The Hen Report: “There Are A Lot of Parallels” | Fascism, Animal Rights, and Finding Hope in Uncertain Times

In 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

• • • • Flexible use of a multi-purpose tool by a cow
      • UK Government Overhauls Animal Welfare Strategy To Target Puppy Mills, Caged Farming, And Trail Hunting
      • The development of humans’ moral views of other animals
      • VegMediaWatch
      • Moe Vegan Cafe
  •  We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.

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