Erin is the Deputy Director of Investigations at Animal Outlook, a national animal-advocacy nonprofit organisation. Erin was an undercover investigator for two years. She left the field after her last investigation at the Dick Van Dam Dairy in California, where she saw cruelty, abuse & suffering every day. Through her new position with Animal Outlook, Erin works closely with investigators, providing support & resources.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:38 Erin's Intro

- Undercover farm & fishery investigations & Animal Outlook

02:46 What's Real?

- Growing up very religious... 

- Church every Sunday, Biblical moral standards

- The Golden Rule "Do unto others..."

- "There was a point in my life where I started to question... there always seemed to be some exclusions... some conditions"

- "'Others' encompassed everyone... human, animals, children, everyone regardless of sexuality, background, identification..."

- No longer Christian, now non-religious... "someone who just wants to make the world a better place for everyone in it"

- "As I got older I started questioning things more"

- Very religious mother "faith based" who still encouraged questions

- Religious belief: "That's great for them... as long as no one is being hurt"

- Questioning both the facts & ethics of Christianity

- "It really came to a head for me... [I] managed to fall into almost every marginalised community" LGBTQ+, race...

- "I fell into so many of those categories that potentially might be excluded from salvation"

- The supernatural, luck, agnosticism?

- "I never rule anything out" humility

18:25 What Matters?

- [Golden Rule] "the way I would like the world to function"

- "...my own trauma & hardship & suffering"

- Compassion for it's own sake or because god commands?

23:30 Who Matters?

- "I've always had this connection with animals"

- As a child "I did not see a lot of kindness", often conditional compassion

- With non-human animals: "There are no conditions to receive affection from them"... "Those were the purest connections I could make"

- Making friends with a scary-sounding neighbourhood dog "I just felt a wet nose & breathing"

- Saving a stray dog & drowning kittens

- Watching an animal farming documentary at ~13-14 yrs old "I immediately felt horrified"

- "I could feel that contradiction... why am I eating this?"

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

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Thanks Graham.