I've only just heard about the disgraceful assault on Lierre Keith at an Anarchist Book Fair, and quite frankly, I'm shocked cold.
I have supported the acts of the Black Bloc in the past - but I'm now willing to change my mind.
I have supported the acts of courage of the Vegan Anarchists in the past, but I'm now distinctly on the edge of changing my mind.
I have supported the Animal Liberation Front in the past, but now I'm thinking twice about lending them any credence whatsoever.
It's great that people can come to such a sensitivity for non-human life that they find themselves unable to eat that life to stay alive themselves. But for fuck's sake, people, develop your souls a little further, can't you?
If we all felt for the agony of the animals we kill and eat, there'd be an improvement in the world, that's for sure - but then what? Can we start to feel the pain on the spinach as it is ripped from the earth and sliced up, alive, to be digested by a human? Raw, for gods' sakes.
Will we balk at the slaughter of millions of microbial life forms every day - every hour, every second - as we continue on with our lives?
How have these people arrested their spiritual growth so that they no longer recognise that we are incarnate upon the Earth, and that this implies a continued cycle of destruction, death, creation and birth?
For this is the pact we have entered into as meat animals: that we kill to survive, and in turn are food ourselves. It's a beautiful, deadly, grisly and awesome ballet we perform.
And yet some folks have twisted their understanding so far that they are willing to physically assault someone with the guts to explain an alternative (and, to me, highly realistic and Earth-loving) view. It is sick, and so symptomatic of the culture we're embedded in at this turn of the spiral Time.
And one last thing, radical Vegans - if I ever need to rethink my position on Veganism, I will do so by holding your actions uppermost in my mind. Go back to square one, and start again.
One of the first things i learned about diet was from our teeth, they show that we are omnivores. I never had trouble eating meat after that.
ReplyDeleteIsn't this problm more about extremism? Ok, "anarchy" is a clue, but it's like "Repent Amarillo" a christian group in texas. Not like any christians i know.
I was explaining self correcting mechanisms, like the earth, to the kids. A fantastic concept that mankind has completely ignored in his workings.
peace
What disturbs me about the animals we eat isn't that we have to kill them in order to eat them, it's the way we treat them while they're alive, and the way we go about ending their lives.
ReplyDeleteI'm further bothered by the thought that we often treat each other as horribly as we treat our food, and that there might be a link there, somewhere. A link some extremist Vegans might do well to ponder.
Yes, I agree with both of you, Braxie and Tempest.
ReplyDeleteThese are definitely extremists. The hate rhetoric targeted at Lierre (and anyone who thinks her work is worthy of considering for that matter) is frightening.
And I agree fully that we treat our meat really really badly.And our plants.And each other.
Love,
T
There has to be a way to communicate to extremists (agreeing with Abraxas assessment that the problem is with extremism) that one can be moderate in temper without giving an inch in principle ... and that more often than not a moderate temper will succeed where an extreme one fails.
ReplyDeleteHear hear. What people say and what they do are so often in disharmony. As long as there is a being that we feel it acceptable to abuse, be it spinach or human or mouse, we are blind to our own reality.
ReplyDeleteTrying to stop the violence that man does to the beings it "raises" for food with counter violence is the ultimate in hypocrisy.
Well,this is really sad. What cowards. They can easily attack her, but are to afraid to go after the real animal abusers.
ReplyDeleteThe powers that be are laughing. They win when we go after our allies. We are so fucked.(pardon my language.)
Yes-pick a middle aged, physically handicapped woman to attack. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that these extremist vegan anarchists seem to have forgotten the very important fact that we are animals.
Love,
T
They revealed what animals we are.
ReplyDeletepeace
i watched the video on indybay and what REALLY surprised me is that no one got up immediately to pursue those dummies. you can bet your life that i'd have gone into ass kicking mode as soon as those pies went flying.
ReplyDeleteI think discussions of diet have to remained grounded in the real and revolve around discussions of actual harm, not hypotheticals and generalizations. As long as they involve big theories to be imposed on everyone everywhere, you run into situations like this, where people are willing to harm individuals for the sake of the "Cause." But isn't the respect for the individual, human or nonhuman, really the whole point?
ReplyDeleteI am myself a vegetarian, and when people ask me why, my simple response is that I know I could never kill an animal myself in order to eat it, so I feel it is unethical and hypocritical to pay for someone else to do my dirty work (someone who most likely doesn't have safe working conditions or possibly even legal citizenship and its protections). There are, of course, many many other reasons for my dietary choice, but this one seems to circumvent almost all of the usual comebacks about "don't you think carrots feel pain?" and "but we're biologically designed to eat meat", etc.
When we bring the discussion back to our (un)willingness to commit actual acts of violence and disrespect against other living things, it becomes easier to focus on what's important. Yes, we live embodied on this planet by eating other living things and we, in turn, will become food in our turn. All the more reason to understand the processes by which we live and think carefully about our choices. I cannot run a slaughterhouse in my backyard. But I can grow a garden and interact intimately with the plants that feed me, establishing a relationship of respect and appreciation that goes way beyond both the McDonald's hamburger and the meat-free supermarket salad packaged in plastic. I can ensure that my garden (and the farms from which my other produce comes) are local and sustainable, and I have found that this is easier to do with produce than it is with meat products.
Vegans and vegetarians who think it's enough simply not to eat animals miss the fact that, yes, agriculture can be immensely damaging. (Those who acknowledge this fact, such as myself, will then point out that a huge percentage of factory farmed produce goes to feed the animals we eat, and so cutting down on meat eating also cuts down on unsustainable factory farming at the same time.) I don't know any vegans/vegetarians personally who think it's wrong to eat a cow but okay to attack another human being. Really, I think this is one of those times when a few loud, obnoxious people make the biggest splash and get the most attention, while the large majority of us go about our daily business quietly and devotedly, allowing others to make their own choices and working to make the responsible, healthy and earth-loving choices easier for them to make.
Well said, Ali. Very well said -thank you.
ReplyDeleteLove,
T
Insightful post and comments!
ReplyDeleteLove, love your blog!