My first interview in six years! James Aspey was one of the biggest names in animal rights activism around the time I got my start in activism. Since then, he's taken a pummeling from, sadly, the animal rights community. While I believe James has made some mistakes (mainly dwelling too much on the hate he has received), I have always found him to be someone who treated me with kindness and respect. In my first video, I talked a bit about recent controversy he's had, so you can go get my take on all that (it's towards the end of my intro video). In any case, he always responds with a helping hand when I have asked, and I'm so appreciative of his authenticity and generosity behind the scenes. What is unquestionable is that James has done a huge amount for the animals, and it's his north star, whether his detractors want to believe him or not. Maybe you can question his ideas, his goals, his methods. But at least don't question his sincerity. We touch on some important topics here. We talk about the activism he did with Wayne Hsiung in North Carolina. We talk about his year of silence, and being under the microscope from day one of his activism. We talk about the power of films like Dominion. We talk about Joey Carbstrong's film Pignorant and his discussion with Tristan Tate. James gives credit to Jack Higgs for encouraging him to use the word "person" in describing animals, an evolution in his approach to activism. While these are also big names in our movement who don't need any help from me, I still hope you will subscribe to all of them. We talk about James' new endeavor, rapping about animal rights under the handle Jimmy Cashpey, and wonder why all these vegan rappers (there are many) aren't putting animal rights to a beat. Well, I guess it's on you, Jimmy.
You Might Like
