Rebel - With a Cause

1591: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

When we attack animals, we attack ourselves and erode our rebelliousness. The 'changers' and 'rebels' in Animal Rights activism, are always going to be under pressure to conform. But rebel-activists and abolitionists need to see this one through - come what may - against all odds. If we have to be solo fliers, we need to determine long term plans.

But it's not all to do with determination. We also need 'external' energy and the one essential energy source is - food! If the food we eat is rubbish, it can't energise us properly enough so that we can carry out all the important functions of life - including activism and rebelliousness. And since rubbish food is mostly heavy in animal material (as well as being heavy on the conscience) we end up with a hard edge to us. With a hardening of our food habits, we progress to hardened arteries - and so on. It leads to a string of other problems. 

Plant-based foods are good for self-development; but we still need a mental state of independence. As an independent, self-feeding, self-funding adult, we might become conscious of the wisdom of dropping bad habits and replacing them with better ones. This independence of mind tells us that we can't be intimidated by things such as missing our favourite (animal-based) foods or being 'one of the crowd'. When we slough off our old conformist skin and end our servitude to profiteers, we can go solo flying! This is when true independence of mind allows us to determine what we're actually going to do about the issues of animal abuse, animal-derived foods and many other big issues.

The origins of today's big issues are usually inspired by violence. Animal-derived foods start with violence. Food then is the symbol of the human's main mistake or weakness. When food is unethical and connected to cruelty and corruption, it represents that weakness in our species which can be traced back to low levels of rebelliousness - the mistake of compliance. Ingesting animal-derived foods undoubtedly corrupts a naturally functioning healthy body; but it also inhibits empathy. By choosing to not ingest this type of food, vegans establish a deep connection with animals. We 'feel' for the billions of them abused and abandoned daily. By boycotting animal-derived foods, we disassociate ourselves from a system of heartless animal production: the playing out of the dominant species ruling by force and cruelty - the human mastery of all other species. I'd suggest all global problems can be linked symbolically back to - food! With this in mind, plant eaters know they are working for peace.

A huge proportion of agricultural greenhouse emissions come from livestock production. Animal-derived food has a massive carbon footprint, which is almost entirely solved by going vegan. A huge proportion of world poverty is connected to low-cost fodder production, diverting crops from feeding humans to feeding livestock. By becoming vegan and no longer using animals, we make no connection with the fodder trade. And let's not forget the lab animals! They are nothing less than the caged slaves of drug companies and hospitals who thrive on illness. The 'medical industry' tries to curb illness (caused by eating animal-derived foods) by prescribing vivisectionist drugs so it obviously isn't in their interests to discourage animal usage.
Food - that symbol of consumer compliance. We go like zombies towards the shelves containing what we perceive to be 'food'. By consuming it, the connection is made with the cruelty of animal farming. Symbolically, food derived from violence, brings violence into our lives; but we learn to love it. Perhaps we compare the extremes of animal farming cruelty/violence with our own relatively small acts of violence to mitigate our guilt?  But we still want to witness it. We lap it up in the evenings, dramatised on TV. Perhaps we are preparing ourselves for a general hardening of attitude needed to survive this harsh world.
"God, make me less kind". 


Our unkindness is good for Big Profit Industries. A hardened attitude (notably towards non-human sentient beings) breathes vital oxygen into the lungs of Agribusiness, Pharmaceuticals and Arms Manufacturers. They thrive on the customers' weakness for violence. The most popular TV programmes serve it up by the plateful (to sweeten the tedium of lengthy ad breaks?) in the form of stories and fantasies; anything to divert us from ourselves. It's all about 'hard attitudes' these days. Hard attitudes to shield us from our fears of loss or injury. But we all know, on some level, that there is a connection between 'hurting' and violence and animal-derived foods; especially if we ingest 'blood-foods' or get involved with the killing.