I was just sitting around and decided to see what was on CBS, the one channel I get in clearly since I don’t have cable. (and by the way I refuse to have now because I won’t support all the dam ‘omni’ commercials!) I regress, the show on was ‘Kid Nation.’ I’ve heard a little about this show, a group of kids ranging in ages are left to their own devices to run a town. Tonight’s topic was food. They were supplied with all kinds of canned beans and veggies and a hen house full of chickens. The council members read from a book left by a past pioneer which I guess leads to the topic of the episode. This chapter entry mentioned the kids had a choice whether or not to eat the chickens! Ok what the fuck? I was really surprised at this. First of all I don’t know if they would have thought of this on their own because they didn’t see the chickens as food until it was suggested. Second I was extremely disturbed at the reasoning for some of the kids wanting to kill the chickens, they needed ‘protein’! I am so sick over the fact that my taxes go to schools that don’t even teach kids the entire truth, such as beans provide protein!! It is just so frustrating. One kid did mention that vegetarians don’t eat chicken and are fine, but another kid said that was because vegetarians have things like tofu which they, the kids, did not. For a brief moment I had a proud feeling when three of the kids flat out refused to kill the chickens. One girl said she would go home if they did and locked herself in the hen house along with 2 other kids. Unfortunately this didn’t hold up. The other kids were able to persuade and convince these 3 courageous kids into going along with killing the chickens. Which I can only assume they did, because a discretionary warning came on as the kids were marching proudly wearing aprons and ready to murder, at which point I could watch no longer. I am so sickened by this display. Why don’t people wake up and see what they are turning their kids into? It makes me feel totally hopeless in my fight to better the world. Why am I trying to save something that no one else cares about? Fortunately for the animals they are my main concern and I will continue my stand to protect them at all costs. It’s just scary to see who our future leaders are… easily persuaded, nonthinkers. I’m trying to save the planet why they continue to destroy it.
I’m having a hard time sorting out my thoughts tonight. If only I could write what I want when I have it in my head. I’ve done a lot of thinking abut fish lately. Someone recently asked if I eat fish, to which I replied some what sarcastically, “is fish a vegetable?” They continued to ask me why I didn’t eat fish to which I responded “how would you like to have a hook in your mouth?” They of course said fish don’t feel pain. More intriguing though is that someone else made a comment about comparing myself to a fish, implying how ridiculous that was. Upon pondering this for a few days I’ve come to the conclusion people are so hypocritical they don’t even realize the things they say. For instance ‘meat eaters’ will argue that animals aren’t like humans, they don’t think, feel, etc. Why then do these very same people support things such as animal testing? If we’re so different wouldn’t comparing tests done to nonhuman animals and human animals have nothing to do with one another? And what about insulting one another by calling someone a ‘pig’ or fat ‘cow’? It just doesn’t make sense how we can be similar enough (according to Omni’s) for one purposes but not another. Either we are similar or we are not. (I’m kind of talking out of my ass right now so this may not make sense, just ignore my little rant) as far as fish feeling I’ve seen studies that show fish DO have a central nervous system and DO have nerve endings around their mouths. Whether this is a proven fact or not why take the chance of making a living thing suffer unnecessarily? Ok, it’s been a long day, and I’m not even making much sense to myself so I’m sure whoever’s reading this doesn’t know what the hell I’m going on about… but read some other entries. I promise they’re better.
I sadly realized this weekend how sexist we, as a society, still are. This may sound ridiculous to some of you but it’s so prevalent in the smallest of things. Football is already a hot button issue with me but I’ve discovered yet another reason not to follow it. Ok let me explain the situation. A group of people were at a friends house Saturday evening. Before everyone showed up some of the guys had a football game on. As the night went on most of the guests migrated into another room where they were playing a game, and a few of us were watching TV just hanging out. A few guys were still interested in the football game so when their turn was up in the game they were playing they would come an turn the TV to see the scores, which is understandable. But they never knew which channel and had to flip through several and of course the guys wanted to see different games and all came over at different times. So this was a little bit aggravating when your trying to watch something else, but ok. In the mist of all this people were constantly walking in and out standing in front of the TV and chatting, which can be tolerated since there are so many people and so much going on. The girls trying to watch just sat there quietly. Then it suddenly dawned on me. If the situation were reversed and the guys were watching their game they would one, have had a fit if anyone wanted to watch something else and interrupt their football game, and two, which I’ve personally witnessed on several occasions, god forbid someone stand in front of a TV when a football game is on, guys will start yelling. The conclusion I came to is that everyone excepts this… even the females. We’re expected to sit quietly and let the guys do as they wish, and we do. I am really bothered by this. This just shows me how deeply rooted sexism really is, and it’s sickening. Yes, this is a minor and trivial thing to happen but it’s the underlying repressed action that bothers me. How can we change things when we don’t even realize something we are doing is wrong?
Some of you may think I’m over analyzing or being over sensitive to the situation. Maybe your right. But I bet most of you haven’t made a connection that among all different species females are still more exploited, used, and abused than any of the male species. Take for example any of the following, cows, chickens, or pigs. The males are beefed up and sent to slaughter. The females however endure months of hard abusive work and are in tortuous conditions while in the end still meeting the same fate at their male counterparts. Maybe because of knowing this I have become more sensitive to how humans still act in sexist ways where females are still exploited and not considered to be equal. Don’t get me wrong, I know female humans have it so much better than any other female species. I would never compare our suffering because I know we suffer nothing compared to the hens, cows, and pigs being made into slaves to satisfy.
A friend of mine sent me a link to this site and at first I was really pissed at what I saw. But check it out let me know what you think… don’t forget to watch their video!
I just cannot get what happened last night out of my head so hopefully writing about it will help. I stopped by my parents house because I knew they were having fiends over and I wanted to say hello to everyone. When I got there everyone was sitting outside in the front yard playing cards, and when I walked up they all said hi to me. Except one guy who had to say ‘hey vegan’. Which didn’t bother me, I’m proud to be vegan so whatever. I do wonder however what it is my parents go around saying about this. Because I know they aren’t necessarily proud of me or see my change to go vegan as being a noble decision. So I imagine them all sitting around saying things like, “oh that Megan, she’s into another one of her weird phases, she’s Vegan now.” I can just see them having a good laugh too. But this isn’t even what really bothers me. I can except that it will take time for them to accept my decision, and hopefully one day they will even try to understand why I’ve made the choices I have. So I’m sitting with them all and one of the women asked what made me want to go vegan. A guy next to her sarcastically said ‘go ahead just tell her it was a movie you saw.” To which I replied, “actually it was.” I mentioned the movie and told her after seeing it I did a lot of research and found out a lot of things I didn’t know. Then the guy says some smartass comment about me having a “young impressionable mind.” I was a bit taken back by this but his comment didn’t fully hit me until I had left for the evening. What an ignorant thing to say. Just because I’ve chosen to better myself and have an open mind he was implying I was stupid, or in some way less intelligent than him. There are so many things now I wish I would have replied with but I didn’t. So he thinks he was right. I am so pissed at this. Then later on someone else was eating cheese and had to point it out to me, I just shook my head. He said something about how nothing was killed for his cheese. I began to correct him but half way thorough my little rant I noticed he hadn’t heard a single word I said. This really upsets me as well. Why do they think they have the right to question my beliefs but then when I try to explain they simply ignore me? I understand these kinds of people don’t really give a dam about what I have to say because they don’t want to change. Which is why I wouldn’t waste my time or energy discussing the topic with them. But it’s not fair if they ask but then don’t really what an answer. I’ve been thinking what I should say in these type of situations so I’m not the one upset in the end. I know how my parents feel about causing conflict so I don’t bring up the topic around them, but if their friends inquire what I am supposed to do? Sit there and take it out of respect for my parents? A similar thing has happened at work where people will ask me something, seemingly genuine at the time, but I quickly realize when I speak they don’t hear me they only want to try to prove their own points. So I’ve come up with what I hope will be a good solution for everyone involved. From now on when I am in situations where this discussion would be inappropriate I will simply try to remember to respectfully tell people that I would love to discuss their question but now isn’t really an appropriate time. I can suggest we go to lunch or making them a vegan dinner where we can talk about any of their concerns. I really hope this will work for me because I don’t know what else to do. I have enough stress to deal with without ignorant assholes trying to prove me wrong so they can selfishly continue eating their animal flesh guilt free.
I just can’t stop thinking about this subject. I do think it’s important for humans and nonhuman animals to learn to live in coexistence with one another, which would be a good reason to have a pet. But on the other hand I just don’t think most people have the time, patience, or are even willing to do and learn things in order to accomplish this. Too many people are in the mind set that animals, pets, are here for us. And that’s just not right. People in general just don’t have enough understanding about the way animals think and behave. I learned this first hand. I have a boxer and tried adopting a pit-ameicaln bull mix. Both are great dogs, but I had no understanding of why they did things they did. With prior knowledge I probably could have kept both and prevented the problems that prevailed. For instance, after I brought home the second dog she was constantly ‘humping’ the other dog, which I found odd but a little funny. If I would have taken the time to research that this actually meant something I could have correctly stopped it. When a dogs ‘hump’ one another its to show dominance. That should have been the first clue these two dogs may not be compatible. Since I didn’t recognize the significance of this behavior it of course escalated and resulted in both dogs being hurt, myself being bit, and later on a family member needing stitches. It’s so unfortunate how often thing like this occur and are completely avoidable. Not every human gets along so why should every dog? I was at the dog park today watching people and dogs reacting to one another. I think people with dogs need to try harder to behave like dogs rather than making a dog behave as a human. I just couldn’t stop thinking how strange it seemed for us as humans to constantly have the need to pet every dog to walk by. This is not a dog behavior. Dogs read body language and use sent to get to know each other and react. How strange would it feel for us to walk around petting one another? It just doesn’t seem natural to me that we do this to them. But then again this is another example of how people don’t understand how to show dogs affection. There is a place and time for petting but the dog park isn’t one of them. Someone came into the dog park but would not take their dog off the leash. Big mistake. I considered telling the guy but I didn’t want to start anything so I just kept my dog close by. When dogs are introduced it can be a scary situation for them. The dog on the leash had several dogs all at once wanting to meet her, but she was on a leash and thus restrained by her owner. Today worked out ok, but I’ve seen fights start too many times this way. The restrained dog can panic therefore getting the other dogs panicked and thus starting a fight. Then the animals and or humans can end up injured all because someone who didn’t know better. It’s quite the predicament we’ve got ourselves into with this whole pet thing. I don’t know the solution. But I don’t see myself just letting this go. I am truly bothered by the way we see and use animals.
Another thing that got me thinking was the type of animals people have as pets. I was over a friend’s house where she had a bird. Whenever the bird would squawk to loudly or too often she would spray the bird with water from a nearby squirt bottle. I was really disturbed at this. I just don’t think birds should be forced to live their lives in a small cage. Birds want to fly! Wouldn’t you if you could? I just don’t see any reason to have a bird as a pet. It’s one thing to rescue an injured bird, but to purposely raise is somewhat disturbing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the bird owner loves the bird, but does that make it justifiable?
Just look at what we do to these animals in order to call them pets. We cut their ears and tails to maintain a specific look for the bread, we de-claw cats so not to destroy the furniture, which by the way isn’t as simple as just cutting their nails. It’s a major surgery, and more like ripping off their entire fingers. People have even gone as far as cutting dogs vocal cords so they don’t have to listen to them bark! Look at all the inventions out there to prevent barking. People actually purchase dog collars that will send an electrical shock through the dog when it barks. How barbaric is this! I don’t know it just doesn’t seem to me we even deserve the company of such wonderful creatures if this is what we’re doing to them. And the worst part is even after all this they still love us unconditionally….. If only we could learn how to do that. Imagine, loving others, animals and humans, unconditionally.
“We’re supposed to eat meat just look at our teeth.” Ok, I’m getting really sick and tired of people giving me this lame ass excuse for eating meat. If you want to eat meat, fine, Just admit that your being an ignorant, selfish, and lazy dumb ass and be done with it. Ok, that may be a little harsh, but seriously stop making up such lame ass excuses! Whether or not our teeth can physically chew meat doesn’t make it right to do so in my eyes. Let me just point out lions teeth. Now those are meat eating teeth. I can’t see humans teeth being able to tear through the thick hide a buffalo or even cow like a lion can. Yes, we can chew meat, meat that has already been killed and cut and labeled into portions I might add. Not to mention lions have no other options. Where we can walk into a store and choose to eat as a herbivore or omnivore, lions cannot. We as humans can live optimally healthy lives without any meat consumption, lions cannot. So don’t give me this crap about our teeth. Why don’t you do some research on our stomachs compared to a meat eaters.
I wonder why is it so hard for people to make the connection between an animal used for food really isn’t any different from our very own pets? Personally I had to have to pointed out to me, but as soon as it was I got it. So many people just don’t want to see the pain caused just to please themselves but why? Is it people fear change? Yes, going vegan can be difficult in the beginning. But so was learning to ride a bike and tie my shoes. I just find it so hard to believe that people have become so self centered that no matter the cost they choose to look the other way when it comes to this topic. There has to be something more to it. There has to be a way to open people’s eyes to the suffering. Not only for the animals but for our won health as well. We are literally poisoning ourselves. We have created so many diereses and illnesses that people just think that’s the way life is. But it isn’t. It isn’t natural to have to take prescription medications as we grow older to survive. If only I could help more people me age see what they are doing not only to their own bodies, but our environment, and eco system. These things should be cherished, not taken for granted. People bitch about our healthcare system, but they don’t realize most of it wouldn’t be an issue if we all were living more healthily. We wouldn’t have to complain about the high cost of prescription drugs because we wouldn’t need them!
Ok, having that said why aren’t more vegetarians vegan? Hello! You to have failed to make a connection somewhere. Bravo on realizing meat is murder and unnecessary, but you have to realize that the eggs and dairy you consume have more suffering than the very same meat you’ve rightly given up. ‘Beef cattle’ go straight to slaughter when ready. When I say ready I of course mean when the farmers have fattened them up enough. But I digress, the ‘dairy cows’ on the other hand have to serve months and years of one, constantly being pregnant and having their babies taken away. Two, being so overworked they cannot walk or sometimes stand, not that they actually get to roam freely. Three, suffer painful illnesses such as mastitis, and swelling of their utters, or having their tails cropped so the workers aren’t hit when hooking them up to the machines. They go through all this and more and still have to in the end offer up their lives to become someone’s dinner. An eggs! Please don’t get me started. The poor hens are cooped up in tiny cages with so many other hens they can’t even spread their wings. These cages are stacked causing the unfortunate bottom hens to be covered in feces and urine. The light, or lack of, and room temperature is regulated for ‘optimum egg laying’ conditions. Many hens die in the cages but are not removed. When the hens are considered ‘spent’ meaning their egg production has gone down, they are sold to be made into canned soup, or thrown into bins to be gassed. So you see consuming eggs and dairy products are actually much worse than eating meat. Just do some research and open your hart and minds. Are you ready to make the change?
Check out some of these sites to see for yourself:
Many people may argue that eating meat is their personal preference. How far should we allow people to go when making personal preferences? If a rapist, wife beater, or child molester said their actions were in accord with their own personal preferences we step in. We stop them from causing harm and inflecting pain. Yet when someone’s personal preference is killing animals because they enjoy the taste we accept it. Why?? Because the blood isn’t on their hands? Personal preferences should be one sided, concerning the person making the choice. For example, the color they paint their home, or the phone company they choose. Those are personal preferences. Decisions which reflect and concern only the person making the decision. When one chooses to eat meat because of a personal preference no one thinks about the animals preference. Because the animal would choose to live, just as a victim of rape or abuse would chose not to be harmed. Personal choices should be ones in which violence is not an outcome. The definition of preference is a choice; a special liking for anything over another. So what does this mean in terms of choosing to eat an animal? Someone prefers, or likes, animal flesh over what? Human flesh? Vegetables? Killing and torture should not be considered a personal preference.
I think most people would agree they feel it is wrong to inflect unnecessary suffering. So then one would assume that to cause unnecessary suffering and torment for pleasure, amusement, and or convince, can’t be sufficient justification for imposing such pain. Yet so many do this every day, maybe without realizing it mind you. I did until recently, by eating meat. Which by the way is defined as cut up pieces of the once living. Other words with similar meanings are, flesh, corps, carcass, dismembered body parts etc. people who chose to eat meat are basically saying ‘unnecessary pain is wrong, but its ok if it brings me pleasure.” Some may argue that eating meat isn’t unnecessary, yet there is no reliable source that states eating animals is a necessary part of a human diet. Our own government wont even maintain that you need to eat meat to lead an optimally healthy lifestyle. In fact they’ve agreed that the more animal products consumed the more danger you add to your health. Therefore the best justification we have for killing 10 billion land animals a year is because, ‘they taste good”.
