2081:
The omnivore is still blasé
when passing the abattoir down the road. They remain un-shocked. Why? Perhaps
because, in the weed patch of violence we all live in, it’s difficult to
separate problem weeds from the relatively harmless variety – the
‘holocausting’ of animals isn’t yet seen as a problem.
With all the violence going
on about us, why don’t we see this particular violence as significant? Well
firstly, unlike the barrage of ads on TV for meat, the killing of all these
animals isn’t exactly ‘in our face’. And when it is, it’s thrust at us too
confrontingly, like when the animal rights message gets through and is associated
with activist-types who the general public can’t relate to or identify with.
Omnivores’ sensitivities are
blunted by their addiction to ‘yummy’ animal stuff, but also by the fact that
the abattoir is not ‘just down the road’ or even near by. Both it and the
animal farms are out of town, privately owned and what happens there is behind
closed doors. The ‘dark side’ is hidden while the attractive side, in the form
of ‘yummy’ food, is flashed in our faces every day on TV. We’re shown
lovely-looking people selling lovely-looking products. The omnivores buy it.
They feel normal, safe and satisfied. The products even seem efficacious.
Are omnivores too easily
swayed by what others do? Are omnivores hard hearted? Maybe. But normality is
powerful enough to smother everything. We don’t indulge in individual thoughts
on these weighty matters; thinking is not encouraged. We are kept in the
juvenile unthinking state by vested interests; we do as others do; there’s no
need to feel personally responsible.
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