776:
As an animal advocate, I try never to get nasty or insistent.
The seriousness of the (animal) issue isn’t necessarily shared by everyone, so
I keep any coups de grace tucked up my sleeve, in reserve. However, we can’t
avoid the details of the issues involved, however ugly they may be. We have a
duty to pass the truth about animal husbandry onto those who know too little
about it. The details are important and it’s these details people don’t know
about. Or say they don’t.
If I do get the chance to say
something, what should I mention? There’s so much to say but it’s a matter of
timing - the more impact we make the greater the risk of shocking, or then being
totally rejected.
But if I ever do get to the
details, here are three areas I think are worth expanding on:
1. Sentience - there’s a
similarity between humans and animals, in the way we each feel and suffer pain.
Even fish have a similar nervous system to ours, so when they are dragged out
of their water-world and left to suffocate, they’re often crushed to death by
the weight of other fish, piled on top of them. Ordinarily, fish suffocate in
the air over a period of twenty minutes, a detail lost to most anglers. Whether
creatures die on decks of boats or in abattoirs, every one of them suffers a
terrible death. Each of us (who eat them) plays our part in these deaths. The ultimate
detail is held in just one number – 250 – the number of animals the average
person is responsible for putting to death, the number they consume, in one
year.
2. Human health - the long-term health
effects of ingesting animal products is not fully realised by people until it’s
too late. The foods and chemicals fed to farm animals, together with the fatty,
high protein content of the food itself, makes animal-based foods unsafe,
health-wise. The Animal Industries wouldn’t agree, of course.
3. Environmental impact - animal
farming isn’t good for the environment, with soil erosion, waste run-off and
emissions of greenhouse gas. And, the food fed to animals which are then fed to
humans is a highly inefficient waste of energy. It is more efficient for humans
to be fed directly from plants. This waste is an insult to the millions of
people around the world who are starving for lack of any sort of protein.
For all these reasons this
subject is rarely talked about. Clouds of obfuscation wash over this subject so
that none of the important details ever get discussed, since discussion of them
is regarded as a social taboo. By not
allowing free discussion and by pretending the problem doesn’t exist, we erode one
of our most valued freedoms – free-speech. You and I might disagree about
Animal Rights but, if we never have the chance to discuss it, we end up having
a much bigger problem on our hands. If we aren’t free to learn new things or
talk about certain things what does that say about us? That we are frightened
of the truth coming out? If we’re silent on this subject we are voiceless, just
as the animals are. And that would be embarrassing, to stay quiet when we
should be exercising our freedom to speak out.
Our animal slaves on the farms have
no freedom. I think that needs to be talked about and objected to. We’ve taken their
lives away from them so they have no reason to live.
While animals can’t do anything
about their loss of freedom, we humans can, since we have freedom of thought
and personal decision. But even for a free-thinking vegan, how much right do I
have to speak freely when this subject is so off-limits. I’m expected to skim
over the surface but never to touch on any significant details. I can’t get ‘down
to it’ with omnivores because I know how touchy this whole matter is for them.
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