Indulge to your Heart's Content

1943:

Materialism is rampant. Our thirst for the material satisfactions of life is insatiable. To get the things we want, we take trees out of forests, put people in slums and factories and enslave animals. The rich have made fortunes - wherever’s a benefit to them, they’ve taken it, and without restraint.

Perhaps we’re all complicit since we humans dominate all other species, so that we can do as we please. Apart from a few viruses that we don’t yet control, all other life forms are subject to human whim. Anything useable is used and anything that gets in our way is got rid of. If any human population falls out of line, we bomb it. If any useful animal, like a kangaroo, can’t be farmed, we hunt it. If any life form becomes an uncontrollable pest, like the rabbit, we spread disease amongst it to eradicate it. Humans will stop at nothing to be in control. And whatever we do is done with violence and without a second thought.

         

Control through violence is passed on, from generation to generation, and initially this appeals to young people who only see the advantages to themselves. They don’t know any different. Their mantra is “Live now”. They adopt a carefree approach to all things. That is, until they begin to see through it all.

         

Who is there to guide them? Older people are almost all compromised, and anyway, they’re intimidated by youth, finding young people’s vitality and spontaneity so exciting they hardly dare to criticise them for any lack of responsibility or lack of independent thinking. Conversely, young people don’t usually find their elders inspiring or exciting at all, and turn to their peers for support, which exposes them to peer pressure, group thinking and a lot of unthought-out behaviour. Thus, we are as we are, and will remain so, unguided and prone to the quick, violent ways of our elders.

         

The Animal Rights movement is hopefully brave enough to make a bold stand against one of the greatest irresponsibilities of our time - the message, concerning the abuse of food animals, may just be enough to reverse today’s indulgent trend and bring back some sanity to our increasingly uncivilised society.