EssaysEvidence-BasedSlow

Notes on compassion
across species

Essays grounded in the moral psychology of speciesism, the empirical record on what changes dietary behavior, and the slow, unglamorous work of widening the circle. New writing roughly every two weeks.

· 7 min

Made to Perform

New York's legislature has passed a ban on wild animals in traveling acts — big cats, bears, and primates — and it now sits on Governor Hochul's desk. On the spectacle of the trained wild thing, and what the trick requires us not to see.

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· 7 min

The Two We Named

Forty cows ran from a California slaughterhouse and a whole city cheered. Two were spared and given names; thirty-eight were driven back and killed. On the identifiable victim effect, psychic numbing, and the minds we only see when they run.

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· 7 min

The Fish in the Window

A Buenos Aires court has declared two goldfish — Fede and Magui — sentient beings rather than objects, and moved them out of a sushi shop's display case. On the animal we find easiest to overlook, and what it costs us to keep looking away.

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· 7 min

Just a Bird

New York's City Council is weighing Intro 912, which would stop pet shops from selling parrots and finches — but not chickens. On the minds of birds, and the quiet logic of the exemption.

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· 6 min

It Was Never Just the Horses.

Eleven days after another horse died in Central Park, a young man was killed there — Romanch Mahajan, eighteen — when a frightened horse bolted on a carriage ride. The welfare case was settled. Now the safety case is too. Pass Ryder's Law.

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· 6 min

Another Horse Is Dead in Central Park. Enough.

Deniz collapsed on June 9th — the seventh horse incident in thirteen months. The mayor finally agrees the carriages have to go. So why, in 2026, is this still legal? Pass Ryder's Law.

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· 8 min

Once Bitten, Twice Kind

A Lone Star tick bite can turn a lifelong meat-eater into an accidental vegan overnight. On alpha-gal syndrome, the necessity myth, and the dignity of choosing.

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· 7 min

What Actually Moves People Toward Compassion

Information is not the bottleneck — defenses are. On sanctuaries, identity-safe entry points, and the slow unglamorous work that produces durable change.

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· 7 min

The Carriage Horse Fight, Reframed

Why a fight with decisive welfare evidence keeps losing at the polls — and what the cities that won did differently.

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· 6 min

The Moral Psychology of Speciesism

Why facts about animal cognition don't change minds — and what does. A reading of the meat paradox, moral disengagement, and identity-protective cognition.

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