I live in the sunshine state - with enough to be reasonably satisfied... Dedicating what I have to fix the one disclaimer to my happiness: The way we treat animals. It's shameful!
There's lots of dates surrounding the eventual and official Mother's Day in 1914. Different groups worked on making this happen for decades before it did. But I'd like to look not at the first Mother's Day... But the First Mother instead. I wonder sometime what it must have been like eons ago when each specific birth was critical to man's survival. A time when we were pushing our numbers just to diversify the genetic pool. A time when there were so few humans that each woman who bore another human was revered. Indeed... A time when all life-bringers were honored. Nurturing was a cherished gift. What must it have been like for a First Mother who's numbers had now sufficiently expanded that the miracles of birth and life were commonized? What did she think when life itself was commodified? When breath became capital? I see a First Mother who spoke loudly in protest of killing the creatures in the forests... A First Mother who pleaded with others in the tribe that trees and plants would sustain them. A First Mother who wept when the great aurochs were made unfree and held captive for the purposes of man. A First Mother who's dutiful gathering of sustenance was halted to tend to cattle instead... What did this First Mother think when she stole the milk from the goat or cow?
Cave painting of an aurochs bull in Lascaux, France
And what did this First Mother do when her husband, the keeper of chattel and cows, proposed the idea of not only consuming the milk but who made it necessary to steal the calf as well? I know this First Mother begged for the other mother... She begged for the child-calf... She wailed and sobbed and tried to reason. But the high priests and other men made mandates from a god who demanded burnt calves flesh... So her pleas met with no mercy. And soon it was that the First Mother would have her own sons sacrificed to greed. To violence. To wars. And to death. To all those who still honor the nurturing, life-worshiping vision of the First Mother - Thank you for doing so through your vegan choices. Happy Mother's Day to those who never surrendered the idea of love or World Peace:
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Speciesism The Movie is going to be no doubt, a conversation starter and eye-opener in the non-vegan world. I personally can't wait for it to be released at an event near me. In the meantime you can watch and share seven installments as follows: 1 of 7 2 of 7 3 of 7 4 of 7
5 of 7 6 of 7 And it concludes with 7 of 7 This issue is the ultimate test of our day. It's the pivotal last chance we have to live in a way that is consistent with our intent to civilize ourselves. Recognizing our prejudice against others is a first bold move to progressing as a culture. We must acknowledge the irrefutable evidence that harming others can never be justified. There are *no grounds* to deny nonhumans the benefit of equal fairness and equal kindness. Nothing justifies our use of anyone. Please, if you are serious about following the values that you cannot argue against - Live as an ethical vegan.
Some recent stories about dog penises found in a Taiwan slaughterhouse, Pork labelled as beef in Sweden, and horse flesh mixed with cow flesh in Ireland got me thinking about a few things... The first being how odd it is that anyone would be upset with eating one type of matter from a dead being over another. I know none of it is pretty and so does Lisa Simpson: But it's not like it's not all the same thing anyway... Carnists are so strange! As if there really is a quantifiable difference between consuming one bird called a chicken and another named a pelican! The "ick" factor comes from custom and ingrained habit - Not from any significant reasoning. Odd how even die-hard omnivores want to spew when they consider the following "foods" misplaced in the category of human nutrition: Like the pink-slime scandal that makes us recall incidents in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair:
Sinclair told of old, lame, diseased cattle still sent to slaughter. He told of “potted chicken” made from tripe, pork fat and the waste from veal; of rancid butter, rechurned and sold to market; of meat that had fallen into the filth, spittle and sawdust of the packing-house floor, only to be retrieved and packaged; of rats and rat dung, poisoned bread and spoiled meat, mixed together in sausage hoppers. All processed meat, Sinclair reported, contained what was euphemistically called “filler”: “There would come back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was mouldy and white -- it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped in the hoppers, and made over again for human consumption.” There were “butt-ends of smoked meat, and the scraps of corned beef, and all the odds and ends of the waste” of the manufacturing plants, which was added to fresh meat and churned into breakfast sausage. To use parts of meat that couldn’t be sold whole, the packers applied what Sinclair called “the miracles of chemistry” to make the result appear palatable.
And everyone should know about the pus in cows milk... But what about the mites and maggots in cheese? Or maggots used to process meat: What about worms in fish? You don't even have to consume the fishes - Just have intercourse with someone who did! Is it okay to be grossed out by the idea of consuming these guys the Taenia saginata or Taenia solium aka tapeworms? Of course cooking the flesh at high temperatures kills these worms - But they're still in the meat...
Hitchhikers in meat
So people eating cows, pigs and fishes are already eating these worms... Then why should they get nauseated at the idea of having flies on their plate or maggots on a sandwich? Why are people repulsed by squirrel, opossum or rat eating but aren't equally disgusted at eating rabbits?What about pig rectums? A lamb's head?Or eyeballs or intestines? It's all animal protein anyway you slice it! And if you're grossed out by one you should be grossed out by all! As a vegan... Can you possibly imagine being revolted if you discovered a forth kind of bean in your three-bean salad? Or carrots cleverly disguised in a sweet potato pie? Or nuts tucked and folded inside a veggie patty? No. Eating kale would no more gross you out than eating bok choy, or arugula ... Red cabbage wouldn't turn your stomach any more than white. And one beautiful mushroom would be as appreciated as all the rest... All simply good food! So as the rest of the world wrings its hands and shuts its eyes as to how insanely ridiculous it is to fret over horse's bodies mixed in with cow's bodies or eating chicken's brains along with chicken's ovaries, or the confusion of species they think is "food"... I have discovered that it's okay to be grossed out by their grub. Even they among themselves "yuck" and dry-heave over equally nasty choices... I may even be able to say I have a predisposition to be offended and repelled by all animal eating... It May Be Genetic!
I'm comforted in knowing that it’s normal to feel grossed out by people eating meat. As every thoughtful vegan will agree there are countless good reasons for thriving on plants instead. The dear creatures trapped in a "food chain" that's fashioned to serve the inconsistent, fickle and frivolous wants of man thank you for your very palatable choice!
There's been some miserable news lately - Not that it's unusual in our "superior" world that permits the use of "lesser" others as a means to our ends. So privileged we are. :/ I have on occasion challenged people who thought this way by arguing: If we encountered a race of beings who were much more able than us... And they wanted to control, confine, manipulate and utilize our bodies - Wouldn't we scream bloody murder at the injustice of it?!? We would - Wouldn't we.
The video above comes from Vegan Smythe, "He won't eat anyone with feet". If you're looking for the lighter side of what ails you - Check him out. In the meantime considering man's super specialness and all:
'I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.' ~Gandhi And I can't argue with that one bit.
A first grader won a drawing contest promoted by the Idaho Beef Council. In this image there's a man extracting milk from a cow's udders - They are standing on green grass in front of a red barn. Riding on the rainbow that extends the mountain ranges are depictions of a pizza, an ice cream cone, a glass of milk, a burger and items made of meat.
Now... I know this is young child was not born into thinking that the cows were meant for such "productions". I know this young girl wasn't told the whole story of how the cows and their babies are killed. She wasn't told about the force and might used in the making of dairy and flesh... She wasn't told that there are other choices to make --- But I'm most certainly sure she was told that the cows are happily here for us to use:
So her artistic work won the Cattle are Amazing contest giving her a $100 certificate for toys and a field trip for her class to go to a cattle ranch. (amazing) :/
And so (not) astute are these Beef Council folks that not only have they restricted clear thinking in this little girl's mind - But they also presented her work in reverse as well!
Guess that's okay... The "products" are all there. I'm certain too - That they don't care at all that her emotional intelligence is directed "backwards" as well.
Parents: Children will listen - Please teach them respect, compassion and kindness.Don't teach them hatred for other species. Please live justly - So they will do the same.
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“We have been at war with the other creatures of this earth ever since the first human hunter set forth with spear into the primeval forest. Human imperialism has everywhere enslaved, oppressed, murdered, and mutilated the animal peoples. All around us lie the slave camps we have built for our fellow creatures, factory farms and vivisection laboratories, Dachaus and Buchenwalds for the conquered species. We slaughter animals for our food, force them to perform silly tricks for our delectation, gun them down and stick hooks in them in the name of sport. We have torn up the wild places where once they made their homes. Speciesism is more deeply entrenched within us even than sexism, and that is deep enough.” Ronnie Lee, founder of the Animal Liberation Front
As we're getting closer to an election many people identify themselves with either a political party or an ideology... Perhaps you're not a "leftist"... Maybe you don't even align with "progressives" - But at the very least, everyone should think of themselves as a critical thinker. If so, then you should be open to listening to and questioning other beliefs... To see if they stand the scrutinized test of your own logic. Well do they?
Why do I stand up for animals? Why again and again for them, and less, or not at all, for all those people who have no homes, no food or health? Many a child from the slums would give anything for the meals western pets get served every day. Are animals more vulnerable or more helpless than humans? Why do I choose time and again, as I have all my life, for animals when an appeal is made for my volunteer time, action and/or money? Maybe simply because you have to make a choice somewhere, and can't bear the weight of all the world's suffering? Or is it that nowhere injustice and suffering are so 100% clear and distressing as when a defenseless animal is abused? A child from the slums, no matter how hard his life is, is at least a member of the human race. This makes his chances of spending his life in a dark and small cage, or being subjected to painful and frightening medical experiments a lot smaller. Should such a fate befall him, then at least this is a punishable offense, and there's a chance that other people will stand up for him.
But with animals, especially in the western world, the situation is reversed. People have the right to use animals in an economically optimal way, which has resulted in the unscrupulous processing of animals. Producers of medicine are even legally obligated to poison animals, cut them open, mutilate them or torture them psychologically, before a new medicine may be tested on humans. Partly, animal abuse is surely based on many people's conviction that animals are inferior to humans. But I believe that ignorance is an even greater factor in facilitating and maintaining - for me - the most unacceptable forms of animal abuse, namely animal testing and factory farming.
And it's here that I see an opportunity to convert my outrage and powerless anger into something constructive, namely by giving as much information as possible about the purely economical powers behind the pharmaceutical industry and the meat and dairy industry. I'm convinced that every man and every people is able to do the most horrible things to other people at some point, if they allow something so innocent and defenseless as an animal in captivity to be exploited and abused. The German people have been attacked endlessly after WWII on their reply "Wir haben es nicht gewusst". Personally, I think that the masses had indeed no idea of the great atrocities that were committed in their name. And that it is possible to right large-scale wrongs, if enough people learn to see through the lies, propaganda and commercials of a few. (Compare for instance the successes by the anti-nuclear-energy movement.)
In conclusion I do think it's possible to live together with animals in an ethically responsible way, everywhere in the world, as long as people know which wrongs exist, what causes them, and which obvious alternatives exist. Researchers and farmers don't like to admit camera teams into their laboratories and soundproof stables, which is not for nothing. What we don't know won't hurt us; even in our country and elsewhere we 'know nothing', and that's why deep-rooted wrongs can stay in existence and large profits can be made over the backs of animals. This is my motivation to stand up for organizations that defend animal rights: everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I won't be the one to blame that people 'know nothing'. And some way I believe that a society that takes responsibility for its weakest and most dependent members (read: animals), will also be better for its people.
Yes, there's more to my "trigger event"... I suppose I need to fully vocalize everything that happened so I can "move on". The first few weeks were very painful. Each morning I'd awaken from a nightmare - only to find that it was all true. That overnight (as I slept through "my watch") millions of animals were brutalized - "legally". This shock stays with me even now; but my consciousness has learned to accept it more. My first aware thoughts always include: "Oh yeah, we butcher animals"... And then my day continues with this information, as in accepting the loss of a loved one... Only it's harder because it's not the same death... of the one; but countless ones, executed by deliberate means and for frivolous reasons.
This quote from Once You Know Something, You Can't Not Know It”: An Empirical Look at Becoming Vegan by Barbara McDonald sums it up: The emotions felt during the catalytic experience were typically negative ones: pain, shock, guilt, sadness, or depression. Lisa, like Michelle, cried as she first learned about animal cruelty. Lena told about her emotional reaction to a video about vivisection, saying, “It affected me so dramatically. It just broke my heart. I have never had [anything] to [have] such an effect.”
Healing through this trauma is in 5 stages- This is the process that I never could get a therapist to help me through: 1. Trigger event 2. Appraisals of assumptions 3. Exploration of alternatives to current assumptions 4. Developing alternative perspectives 5. Integration of new perspectives into daily life (go vegan)
I talk more about "Liz" and why the extinction of farmed animals would not distress me in the least.
While I'm glad she's alive... and wish the other billions could be spared too; These beings are nothing that nature would ever have created. They are products of an industry and a "science" that made them into non-functioning freaks.
If anyone is interested in knowing about these special, beautiful birds, here's more.
I apologize for the quality in the clip from the re-recording of Jordan Wyatt's podcast "Jay Wont Dart" episode #9. Jordan has a great sense of humor... lots of interesting bits about his vegan experiences and if you haven't listened yet... you're missing out. Episode #9 also includes an interview with Elizabeth Collins of NZ Vegan. And both Jordon and Elizabeth are interviewed on Sam Tucker's NZ Teen podcast. That effort for "down under" advocacy really seems to be working! :)
This clip of Jordan's reflects my feeling too - that I wish I'd never eaten meat. And to say children raised on vegetarian or vegan diets are "brainwashed", works the other way too.
Of course parents disguise and avoid telling their children the truth - Kids are not geared to "eat their friends". And the sad fact is, that most parents/adults haven't reconciled themselves to doing such either.
Although I don't mention it in the podcast, ever since going vegan I've begun a "search" to find out where/how children are indoctrinated via story books. I frequent the libraries and thriftstores collecting books with animal and farm themes. They are all so cute, and naive. Each one elaborates on the "happy" lives of cows, pigs, chickens and other barn "pets".
It would be an odd child to not fall in love with these cuddly companions who "give" us milk and eggs...
Some books even say "From pigs we *get* meat", or have illustrations of objects like footballs, leather shoes, feather dusters, woolen mittens, and so on. And they present it in such an innocuous way - None but the most depraved child could ever imagine the truth about such "giving" friends.
Now, I know many would say - that "It's common sense" to know (as adults) where/how these objects came to be "from" these animals. But I think common sense only applies to what you were allowed (or allowed) your mind to comprehend. I think most people push the reality as far back into their subconscious that it's never really dealt with... Well, until a video, a story or an animal rights advocate brings it to focus.
Then there are those who block the information so thoroughly that they "think" they "know"... But haven't dealt with any of the issues at all. Because if they had done so, they would not respond to conversations by shutting down. They would be able to voice their opinions and beliefs. Instead, they figuratively hide their faces - and block their minds (and hearts). And their "common sense" is to pretend that the matter does not exist. They place their heads upon the pillow, numb to the reality of where the feathers originated.
As a result, these well meaning adults (in denial) also raise emotionally crippled children. And that is a very unkind thing to do. So Jordan, and any others like me, who have some anger against a system that fosters this laming - I think the regret is with good reason.
I want to clarify again that I'm not advocating violence, it's just that I don't know how much pacifism one can sanction before non-action becomes "complicity"? And how much tolerance to animal enslavement and murder do we accept before we are "speciesist"?
I don't know much about the ALF's activities... only that in 30 years they've never physically harmed anyone. I know that the simple act of removing the worthless factory hens, (scheduled to be gassed), would make me a "terrorist". I know that in the bull ring in Barcelona - dozens of animal rights activists disrupted an "event". They had bottles thrown at them from hostile spectators in the stands. ARA are labeled as "aggressive" even in the defense of a victim.
With human rights... I always believed that my rights ended where an other's began --- And in my mind, animals DO have rights - they are just not recognized or enforced by society. And if aggressive acts are done (physically harming none) - to protect those ignored rights of animals - Then it is justified, no matter how much monetary loss is incurred. For me the destruction of "things" accounts for nothing in comparison to the infringements of life. And those who seek out thugs who assault and injure the innocent are my heroes, even if their tactics aren't seen as "peaceful".
I suppose there are no clear answers to what is or isn't "force"... But I do know that I see the ALF as being justified in their actions because they are doing what it takes to save victims against real terrorists. Perhaps it is meant to be that some champions battle in the fields, while others work in ways they can, to reshape ideology making it easier for them to do such? But in that case, we've really compromised these heroes by allowing the AETA to exist, and should do all we can to dismantle this oppressive legislation.
I think it's fitting to end this with another "vegan story" as told by freedom fighter Keith Mann...
Thanks for listening/reading... If you have any answers or further comment to my questions - of course I welcome all the help I can get in resolving these queries. I do want to do the right thing...
And I am my brother's keeper And I will fight his fight, And speak the word for beast and bird, Till the world shall set things right. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)
