The days of Twitter racism may be numbered

Twitter’s updated hate speech policy is good, but including a prohibition on hate speech in the anti-hate speech rules would make it great – which is why we write to Jack Dorsey urging Twitter’s CEO to expand his company’s ethical stance to include hate speech. , a derogatory arrogant language that harms and humiliates not only people, but everything animals.

Twitter has proven that words matter when expanded its rules of hateful behavior include a ban on incitement to hatred based on race, ethnicity or national origin. But by imposing a ban on the spessish language, the platform could help convey the idea that “us” and “them” do not exist – we are all living beings.

Referring to animals as “it” rather than “he” or “she,” and the use of expressions other than the suffering of an animal, such as “hitting a dead horse,” have their roots in arrogance– the misconception that all other animals are worse, so they can be harmed. Such arrogant language desensitizes the public and opens the way for smug acceptance of cruelty towards animals. To change this, we must adjust the way we think and write, given that most of us have been trained since childhood to view some species as worthy of care and compassion and others as unworthy – all based on arbitrary human preferences.

As our recognition and understanding social justice develops, our language must develop with it.

Many of us are taught that puppies and kittens are “friends”, cows and chickens are “food,” and mice and insects are “pests”. Most children are also taught that human desires, needs, and interests always trump those of any other kind. We can and must overcome this wrong and harmful thinking.

All animals deserve equal attention, regardless of how people treat them. We are all sentient beings with thoughts, feelings and desires, and we should all be free from pain and suffering and should be treated as if we existed simply to serve others. We can start realizing this idea right now by changing the way we talk about and relate to other animals. Instead of calling someone “chicken,” we can say “coward.” Instead of pig, we can say glutton or repulsive. And instead of “rat” we can say “snitch”. Twitter – with hundreds of millions of users – is poised to play an important role in eradicating arrogance, and PETA is ready to help.

From chickens to humans, we are all animals

We all have a role to play in ending arrogance. Discrimination, whether based on species or anything else, no place on Twitter – no place in the world – and you can help overcome this.

The first step is to recognize that every animal has the right to live without human exploitation. Click below for the next steps:

Join PETA to End Species

And join us in calling on dictionaries to prohibit derogatory, arrogant definitions like the words of Merriam-Webster. pig (“Dirty, voracious or vile person”):

We encourage dictionaries to do better