Friday, August 07, 2009

Divisiveness à la Post Punk Kitchen

A fellow vegan abolitionist who (along with his lovely partner) runs a small animal rescue operation in Chicago mentioned today that Isa Chandra Moskovitch, well-selling Post Punk Kitchen vegan cookbook author, has been publicly expressing her dismissal of abolitionist animal rights theory (in general), as well as of Bob and Jenna Torres' work (more specifically) and of the Vegan Freak Forum community (where she brags of trolling with multiple fake accounts). She seems to have a fair amount of disdain for anyone who supports an abolitionist approach to animal rights (or as she prefers to call us, "people in that cult"). She seems to think that we're both divisive and "adorable". What's funny is that it wasn't that long ago that she was all for cashing in on Bob and Jenna's endorsement to sell her own wares.

Oh, say it ain't so, Isa! We're all in it for the nonhumans, aren't we?
I mean, it's not a popularity contest or anything, right?

It would be interesting to try to tease out the reasons for her animosity. I have better things to do right now, though, like fold my laundry and listen to the leaves rustling outside my window. And update my vegan cooking site links.

8 comments:

Vic Robinson said...

Weird. Makes you wonder who is divisive. Separation of what is already a small community seems counter productive for everything, even selling books.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's so much that Ms. Moskowitz is a divisive hypocrite. I think it's more that she's just not down with assholes.

Oh, and while we're at it with the hypocrites, why don't we talk about who wrote their thesis on cheeses caves, eh?

wchanley said...

Disagreement with abolitionist theory is one thing; intentionally trolling the VF forums *and bragging about it* -- and using said forum owners' endorsements to sell your cookbook -- is quite another. Moskowitz is *entirely* hypocritical.

Unknown said...

I think it's more that she's just not down with assholes.
Then how come she has more accounts at the assholes' forums than everyone else?
Just wondering …

Sarah said...

Wow. That really surprises me. I guess I am naive, and I didn't realise that PPK was full of people who hated abolitionists. I love Isa's books, but I've never found her to be particularly vocal about 'the issues'. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever heard her talk about anything but food. So I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I just think it's amusing that they are all talking about divisiveness in a way that makes me want to put as much distance between me and them as possible.

M said...

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I was pretty disgusted when I first read how vitriolic her comments were towards Bob and Jenna Torres and the abolitionist vegans who frequent the Vegan Freaks Forums, as well as how openly derisive she is of abolitionist animal rights in general. I mean, she is a vegan cookbook author, right? So I guess that I'd mistakenly figured that she'd keep an open mind concerning the serious reasons some of the people who buy her books choose not to consume animals. I'm not sure of how well-read she is (if at all) when it comes to theory. Regardless, I just think that it's a real shame that she promotes hatred towards vegans who are serious about ending animal exploitation.

Jenne said...

I had no idea.

Bob and Jenna's work has had a huge effect on my understanding of animal rights. I also think they are very caring people who would be a lot of fun to hang out with. It hurts to see them attacked and dismissed on a personal level.

Maybe one of the reasons I like VFF so much is because of the emphasis on *really thinking* about what you're doing and why.

Tim said...

I read all the links I could find and all her forum references to vegan freak and abolition and its clear to me she is mostly in it (veganism) for the hipness at this point - her point about loving PETA and abolitionists fighting shows she has no concern about the sexism and other tactics PETA employ and that she has no grasp of the basic idea that welfarism has existed much longer than abolition with marked increase in the amount of animal suffering in the last century showing its ineffectiveness .

She is utterly disrespectful and to top it off she seems not to care about which strategies are most helpful to non-human animals ..
in my book she is practicing veganism by omission of products but lacks a vegan ethic.
the follow up from another ppk member to her post about VFF /abolition was that abolitionists/VF's are probably the kind of people who would object to red food colouring in their cupcakes and i think that sums it up really ..
yes VEGANS care about animal based red food colouring , as we do honey, gelatine, wool etc .. its called consistency so screw her trendy books (which i sadly OWN)

as fo "toovegantofunction"s comment, Isa is the one having a go at people left right and centre who are thinking about how best to aid animals, how does that make everyone else the A-holes ?

so yes , lets take Isa's advice and laugh at abolition while saving the animals by knitting octopi

if you see animal use as a serious breach of rights then treat it as such as with the movements against human slavery, oppression of women,lack of care for the disabled

not cool Isa , so not cool !