Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Are We Leaving the Individual Behind? The Role of Animal Storytelling in the Animal Rights Movement, published by Ronen Bar on August 19, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.

The identifiable victim effect is a psychological phenomenon that describes how people are more likely to offer help or feel empathy when presented with a specific, identifiable individual in need, rather than a larger, anonymous group. When victims are given names, faces, or personal stories, it becomes easier for them to relate.

Studies have shown that this is also the case for farmed animals, and that this effect can be limited to a single-identifiable victim (i.e., the singularity effect, the phenomenon where people are more motivated to help a single victim than a group of victims, even when the group is small). Identifying a victim can be seen as a solution to scope insensitivity; people undervalue the scale of a problem when presented with statistics.

That insight is the basis of storytelling - showing individuals turns numbers into faces, which forms the foundation of how the media tell stories and how the educational system approaches learning.

I personally became aware of this when I studied journalism about 15 years ago, when one of my teachers told me I can't do a story on farmed animals because I don't have anyone to interview. No individual, no story. As a journalist on Israeli TV and an animal rights advocate working with the media, I told stories about facilities, industries, and practices, not individuals.

My unchecked assumption is that the most effective way to present a story is with faces and numbers, having a strong connection between the two, and explaining the big statistics through the eyes of one individual.

On an anecdotal level, when individual stories of animals are told, they seem to have a significant effect. My Octopus Teacher is an interesting example; the most amazing thing about it is that nothing dramatic happens in this movie - nothing that you wouldn't expect, no twist. Just a guy coming back again and again to visit the same individual animal. The Dodo is based on telling stories about animals, usually those that were rescued, sometimes also farmed animals.

Organizations such as DXE have been able to tell stories of farmed animals, such as that of Lily and Lizzie, the pigs they rescued. However, when I look at our movement as a whole, this individual focused strategy seems quite uncommon. Animal Think Tank's messaging guide also includes the need to tell the stories of individuals (like Esther the Wonder Pig).

What is a Story?

A story involves change over time, highlighting the interactions between an individual and their environment. The more we can tell about this change, the better. If all we have is a picture, it is only a frozen moment; the viewer needs to fill the gap of what happened before and after. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is worth a thousand pictures because it shows the change of the individual and the environment through time.

Furthermore, the more you can reveal about the animal's personality and the finer details you can describe, the more profound the story becomes.

Imagine a boy in Ukraine who excelled in physics but struggled with math. A missile strike on his school took his life. You might wonder why I mentioned his strengths and weaknesses. Logically, it may not seem relevant, but emotionally, it is. It creates a connection, perhaps because you know someone like him - or maybe you see a bit of yourself in him.

Our movement lacks stories about individual animals. With the exception of sanctuaries, we are almost a story-less movement, lacking canonical stories that resonate in the collective memory, not of farmed animals and not of wild animals.

What is animal storytelling?

Animal storytelling is a narrative appro...