Fur Protests

I came only recently to protesting. I thought just "being" vegan was enough. Not consuming any animal products was a big deal, after all, and one I devoted a considerable amount of time to. Researching products, ingredients, making sure I was spending my money on cruelty-free goods; even better when I had the option of purchasing ethical products at ethical companies.

Protesting? I thought that was for other people. Intimidated at the thought of gaining attention by The Powers That Be (TPTB), I made the decision to let other people carry the burden of protesting.
I hadn't really changed my mind when I went to my first protest a couple months ago. Spending so much time on Vegan Freaks Forums and listening to the podcasts did make me think more about it, find more passion in the pursuit of AR. So when RMAD started a meetup group, I decided to join them at the protest. To my surprise, it was a fun and positive experience. It turned into a vegan-bonding day, and the support from the people driving by (mostly positive) was really encouraging. I liked feeling that I was doing just a bit more.

Gradually my thoughts on protesting began to change. Protesting was not difficult, after all. At least with RMAD, all you have to do is show up. They provide the signs, the pamphlets, they need only warm bodies of passionate AR activists. That I could do. And in doing, I began to see how necessary it was.

I would never have bought a fur, not when I was omni, and obviously not now. But clearly not being a consumer of fur does nothing to actually stop the trade. At least not until everyone stops buying fur. We have to educate people, we have to make it clear exactly what they would be supporting by buying a fur.

The animals being skinned don't have a voice that is heard. Their screams of pain, rage, and agony fall on the deaf ears of the trappers and the fur farmers, who think nothing of skinning an animal alive and leaving them to die a slow painful death. There are no rules or laws to regulate the cruelty of this particular industry, but there is no conceivable law that would make this okay. Raising and murdering an animal for the very skin on their backs. It is horrifying. That people justify this is beyond my comprehension.

I want their voice to be heard. I want to be their voice, and I want you to join me. Together we can voice the rage and the pain and we will be heard. There is no excuse, no justification for cruelty such as this. We have our skins, let them keep theirs.

Earthlings

I just watched Earthlings, and am devestated. I bought a copy to send to a friend and decided I had better watch it so I know what I'm expecting of him - I knew it would be rough. He says he wants motivation to eat less meat. If this doesn't do it, I don't know what will. In fact, after spending 95 minutes sobbing, if this doesn't make him vegetarian, at the very least, I'm not sure I can be friends with him. I don't think I could be friends with someone who can really know what he's complicit in and not change.

Leo Tolstoy: "As long as there are slaughterhouses....there will be battlefields."

Something said at the end went approximately like: "if what goes around comes around, what is coming to them?"

We are all earthlings. I think it is time we all understand what exactly that means. Watch earthlings.

AR is about all of us

I finished Ecology of Freedom today, and I was a bit disappointed. After spending months getting through the thought-provoking, lyrically word-dense book that literally turned some of my never-before-questioned thoughts on their ear, I thought he pancaked in his conclusion.

He spent 450 pages plus a 26 page intro building up his arguments against hierarchies and urging us to move away from hierarchical thinking, only to neglect to take it that one small final step. He didn't seem to make the connection that breaking down hierarchies within the human race and between humans and nature requires that you also break down the hierarchies between humans and other animals. How can you convince someone that all humans have equal worth, regardless of money, intelligence, or anything else, that equality of inequals is the goal? How do you convince anyone of that if you believe that subjugation and objectification of other species is okay? They are not here for the use, entertainment, and exploitation by humans. They are here for themselves, to live their lives.

Time after time it has been shown that increasing Animal Rights awareness increases Human Rights awareness. How could it not? If you can feel compassion for all of the animals, large and small, that surround us, you will naturally feel more compassion for all of the animals around you, human, insect, canine, bovine...all animals.

AR is about all of us. It is about the choices we make every day, about how we treat our companion animals, our coworkers, friends and family. It is about how we want to be treated by others, about the respect we have for each other. Break down the hierarches. Break them down between each other and between humans and animals. We owe it to each other.

"I do it for the joy it brings, because I am a joyful girl. Because the world owes me nothing, and we owe each other the world." Ani Difranco

Let's break down the hierarchies

Admittedly I've been greatly influenced by Ecology of Freedom by Murray Bookchin recently, with his talk of hierarchies, but it makes so much sense, really resonates with me. If not for hierarchies, would we think exploitation was okay? I'm thinking not. Murray has me convinced. Furthermore, here we are, thinking we're the smartest animals on earth, somehow above all sorts of moral considerations...but wait! We're the only animals on the earth stupid enough to be destroying that which we need to live. Are humans really the smartest of them all?

So how to break down the hierarchical thinking? I think the first step is to make it personal. Objectification is so prevalent in society, we accept it without consideration. Well, here's news: it isn't meat, it is murder. It isn't beef, it is a cow. An intelligent, feeling, thinking, personality-filled being that people torture and kill in the name of their McMurder sandwich. Read about Elvis and then try to tell me cows are not worthy of our consideration! But don't take this to mean I somehow believe that an animal has to be smart to be worthy. It is all about the equality of inequals. You wouldn't BBQ an alzheimer's patient or a brain-damaged baby, would you?

Intro

Welcome to Invisible Voices!