Tag Archives: factory farming

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