Horse races are often over looked when discussing animal abuse. With all the media attention surrounding recent events in the industry, it is a prime opportunity to take a stand. This article provides a short look into the arguements against this horrible industry and simple task you can do to help put it to an end.
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Some people just don’t understand
Recently my girlfriend Shannon made a short trip to Utah to visit her father. He seems generally accepting of her Veganism but one comment he made seems to reflect a common misconception. He suggested that Shannon find a “responsible” farmer and only consume dairy products from this source. Veganism is so much more then a change in ones diet, it’s a whole new way of life. It’s more then how the animals are treated. It’s the idea and belief that animals are not there for us to exploit no matter how well we pamper them.
In Case You Haven’t Heard
Gary Francione has just published a very useful tool for Vegan activism. Head over to his blog to get your hands on the pamphlet he has up for download. Don’t forget to listen to VeganFreak Radio to hear an exclusive interview with Francione.
30 Days
It has always irritated me that the only veg*ns who manage to make it on to television are complete nut jobs. They always pick the most bizarre, irrational, and sometimes border line psychotic individuals that in the end just give viewers a false perception of what a veg*n life style is really about. If it wasn’t damaging enough that the vegetarian mother on WifeSwap cared more about her art then her own children, we will never forget the vegan on What Not To Wear whose outfits closely resembled the tooth fairy.
This was the very reason I was skeptical when I heard that the show 30 Days was airing an episode in which a devoted hunter, named George, would spend a month with a family of vegans who work for PETA. My first thoughts were, “oh great not only are people going to think we are elitist, now the general public is going to think we all like running around naked or worse, protest in chicken suits”. To some extents I was correct in my prejudgments, there were some ridiculous nudity and the use a of giant chicken suit in front of a KFC. As anyone would have guessed, the hunter was very reluctant to opening his mind to any views out side of his own. He was very stuck in his speciest mind set, making comments that some animals are meant as food and others as pets. I think what proved to be very true throughout this episode is something we as activist should also grow from, video footage and speeches don’t always sink in. Seeing animal cruelty first hand is the quickest way to make an impact on some ones point of view. After all George was very annoyed when animal activist tried to shove their propaganda down his throat, but at the same time he was very moved when he saw how dairy cows were dumped on the side of the road. It made his skin crawl when he witnessed how the cows were loaded into the back of crammed trailers, and he felt like he made a difference when he rescued an abandoned calf from a factory farm. Most would say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but witnessing an event first hand is even more powerful.
I will admit it is very irritating that this show will probably just promote happy meat, especially considering that at the end of the experience George said he would not go vegan and would continue to hunt. It’s great that he has a better understanding of The Animal Rights Movement, but very unfortunate that it did not move him enough to change his daily life style. As activist we should be happy about at least two aspects of the episode, one being that the vegans chosen were not the usual nut jobs. The second is the vast amount of animal cruelty footage that was aired on national television, we have been trying to accomplish this for years. If anything, this episode will make people think about how our society abuse animals.
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