Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Altruism re-visited


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It’s all very well, altruism. It makes me feel good to think that I’m being altruistic but it’s no compensation for the injustice I might feel inside. What about me and my own interests? Wouldn’t daily altruism be making a rod for my own back? I can’t just ignore my burning anger or my sensitivity to what I’ve seen with my own eyes.
Let’s say that I have the deepest rage about it all, and that I’m in a perpetually shocked state at what some humans are allowed to do to animals. How does it make me feel that they get away with it? And, plus, they’ve got so much power on their side and I have none – that’s impotence for you! So, back to my rage. I get angry about just one thing, that the Vegan Animal Rights movement seems to have no traction in our society. We don’t noticeably influence anything. All we can do is protest publicly or act illegally. We can’t directly influence what is being done to animals because what they do is quite legal and it’s socially acceptable. How does that make me feel? Well, not exactly altruistic. It doesn’t immediately make me want to teach people the truth of things, I just want it to stop. I just want to cry. But nothing is going to stop because I want it to. In reality it’s a long road to travel, the gradual eroding of one mind set and its replacement with another. Humans have freewill and a legal system to support animal slavery. Humans also have a strong liking for all the products of the Animal Industries. To break that down we need maximum patience, commitment and imagination, and a minimum of sympathy-inducing tears.

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