The Enslaved of England - Part Two

1737: Posted Fri

Edited by CJ Tointon

Being employed or having a way of generating money is necessary for basic survival these days. Without work, life is scary. Without work, we have no access to money, or at least the sort of money we need if we plan to have a family of our own. But if there IS work - what then? It's still no bed or roses! The job ties you down to years of compulsory and uncomfortable activity. The journey to work is uncomfortable, the work might be boring and meaningless and the journey home again is uncomfortable. Not much pleasure there - the day's energy gets drained away in myriad discomforts.  But for humans in general, especially in the West and as long as we're not in prison, life isn't too bad. We have sex, shopping, TV and eating for pleasure. And we have pleasure-boosting intoxicants and prescription drugs to help us escape the drab. Most of us feel no need to look back to see what's being left behind in our consumer wake. How dull is our indulgence on the rubbish offered. 

But much drabber and painful with fewer prospects for improvement is the life of the domesticated animal. If we ever feel imprisoned and enslaved, just think how farm animals feel living in slum conditions for ever behind bars just to provide human consumers with all the stuff we feel we cannot live without. Our own enslavement dulls our senses, forcing us to accept the unacceptable, permitting a terrible war to be waged with its dreadful animal sacrificing. Surely when we impose a hell-life on an animal, we do it to divert ourselves away from our own enslavement.

Many (if not most) humans are forced to live with job insecurity and housing unaffordability. Both issues point to an incarceration of sorts where we are forever paying for a roof over our heads, forever paying off debt. It's no wonder we go looking for pleasure! And so we run up the debts by over spending on pleasure. It's a vicious circle. We fall into debt when we over produce children. Paying off the car means debt. We incur too much student debt. But it's the roof that drives us the hardest and we all know that bank managers don't lend money to the jobless!

To want children is not unusual. But if you intend to reproduce, you risk everything by planning a family without a roof - aka, a job. Running a family is an expensive business in terms of energy and money. There's a car to maintain, a dog, two children, the Internet - that's a big layout even before paying the mortgage or the rent. It means a lot of pressure, anxiety and frustration with not much left over for 'pleasure'. And 'pleasure' is often children oriented. Time and energy just won't stretch far enough to question any other central lifestyle habits. If we do try to stretch things, energy runs out and moods change. We get knocked down. Mistakes are made. Our minds again focus on 'pleasures' if only to stop meltdown. Anything for relief. But there is a sort of Don't Panic button we can always press. We know where to go for a boost. If we're close to our fridge there's lots of 'pleasure' in store and we can hit it anytime. A treat, a snack, a meal, something to eat to titillate our taste buds. But it's at this point that we make contact with the animal issue. It jumps out of the fridge, the ghost of the animal-that-was in the form of cheesecake, ham sandwiches or cream whips. 

These days, almost every adult knows the connection between animal produce and Society's dodgy health condition. Yet adults and infants alike also know what 'tastes good'. Small children know what produces that pleasure taste/eat feeling. They spend their young lives listing and insisting on getting what will produce just that! But (as older ones come to learn) the yummiest tucker involves the worst animal cruelty and it alerts the conscience. It makes many people want to lead vegan lives. If you've heard of veganism, it's likely you've discovered what it means and you'll know why vegans are vegans.

By not challenging this mouth/stomach call for satisfaction, we effectively cave in to temptation. We end up eating something we shouldn't be eating. If it's not about health, it's about ethics. When the latter is ignored, we effectively sideline Conscience. We give in. We head for the fridge for 'self medication'. We go to get energy, despite all the many nutritionally (or ethically) dubious considerations. We go because the call of the Body's discomfort is loudest. Our pressured lives and general enslavement can make us so miserable that we need a lift from any source that's available. We need energy to survive, therefore we eat.  As sufferers of the System, we do all we can to alleviate our own suffering. We lift our spirits by letting food become our main source of pleasure. No longer do we eat to live - we live to eat! And the retail outlets are very welcoming. Their temples are warm and well lit. Like the Tesco supermarket I visited.