On the Road to Liberation: Francionist Instant Karma!

As some people are aware, Gary Francione in recent years has declared himself to be literally a Jain. He has read Jaina scriptures and agrees with them, and even talks about being reincarnated. Well, let's recall the excerpts from the Abolitionist Approach Forum in which I was attacked, called a "putz" without Francione expressing the least bit disapproval, and Francione said my work cannot possibly be interpreted as serious remarks. Recollect, too, his libel that I "tell outright lies," that I have committed "insane acts," that as a person I am "disturbed," and so forth. See this and much more utterly documented in my blog entry for December 25, 2011.

Gary should be reminded that according to Jainism, there is "knowledge-obstructing karma," or particles weighing down the soul as a result of:

Activities such as neglecting or ridiculing learning or knowledge, insulting, disrespecting, harassing or hating the learned;...obstructing others in scholarship activities, and speaking incorrect information can cause the soul to accrue knowledge-obstructing karma. (Parikh, 2007, p. 87)

Knowledge-obstructing karma tops the Jain list of types of what are called "destructive karma." (pp. 86-88). The Francionists neglecting my work by not even bothering to clarify how I supposedly misrepresent them, and saying it is a shame that no one corrects the record when they are free to do so, including Gary, is inconsistent with his Jain tradition. Neglect also applies to him failing to answer the many critiques that I have directed at his views, and to answer my rebuttal to his three critiques of my views. Francione said debate with me "will not be productive," even though at the very least it would produce corrections of my alleged "misrepresentations" that are reaching literally thousands of people according to objective webstats. I would be more than happy to achieve complete accuracy if the Francionists can be bothered.

Whether this offensive man actually hates me is less clear, and I lack sufficient evidence to accuse him of that, albeit his more recent actions are consistent with overbearing contempt. He used to praise my animal ethics work extremely highly, that is before I started openly critiquing anti-incrementalist animal law. E-mails and learned witnesses, also documented with e-mails from them, dating back to the 1990s and early 21st century, will attest to this fact if need be.

And what about him unapologetically misrepresenting Singer's views as I have documented with Singer's own confirmation of this fact? That--and of course Francione's libel against me--goes under "speaking incorrect information." Being "diligent in performing penances" (which includes apologies) is also required of Jains. (Parikh, 2007, p. 75)

Anyway, neglect, ridiculing my learning or knowledge, insulting, and disrespecting do straightforwardly apply. Obstructing and harassing in scholarship activities applies to the Francionist who tried unsuccessfully to get me blocked from being rehired as a contract-teacher at Brock University. That person knows who he is.

In sum, virtually all of the knowledge-obstructing activities listed by the Jains apply to the Francionists. With the possible exception of hatred...though I would not care to bet on that.

Gee, from this reflection on ancient South Asian scriptures, it seems the Francionist antics are nothing new in their degradation. Oh yes, and knowledge-obstructing karma particles tend to "impair or obscure the soul's capacity for cognition, comprehension, and knowing." (Parikh, 2007, p. 87) Note how two of Francione's three feeble critiques of my views involved fundamentally misunderstanding what I was saying, and the other showed a basic incomprehension of the laws of economics, including that factory farming costs "animal industrialists" less money by far. That, indeed, is their purpose rather than cruelty per se.

The first edition of Dr. Parikh's book cited here, by the way, won an award in 2003 from the Jain community for its authoritative contributions to Jain education. Unlike Gary, I am not a Jain, although I am deeply moved by the principle of non-violence that the Jains originated, as my writings attest.

The block quote produced above also applies to the scorn, etc. that the Francionists heap on AR Zone, whose mission it is to promote learned dialogue about animal activist and related issues. The Jain tradition also uniformly holds in low regard: "A self-righteous doctrine that refuses to acknowledge differing viewpoints or urges its followers to push and spread its message as the 'only truth'..." (Parikh, 2007, p. 90) Yes, there are wise folk who had the Francionists' number thousands of years ago, as Dr. Parikh's work on thoughts within the Jain heritage demonstrate.

Jain? I suppose that Gary is a Jain. But his actions do not always reflect that fact.

John Lennon said: "Instant karma's going to get you!"

WORK CITED

Parikh, Vastupal, Ph.D. 2007. Jainism and the New Spiritualiy. Toronto: Peace Publications.

FURTHER READING ON ANIMAL RIGHTS INCREMENTALISM

A Selection of Related Articles

Sztybel, David. "Animal Rights Law: Fundamentalism versus Pragmatism". Journal for Critical Animal Studies 5 (1) (2007): 1-37.

go there

Short version of "Animal Rights Law".

go there

Sztybel, David. "Incrementalist Animal Law: Welcome to the Real World".

go there