a Virtuous Venting … (03/22/14)
I’m a bit ticked off tonight, and with your permission — and in a brief departure from my usual, more gentle tones — I am going to vent a bit. Granted, venting is not something Peace Pilgrims normally do — and I will do so in a peaceful & respectful fashion, and yet sometimes the issue at hand is so important — sometimes the prevalent violations of Justice & Integrity are so egregious — that a stern word is mandated. This is one of those times, and I have faith that you will bear with me as I explain …
I just watched a movie — a pretty good movie, in fact — that had the chance to make a subtle-yet-powerful statement for GOOD … and failed. And it didn’t just fail slightly — it failed miserably.
The movie in question (“Peace, Love & Misunderstanding”) actually had a few uplifting things to say, and it raised quite a few poignant questions as well about what it means to forgive and to Love and to live a Meaningful Life — and I appreciate it for those traits … AND the way it portrayed the currently critical issue of animal rights & animal abuse was cowardly at best, if not downright insidious at worst.
In short, the film came out in support of “humane slaughter” by shamelessly promoting the now-debunked best-seller from Michael Pollan entitled “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”.
In essence, after building up a surprisingly enlightened pro-animal sub-theme throughout its first 90 mintues, the movie then caved to convention and aligned itself with Pollan’s flagrantly unethical and scientifically erroneous views — views that support the notion that locally raised and “humanely slaughtered” beef & poultry are not only good for our health, but good for the planet and — get this — better for the animals to boot.
Now I will admit that it is not really important for you to hear about the film itself in this post (you can watch it whenever you wish and form your own opinions), and I will also concede that it is not even important for you to support my own personal opinions about the ethics (or lack thereof) of raising animals for slaughter (I will continue to Love each & every one of you as human — and potentially humane — beings no matter what you decide to put on your plates).
AND YET it is indeed VERY important for you to not be conned on this very important issue; for you to have the facts at your disposal; for you to not be confused or deluded by such smarmy vehicles of pro-meat propaganda — by such “feel good” proponents of cruelty & suffering.
So here are those facts … Turn away from them if you will, and yet facts they will remain … Please consider:
*FACT #01 … Animals are just as sentient as we humans, have exactly the same desires to live & to Love as we do, and have exactly the same capacity for experiencing fear & pain & suffering as we do as well.
*FACT #02: HUMANS ARE NOT OMNIVORES! Just because you CAN eat meat & consume the mammary secretions of other species, does not mean that you should do so, or that your body is designed to do so. The myriad of well-documented severe health problems (heart disease, cancer & diabetes, just to name a few) that have been directly linked to the consumption of meat & milk products should makes this Truth clear enough.
*FACT #03: Science is now showing that the “locavorism” that Pollan and his cronies advocate does NOT benefit the environment as they claim; that regional, “small-farm” productions of meat & milk products create greenhouse gas emissions and result in fresh-water contamination that are just as high if not higher than those created by & resulting from importing those same products from large-scale industrial farms elsewhere.
*FACT #04: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “HUMANE SLAUGHTER”! Even under the very best of conditions, meat-industry animals are still cruelly butchered against their will while they are still adolescents, and dairy-industry animals are confined & raped & emotionally tortured before meeting the same fate as their meat-industry cousins. As such, Pollan’s statement in his book that “eating animals may sometimes be the most ethical thing to do” is flagrantly — and insultingly — FALSE!
In conclusion, my Friends, do as you wish — knowing as you do so that I personally will never condemn you as people no matter what you choose to ingest.
That having been said, I do implore you from the bottom of my heart to PLEASE at least have the courage to take an honest look at what you are eating – along with the very real (and very tragic) consequences that some of your choices are engendering.
And finally, PLEASE at least consider the possibility of going a month — or a week — or even just a day — without making food choices that advocate violence and cause the innocent to suffer.
Thank you.
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