist mindset. A mindset that maintains dominance over animals, exploited human communities, and the land itself, by protecting the “privileges” gained through that domination.