The short answer: Everyone who wants to.
The long answer: Seriously, everyone who wants to. Everyone considers different things acceptable. If you eat meat, but think wearing fur is wrong, and it bothers you enough for you to want to take action, go for it*. Write a letter. Attend a demo. Do whatever you can to end the suffering you've witnessed.
You may be afraid others will consider you a hypocrite if you advocate for some animal issues and not others, but fuck them. You're not doing it for the dude with the shoes made out of recycled condoms** and the Leaping Bunny tattoo. You're doing it for the animals and they need all the help they can get. If the animals could only depend on vegans to speak for them, they'd be pretty well fucked; there aren't that many of us.
That being said, Martha Stewart's promo for Farm Sanctuary pisses me right the fuck off. Not because she's not vegan, but because she directly profits from animal exploitation and abuse. Whole Foods is one of her sponsors. She's not speaking out against factory farms out of concern for the animals, but because she profits when people buy "happy meat" instead.
Should we be glad more people are converting to cage free/free range/grass fed/raised-in-a-spa animal products? Maybe. Probably not. Organically raised animals may suffer less than factory farmed ones, but there's no doubt that they still suffer. And die. If there are people who are currently eating happy meat who would have gone vegan if they didn't have this "more ethical" option, then more animals are suffering than would have if people like Martha weren't pushing these farming methods. And that's fucked up.
*But maybe also take a moment to sit down and think about why.
**Can we make this happen? Please?
Showing posts with label my2cents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my2cents. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, October 17, 2011
Occupy Wall Street 2.0
Just a quick drive-by post to suggest that if you don't want to listen to me, at least listen to Will Potter. Or Josh Harper. Or the Vegan Police.
Then point your Internet at this and join in.
I'll be at Zuccotti Park this evening and probably tomorrow night too, if anyone wants to talk about issues surrounding animals with two, four or twenty-four legs, economics, politics, vegan recipes, comic books, knitting or what it's all about, really, when you get down to it.
Then point your Internet at this and join in.
I'll be at Zuccotti Park this evening and probably tomorrow night too, if anyone wants to talk about issues surrounding animals with two, four or twenty-four legs, economics, politics, vegan recipes, comic books, knitting or what it's all about, really, when you get down to it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Ethical Dilemma
Last week, I attended a couple of protests against the Jewish ritual of Kapparot. Kapparot is an attempt to "kaper" (atone) for one's sins by transferring them to a live chicken or money, then giving it to charity. When chickens are used, they are picked up either by the feet or wings and waved over or swung around the head of the person performing the ritual three times while they recite a prayer. The chicken is then slaughtered and her flesh goes to feed poor people. There is some variation in how that happens, but that's the gist.
I'm going to skip over the experience of the protests themselves and how I feel about the whole thing in favor of one point: the chickens are transported in boxes too low for them to stand in and given no food or water from the time they're packed up until the time they're killed. The boxes are also stacked so if a chicken in the top box relieves herself, everyone below her gets a surprise.
Almost everyone I pointed this out to said it was wrong (there are specific laws in the Jewish bible to protect animals from "unnecessary" suffering) and something should be done to change it. They also felt there was nothing they could do about it. One even asked me to open a humane, organic Kapparot chicken company, saying that almost everyone would go to me, even if it would cost more, to keep the chickens from suffering.
One person said he had contacted the people who order the chickens, trying to get them more humane conditions, but it didn't work. He said he also contacted PETA, to see if they could help, but they did nothing. He then asked if I would be able to get a few people together next year to supervise the chicken transport, see that they're in comfortable crates, feed the chickens during the day, and do everything else necessary to make their last day on earth easier on them. I gave him my phone number, but I'm 99% sure he won't call.
But what if he does? I hate the words "abolitionist" and "welfarist" and generally think they're used by people who spend too much time philosophizing and not enough time acting, but that's really what this comes down to.
I don't want to help these people kill more chickens. I want the practice to end completely. I think we may be able to end it in our lifetimes, but I know it won't end next year. So why not help the chickens spend their last hours comfortably, with love and attention? I think this is different from the "happy meat" issue, since more chickens will not be used just because people feel better about how they're treated. The people who perform this ritual will do it, and those who don't won't, regardless of the chickens' well being.
In addition to caring for the chickens, I think developing a decent relationship with the People In Charge, may encourage them to give us more chickens to take to a sanctuary (they gave us a few this year). Also, most of these people have probably never seen chickens treated as anything more than an object. If we are able to stay with the chickens while people are performing the ritual and let them see us caring for them the way they care for their dogs, or their children (maybe even wearing t-shirts with a message about using money instead, maybe printed in English, Hebrew and Yiddish) it may drive the point home, especially for the young people.
So. What do you think? Would this be enabling people to murder chickens or would it be an act of mercy? What would you do?
I'm going to skip over the experience of the protests themselves and how I feel about the whole thing in favor of one point: the chickens are transported in boxes too low for them to stand in and given no food or water from the time they're packed up until the time they're killed. The boxes are also stacked so if a chicken in the top box relieves herself, everyone below her gets a surprise.
Almost everyone I pointed this out to said it was wrong (there are specific laws in the Jewish bible to protect animals from "unnecessary" suffering) and something should be done to change it. They also felt there was nothing they could do about it. One even asked me to open a humane, organic Kapparot chicken company, saying that almost everyone would go to me, even if it would cost more, to keep the chickens from suffering.
One person said he had contacted the people who order the chickens, trying to get them more humane conditions, but it didn't work. He said he also contacted PETA, to see if they could help, but they did nothing. He then asked if I would be able to get a few people together next year to supervise the chicken transport, see that they're in comfortable crates, feed the chickens during the day, and do everything else necessary to make their last day on earth easier on them. I gave him my phone number, but I'm 99% sure he won't call.
But what if he does? I hate the words "abolitionist" and "welfarist" and generally think they're used by people who spend too much time philosophizing and not enough time acting, but that's really what this comes down to.
I don't want to help these people kill more chickens. I want the practice to end completely. I think we may be able to end it in our lifetimes, but I know it won't end next year. So why not help the chickens spend their last hours comfortably, with love and attention? I think this is different from the "happy meat" issue, since more chickens will not be used just because people feel better about how they're treated. The people who perform this ritual will do it, and those who don't won't, regardless of the chickens' well being.
In addition to caring for the chickens, I think developing a decent relationship with the People In Charge, may encourage them to give us more chickens to take to a sanctuary (they gave us a few this year). Also, most of these people have probably never seen chickens treated as anything more than an object. If we are able to stay with the chickens while people are performing the ritual and let them see us caring for them the way they care for their dogs, or their children (maybe even wearing t-shirts with a message about using money instead, maybe printed in English, Hebrew and Yiddish) it may drive the point home, especially for the young people.
So. What do you think? Would this be enabling people to murder chickens or would it be an act of mercy? What would you do?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Occupy Wall Street
We're in week three of Occupy Wall Street and I still don't know exactly what I want to say about it here. No wonder the General Assembly has had so much trouble coming up with a specific demand or manifesto. I guess I should start with the basic info:
On September 17, people took to the streets of lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and started to occupy Wall Street until the changes they want are made or they're removed by force. Inspired by the movements in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, the plan is to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation and nonviolence to restore democracy in America.
"Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. The original call for this occupation was published by Adbusters in July; since then, many individuals across the country have stepped up to organize this event, such as the people of the NYC General Assembly and US Day of Rage. There'll also be similar occupations in the near future such as October2011 in Freedom Plaza, Washington D.C."
On September 17, people took to the streets of lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and started to occupy Wall Street until the changes they want are made or they're removed by force. Inspired by the movements in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, the plan is to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation and nonviolence to restore democracy in America.
"Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. The original call for this occupation was published by Adbusters in July; since then, many individuals across the country have stepped up to organize this event, such as the people of the NYC General Assembly and US Day of Rage. There'll also be similar occupations in the near future such as October2011 in Freedom Plaza, Washington D.C."
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
What are you going to do about it?
By now, everyone on the Internet has oohed and aahed and laughed and cried over the video of the lab chimps seeing sunlight for the first time. In case you missed it:
Most people watched that video and thought "Oh, how sad. I wish we could free all the chimps, but there's nothing I can do about it." Fortunately, that's not true. There's a really easy way to help free the chimps: stop using products tested on animals.
I don't mean your cancer medication or your antibiotics. I mean your shampoo and your bathroom cleaner. Your dental floss. Your disposable razors. Your chocolate (yes, chocolate).
Most people watched that video and thought "Oh, how sad. I wish we could free all the chimps, but there's nothing I can do about it." Fortunately, that's not true. There's a really easy way to help free the chimps: stop using products tested on animals.
I don't mean your cancer medication or your antibiotics. I mean your shampoo and your bathroom cleaner. Your dental floss. Your disposable razors. Your chocolate (yes, chocolate).
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