Tag Archives: animal rights

Silence by Way of Oppression

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“A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor.”  —Nelson Mandela

Silence slices and stings. It wraps its duct-strong stick around the mouth and lips, muffling and muzzling any inconvenient or contrarian ideas, opinions, and beliefs. With little regard for opposing will, the oxygen struggling to free itself from imprisoned lungs is left alone to serve a longer sentence.

But we can all be a voice for the voiceless. We can speak for those downtrodden, hopeless, and timid souls who can’t even muster a whisper in the wind. We can verbalize that pain, giving wings to the words being buried beneath cycles of torment, abuse, and the abject, unrelenting misery that accompanies a lifetime of subjugation.

I choose to speak for the animals. I stand on the frontlines of a movement with the sole intention of shaking people out of their comfort zones by pulling back curtains of lies and misinformation to reveal the nasty truth about exploitation and a profit-obsessed industry happily on its knees, worshiping at the altar of the bottom line.

Sensitive, sentient, and sweet, these objectified innocents are forced to endure unspeakable cruelty in the name of some pathetic excuse to maintain the status quo and “nourish” the nation. They are lost in a haze of immense fear and panic, desperate for a respite, a kind word, or a gentle hand.

Their eyes reflect a sorrow far beyond despair. Aware of their imminent demise, they try to convey the alarming immediacy of their plight with each adrenaline-fueled nystagmus.

But where are the reinforcements? Who has come to rescue them? Will a last-second save stop the inevitable crawl toward termination?

Every frantic emotion spoken without words, clearly communicated, and yet so callously ignored.

This is the life and death of the billions of blameless animals, unfortunate enough to be born and slaughtered in a world that refuses to see them as anything but a commodity or meal.

We have agency. We have a calibrated moral compass. We have a voice.

Use it.

Adolescence Interrupted

Modern Slavery

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“If you ask me, what is the moral equivalent of fighting slavery today? I would say fighting factory farming.”  —Rutger Bregman

I was listening to a recent NY Times interview pod with Rutger Bregman, and something he said struck a sensitive chord. By equating the unchecked, barbaric practices of the current factory farming industrial complex to the horrors of the human slave trade, a seemingly obvious argument to anyone with even an ounce of empathy was framed in a uniquely clear, fresh context.

The parallels are undeniable. Sentient, feeling, and intelligent beings were ripped away from their families against their will, torn from their homes, thrown into cages, and dropped into terrifying foreign environments. They were mercilessly beaten if they resisted, didn’t follow commands, or tried to escape. Their bodies were battered, bullied, and manipulated for profit…until they were too weak, sick, or physically able to continue.

Disease was rampant, due to despicably unsanitary conditions, and little attention was paid to hygiene or disinfection. Sickness spread unabated throughout the population, weakening the body and breaking the will. It was cheaper and more expedient to simply let death take over, since even the concept of medical care for “property” was a laughable notion.

Rape was relentless, and the children who were a product of that violation were quickly stolen from their mothers and put to work. Females lamented the loss of their offspring, but their cries fell on deaf ears as their heartbreak was coldly dismissed as exaggerated nonsense.

At auction, potential buyers poked and prodded the flesh, checked for muscle tone, examined teeth, and looked for skin lesions, scars, and deformities. Then, after extensive haggling, a purchase price was negotiated.

There was a pervasive sense of general public apathy, as most people accepted these atrocities as an ordinary, typical aspect of society.

But there were those who resisted.

Some brave souls understood at a gut level that perpetuating a cycle of unrelenting abuse, mistreatment, and suffering was simply wrong. At the risk of arrest, punishment, or incarceration, they stood up to speak for the voiceless…and the slow unraveling of the human slave trade began.

Future generations will look back at our behavior toward animals today with the same level of shock and disgust. 

Be a part of the solution, not just another indifferent cog in the incessantly spinning wheel of torment, agony, anguish, and heartbreak.

Make informed decisions and humane, sympathetic choices. 

Don’t wait for the inevitable regret.

These modern slaves are counting on you.

Adolescence Interrupted

Staunchly Pro-life…of the Animals

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My eyes have been opened. I can finally see why these insanely devout fundamental Christians never stop blabbering and proselytizing about the evils of abortion, preserving the sanctity of life, and allowing “god’s will” to reign supreme. When you spend your waking hours obsessed with the notion that mass murders are happening around the clock and no one seems interested in stopping the massacre or slowing the slaughter, there is a specific variety of mental infestation that starts to gum up the gears. I have fallen victim to these wily worms and my sanity is paying a heavy price.

I could never fathom why anyone was so concerned about the elimination of a handful of cells that would most likely turn into unwanted, unwelcome humans thrust into an overpopulated planet with little to no chance of survival. Best case, this person overcomes impossible odds to be just another average oxygen-sucking, over-consuming, and endlessly polluting Joe Schmoe. Worst case, we’ve got a dejected, rejected mentally unstable rage junkie looking to enact revenge and retribution on a world that turned its back.

But having been on a vegan journey of evolution over the last 20 years, I think I can “almost” understand that degree of unbridled passion and the level of frustration felt when it seems like no one else can match a certain kind of fanaticism that feels like common sense.

Now, it’s no secret that I’m far from a fan of the human species or its perpetuation on this planet. I’ve made no bones about the fact that the world would be exponentially improved with our complete and total annihilation. So, when faced with any abortion vs animal rights/welfare issue, it’s pretty easy to predict where I land on the line.

I think the utter lack of volition, swiftly stolen from these innocent, sentient beings, is probably the hardest pill to swallow. They are here to simply live. They are not selfish, destructive, manipulative, heedless, opportunistic, malicious, corrupt, or dishonest. They are not humans. They are not food.

Dumping fuel on the blaze, not only do we senselessly butcher these terrified, nervous, and heartbroken creatures, but we also ensure that their final days, weeks, and months are filled with unspeakable cruelty and physical torture. In what reality does this feel justified?

Newsflash: Humans are not carnivores, there’s absolutely no nutritional value or need for cow’s milk (because you’re not a baby calf), and there are immensely cleaner and more potent sources of protein derived from plants.

So what’s the excuse? Tradition? Habits? Taste? Please! That’s pathetic.

Anyone who can continue to subsidize an industry profiting by producing unsustainable, environmentally devastating poison needs to seriously rethink some life choices.

Stop the cycle of senseless violence and torment, simply to fill your gullet with someone else’s suffering.

As David Hume identified with the is-ought fallacy, just because a thing is, doesn’t mean it ought to be.

Adolescence Interrupted

The Karmic Price Tag of a Failed Human Experiment

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“Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.”  —Dalai Lama

“There is little that separates humans from other sentient beings. We all feel joy, we all crave to be alive and to live freely and we all share this planet together.”  —Mahatma Gandhi

“Man’s inhumanity to man is only surpassed by his cruelty to animals.”  —George Bernard Shaw

“Anyone who says that life matters less to animals than it does to us has not held in his hands an animal fighting for its life. The whole of the being of the animal is thrown into that fight without reserve.”  —J. M. Coetzee

A relentlessly shameful and detestable practice of constant mistreatment, imprisonment, and consumption of innocent animals has physically and psychologically destroyed human beings and their environment. Still, a species dead set on self-destruction refuses to abate or even entertain the notion that what is generally presented as casual, habitual behavior is akin to torture and slaughter of the highest order.

While obesity buckles our knees, air-polluting ammonia deflates our lungs, and the scorching unfiltered sun sizzles our skin, we blindly force line after line of overcrowded, diseased, and terrified innocent, deeply sensitive creatures toward their inevitable demise at the hands of a stony-hearted, uncaring butcher.

There is no greater greed than that of profit over compassion.

We jam needles into delicate infant animal skin and smear burning chemicals over the eyes of lab monkeys so ugly people with ugly faces can walk around playing make(up) believe. Then we shove toxic, hormone-laden poison down our throats and scream about the excessively increasing rates of depression and cancer.

We incarcerate thinking, feeling, and suffering souls behind glass walls, iron bars, and miniature tanks so we can watch them slowly go mad in what we call their “natural environment.” When the lab results return, we can’t seem to understand why the dolphins are being eaten alive by stress ulcers or how debilitating zoochosis could have possibly developed in an elephant that was most likely twice as intelligent as its handler.

It pains my heart to witness this level of agony.

The prattling pro-life propagandists are more than comfortable murdering certain defenseless souls while constantly preaching about saving others. It’s a master course in hypocrisy. A wildly injurious, manipulated book of mistranslated fairy tales governs their lives by shackling them with the false notion that humans are any more valuable or worthy of safeguarding than any other living, feeling creature. It is a fallacy of unparalleled proportions, and this blind piety to the prison of organized religion is far more detrimental to the public psyche than abortion could ever dream to be.

I welcome the impending, inevitable end to this heedless, self-serving species. Finally, the perpetual war waged on wildlife will cease and the rightful inhabitants of this planet will live out their days in a peaceful, balanced equilibrium and well-earned harmony with nature.

We are the raging virus that selfishly squandered and eviscerated the beautiful gift we were given, and it’s high time for Mother Earth to heal the hurt by ridding herself of the unremitting, punishing plague named humanity.

The end of this utter failure called the Homo sapiens experiment can’t come soon enough.

Adolescence Interrupted  

When I Used to Run into People

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“I hear it said of somebody that he is leading a double life. I think to myself: Just two?”  —Leon Wieseltier

We contain multitudes. Personalities are pieces of fabric sewn together with layers and layers of sometimes seemingly incongruous materials. But deep beneath that mismatch, the essence of our true nature thrives. Unwinding the knots of complexity reveals the building blocks of that Frankensteinian Voltron we call identity.

We’re able to manage striking dichotomies in our youth that become far more rare and much less tenable with age. But that’s what made each day feel like such an adventure.

I used to run into people.

As a wily teen, I spent many weekend nights cramped into poorly ventilated, overheated gyms, VFWs, and dilapidated all-ages music venues to watch punk and hardcore bands scraping together an existence by tapping into the abundant adolescent angst of mostly males looking for an outlet that didn’t live on football fields or wrestling mats.

We screamed along to PAs blasting distorted, indecipherable lyrics about clean living, distrusting the government, and animal rights. We slammed into one another, dodging haymaker fists and stomping boots. Spinning circles in some manic ballet, we were on an island of our own creation, and that independent spirit was the fuel that powered my rebellious little engine. Drenched in sweat and drained of frustration, we retreated from the battle in some state of earned euphoria, grateful to have survived another night in the trenches.

It was music specifically designed to elicit rage and defiance, and I soaked up every second.

Then, on Monday, I returned to my madrigal choir and a cappella chorus where my meticulously tuned tenor 1 voice endeavored to reach the highest of high notes. Hands clasped. Shoulders back. Wide eyes. Wider smiles. Bathing in the beauty of perfect harmonious balance. A wholly opposite community. A vastly different shared sense of accomplishment. But equal elation.

Was I a punk rocker? A chorus kid? An envelope-pusher? A strict, disciplined member of the collective? Yes. I was all of these things…and many more. They were some of the very best moments of my life, and I wouldn’t trade a second of that seemingly odd discordance to snap into some perfect mold of the typical, expected teen experience.

We do not all fit into boxes, so let’s stop building them.

Adolescence Interrupted

Unclog the Drain

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“It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.”    —Dalai Lama

A country cowering in the corner of a storm drain and hiding from the impending hurricane by practicing almost unfathomable acts of social irresponsibility and shortsighted selfishness is a nation ripe for ridicule and condemnation by its global neighbors.

Sadly, the current pandemic is merely the pinpoint tip of an iceberg with titanic frozen roots, sitting at a depth scraping the seabed. Placing every pressing issue in the back seat of a brakeless car fueled by a narrow focus on some imaginary, concocted finish line—solely to benefit personal desires or ambitions—is beyond dangerous. It’s deadly.

We are reluctantly reaping what we’ve sown, regretting our batch and wishing we buried a different seed. But this toxic crop is precisely what we deserve, and the consequences of our actions have taken the shape of daily force-fed attrition.

Diseased, tortured Frankensteinian animals mass-produced as sustenance and left alone to rot in cages. Stock market manipulation to pack the pockets of people least deserving of the spoils. Blatant refusal to don masks at the expense of vulnerable elderly lungs desperately trying to survive a cloud of venomous vapor.

Every individual act of toe-shooting defiance is just a bullet in the head of the greater good.

Maybe you’ll be rescued by a vaccine. Maybe you won’t.

But patterns played out over time eventually lead to concrete, unchangeable results. If we continue to walk a path of least resistance—protecting our self-interests above those of the collective—and stunt the organic flow of nature’s blueprint, we will be met with far fiercer foes than coronaviruses.

We are not left without choice or free will, so selecting selfishness above selflessness is an insensitive slap in the face of humanity.

There will be debts to pay tomorrow for what is spent today.

Adolescence Interrupted