Chris Sosa

Chris Sosa (born September 8, 1989, Arlington, Virginia, United States) is an American journalist, author, political commentator and animal rights activist.
Personal life and career
Sosa was home schooled until college by Evangelical Christian parents. Sosa’s short horror fiction work “Hell Grasp” was selected for inclusion in a student literature journal headed by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Claudia Emerson. He began college at fifteen and later graduated with a B.A. in Communication Studies from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
He has been featured in outlets including Yahoo!, Salon, EdgeontheNet and Affect Magazine. Sosa is a regular blogger for the Huffington Post. He was a national editor for EDGE Publications from 2012 to 2013, and has served on the editorial team of Jason Calacanis’ Inside.com. He has appeared as an entertainment critic on Out Loud with JC Alvarez and political commentator on REN TV and Huffington Post Live.
His debut long-form non-fiction book is currently in production.
Veganism
Sosa has been a vegan for his entire adult life. He advocates a strict vegan lifestyle as an ethical imperative for American consumers, citing the sentience of animals as rendering them the right to own themselves. He also describes animal agriculture as a “leading cause of global climate change,” calling the decision to reject animal products a more important environmental choice than “driving a hybrid car.”
He cites "The Sexual Politics of Meat" by Carol Adams as a primary text in the discussion of animal rights. He is a long-time member of
PETA, but has criticized the organization for sending mixed messages and featuring omnivores in some campaigns.
Religion
Sosa has spoken openly about his religious upbringing, “I grew up in the Evangelical tradition. From first-hand experience, I can easily
confirm that this community operates in an incredibly insular fashion.” He has described Evangelical Christianity as condensing the
world into a “dangerous cartoon,” adding, “Evangelical Christians are quite literally afraid most of the time.”
Sosa has called into question the historical existence of Jesus and criticized religion’s influence in the political sphere. Christian publications including the Christian Orthodox Network have taken issue with his comments on the historicity of Jesus. Alabama Citizens for Media Accountability has accused Sosa of using controversial commentary on Christians as "click-bait."
He strongly supports freedom of speech, including religious expression. As an atheist, Sosa has controversially rejected the term “Humanist” to describe his personal philosophy: “I do not look at the world and ask what's best specifically for humans, rather what increases the quality of all life." Sosa was criticized by the Humanist community for his remarks. James Croft of Patheos described Sosa's assessment of Humanism as a "poorly informed diatribe," saying he was "happy" to not count Sosa as a Humanist.
Politics
Sosa is an outspoken progressive and served on Hillary Clinton’s first campaign for president. He is a supporter of the ACLU and the Democratic Party.
His support for physician assisted suicide was noted on the The Today Show.
He has criticized the culture of “manufactured outrage” in American politics, writing, “Polemic sells. I've made a profit off it for
years, and I'm not sorry. But while some of it may be thoughtful or amusing, we must recognize inflammatory speech as nothing more than a
rhetorical vessel and stop allowing it to dominate our entire discourse. Not every criticism deserves a retaliatory frontal
assault.” Sosa also discussed the subject in relation to American pundit Ann Coulter, who he’s described as a “genius” performance artist: “Some might call Coulter’s public game cynical, even malicious. But Coulter serves as a fantastic object lesson in media distortion and the ability to manufacture outrage. Perhaps if she does it long enough, people will actually start thinking.” Amanda Marcotte of Slate took issue with Sosa's assessment.
He described the outing of Rep. Aaron Shock (R - IL 18th District) as “completely acceptable.” Citing Shock’s anti-LGBT voting record, Sosa
stated, “It's an ethical responsibility of journalists to expose blatant hypocrisy from our politicians.”

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