Growing up in the shadow of an abattoir

508: The blasé omnivore passes the abattoir and remains un-shocked. Why? Perhaps because, in the weed patch of violence in which we all live, it’s difficult to separate problem weeds from relatively harmless weeds – the ‘holocausting’ of animals is not yet seen as a problem. With all the violence going on about us, why don’t we deem this particular violence significant? Well firstly, unlike meat ads on TV, it isn’t exactly ‘in our face’ everyday. And even if it does get a mention in the media one day, it’s easy to forget it the next. Whenever violence against farm animals is shown, it’s thrust at the public too confrontingly, producing only fear and revulsion. It neither inspires nor shifts perception, substantially enough to impel me to make a personal change to my personal habits. When the Animal Rights message ever does get through it accompanies a feeling of profound discomfort. Yuk. And this ugly-worry slides off into a need to disassociate with ... something ... a scapegoat ... and eventually up pops this convenient vegan, all nicely angry. They see (in me, for instance) a confronting type of person with whom they have difficulty in identifying. I’m a type. A type they don’t much want to be like. Perhaps in the past, there is a memory of meeting someone who had said things that sparked discomfort. So it behoves me to look at me, in this context. I’ve met a lot of angry evangelicals and I’ve never liked them. The evangelical in me I also don’t like. I don’t like me when I’m angry or spitting chips. Presumably it’s as ugly for others as it is for me. Me, the vegan doing my stuff. By being so confrontational we make it easy for people to dislike us? And I think that, deep down, they really do loathe us and all we stand for, so ... I think I have to work on being liked, perhaps by seeming a little weirder than I feel I really want to be, if only to appear less of a threat or less unattractivet. It could be true to say that, on this touchy subject of food and animal issues, the general public’s sensitivities is blunt. To some extent Joe and Jo have an addiction to all the standard yummy animal-stuff. Joe and Jo are not seriously aware of food attachments. It only amounts to sometimes having a dicky stomach and putting on a bit of weight. Body changes are so imperceptible over the years that we hardly notice what’s happening, and if we do we do NOT like to associate it with health-nutterdom. So, ‘eat as you are’ is just about the extent of their consciousness, re food. (About food especially) it’s very possible that we act dumb, and when ‘JoJoe’ doesn’t put two and two together, they don’t think about what happens to animals when they are turned into food. Therefore, unless they encounter one of these advocating vegans, the animal issue will remain a non issue. And if ignorance increases bliss then it’s as well to steer clear of any information concerning the modern horrors of animal husbandry. Largely very little is known by most people because all the real blood curdling details are kept secret. They don’t build abattoirs near where I live. And usually the animal farms are well away from towns. What happens, happens behind closed doors. The ‘dark side’ is well hidden. And into the bright light of day comes the attractive side of the animal story. It’s well known (in the form of yummy food), portrayed every day in TV advertising. TV today is made up of ten minutes of programme followed by five minutes of advertising. Billions of humans simultaneously scream a little scream when their programme shuts down and soap powder takes over. Most of us are confronted and insulted by the ads, and yet I know that I am drawn in by the lovely-looking people, smilingly using lovely-looking products. If such lovely people say the product is okay, that’s good enough for me. I want to be part of that sort of good-looking world. I interpret one main thing from the ad. I accept that the information is more or less true ... because it is being importantly broadcast nationwide. For me that spells successs, soundness and cool. The product is likely to be safe and almost certainly satisfying, even efficacious. I wonder if I watch too many ads? I wonder if I’ve been swayed? Nah, I only do, buy, enjoy what others do. The tragedy of zombie-think is that we can grow to believe our own rhetoric for the sake of complying with normality. I want to be part of this very large system, Society, in which I live. Zombie - to edge gradually towards an almost imperceptible, low-level zombie state, you have to believe in and follow your TV instructions. The early stages of this state, I suspect, emerge when the heart is everso slightly hardened. (Ironically meat itself is said to do exactly that on the physical plane). Hard-heartedness is a shutting down of something. An omnivore would be accepting that more than others, to their everlasting detriment. As one of those irritating vegans, I could say that omnivores don’t think for themselves because they’re so keen to stay normal, and be acceptable to those around them. If that doesn’t sound too high handed then I could say that, in this way, I suspect many consumers are being kept in a dangerously juvenile state, if only because they are letting themselves be led, like lambs to the slaughter ... by doing what others do ... by not needing to grow up (read, become more ‘responsible’).