Separation

1385:

To really keep separate, to really control people, whether low caste, uneducated or vulnerable, all we need to do is keep our distance from them. The necessary distance-of-separation depends on how far we want to make use of them.

A whole range of exploitative attitudes are passed on from generation to generation till they become ‘normal’ attitudes. 'Separation-ists', learning how to put a person ‘in their place’, and find it convenient to show unrelenting dislike, distain or disapproval of them. And that is similarly applied to domesticated animals. By withholding any sign of friendship or respect from them, one is better justified in doing what we want with them.

We’re primarily talking here about resource animals, of whom there’s a vast population on the planet. Farmers say they love their animals. I don’t think that’s true, for by actively disliking them,  they can more readily justify their exploitation. 

         

On farms, any amount of heartless treatment is seen to be fair game, and the more routine it is the more it is barely-thought-about. This emotional separation becomes an essential skill for those who are hands-on with farm animals.

If you aren’t a ‘separation-ist’, if you are more inclined to be an egalitarian, it’s likely you hold the minority view of liking differences, whether between other people or other species. If you are a non-separationist, you’ll surely be in favour of giving anyone the benefit of the doubt and giving the best treatment possible to the marginalised.

         

But separation-ists are still in the ascendant. It serves their interests to keep others ‘in their place’, which means that any culture-discrimination between us as humans will more easily transpose to a species-discrimination, essential for animal farmers.

Most humans rate animals, as well as ‘lesser-people’, as being lower than themselves, allowing them to be treated badly whilst not feeling bad for doing so.

         

Humans do terrible things to animals and can still smile at the prospect of a roast dinner waiting for them on the table at home. Cooked-animal - what could be better?

And it’s always been like this down through the ages – meals containing ‘animal’ have always been thought to make for delicious food and strong healthy bodies. There was no other way of regarding our meat-predominated diet, until, in the nineteen forties, it was questioned. It was proposed that a plant-based diet was healthier and ethically sound.

That was the beginning of a transformatory change of diet and attitude towards animals that has taken a long time to take root. And it will continue its slow progress, gradually influencing us, until a new fashion takes over which not only sees animal-based foods to be unhealthy but shames us for what we have done to animals over the millennia.