Monday, November 23, 2009

The Vegan Hope for the Age of Peace


The social injustice record of humanity is that of a raving lunatic! Humans are the inventor of forced child marriages, child sex trafficking, rape, machismo, war and terrorism, guns, nuclear armament, bombs, child soldiery, genocide, the holocaust, crimes against humanity, crimes against nonhumanity, slavery, hate-crimes, vivisection, environmental devastation, species annihilation, epidemics, pesticides, toxins and chemical poisons, sexism, racism, nationalism, and speciesism.

A 22 year old man in Lithuania throws a dog off a bridge, records it with his camera-phone and posts it on-line. A mother sold her 5 year old into sexuality for profit in a small town in North Carolina. A 13 year old girl is raped by several 15 year old boys while they record it on their camera-phone in the United States; where crime and depression are rampant.

In a province of Spain, ‘The ‘Toro Jubilo’ annually occurs. Jeering mobs torture a bull with balls of burning tar or turpentine (called "pitch") attached to his horns. Some try to escape hours of agony by smashing into walls. Setting fire to a live animal — known as Toro de Fuego or “bull on fire” illustrates the deeply cruel and insensitive part of humankind.

Ninety-three nations in the world show their ruthless intolerance of others by still legally punishing homosexuality. In Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Nigeria, Mauritania and Somalia - gays and lesbians are punished with the death penalty.

There is a high incidence of rape, and numerous reports of gang rapes, in Sudan. Mass rape is used as weapon of war in the genocide that continues to take place in Darfur. Instead of getting justice for being raped, often the women are accused as adulterers. If a girl is pregnant from the rape of another man and she is married, it is considered adultery, and the punishment for adultery is death.

Currently, approximately 300,000 child soldiers are used in 30 countries around the world. Some of the biggest contributors to child soldiery are Brazil, China, and many African and Indonesian countries.

Slavery was officially abolished worldwide, yet it continues to thrive because of the complicity of some governments and the ignorance of much of the world. Some common types of slavery are: chattel slavery, debt bondage, forced labor, and sexual slavery. There are conservative estimates of 27 million slaves in the world today, and up to 67 million if you include forced child labor.

There is widespread use of children in cocoa production and many of the children (approximately 12,000 of the 200,000 working in the Ivory Coast cocoa industry) may be victims of human trafficking or slavery. West Africa supplies nearly 80% of the world's cocoa, and the Ivory Coast, supplies nearly half of that. The big chocolate producers buy cocoa at ‘commodities exchanges’ where cocoa from the Ivory Coast is mixed with other cocoa. So while some humans are taking pleasure in chocolate bars, African children under the age of 15 are being forced into child labor or slavery, and so are the cows for the milk in the milk chocolate. So-called civilized people delight in and sustain products of misery.

Child marriages are still customary in parts of the world. In many tribal systems of Africa (Kenya, Mali, etc.), a man pays a ‘bride price’ to the girl's family in order to marry her. In many parts of Africa, this payment decreases as a girl gets older. Even before puberty it is common for a married girl to leave her parents to be with her husband. Many marriages are poverty-related, with parents needing the bride price to care for the rest of the family. Meanwhile, a male child in these countries is more likely to gain a full education, gain employment and pursue a working life, thus tending to marry later, epitomizing sexism.

In parts of Ethiopia and Nigeria, more than half of the girls are married before the age of 15 and some girls are married as young as the age of 7. South Asia has the highest prevalence of child marriage of any region in the world. India, especially rural areas, has a large rate of child marriages. Nearly half the young women in Bangladesh were married before the age of 15. The widespread prevalence of child marriage in Saudi Arabia has been documented by human rights groups. There are no laws defining the minimum age for marriage in Saudi Arabia, and girls as young as 8 years of age can marry.

The Holocaust, the embodiment of racism, is the word used to describe the genocide of the six million European Jews during World War 11; a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany, Hitler and allies. The Nazis also systematically murdered millions of people in other groups, including Catholics, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, disabled people, Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, ethnic Poles, and Romani. There were 11 to 17 million human beings transported by trains to extermination camps, where they were killed in gas chambers. Some also use the term Holocaust to describe the estimated 800,000, mostly Tutsis, slaughtered in Rwanda. And others have used it to describe the ongoing mass murder of billions of land animals for food production.

According to the FAO; a division of the United Nations, ‘starvation’ currently affects more than one billion people (or 1 in 6 people). There is enough food produced to feed the world’s hungry, yet citizens of rich countries are gluttonous while children starve to death in poorer countries. And they eat meat. Meat production robs the grains that could feed the world’s starving children, is the biggest contributor to global warming and environmental degradation, and yet people don’t care. They say “I like my meat” without being the slightest bit ashamed that they are directly linked to the annihilation of billions of innocent animals, the planet, and the world's starving human beings.

We continue to develop “civilization” and deplete the wildnerness; thereby taking away the homes of many other species, to make room for the one that is the worst pest to the planet; the animal with the worst environmental footprint, the one who stains the oceans red with blood of murdered Calderon dolphins. These intelligent and friendly mammals come to be sociable with the teens of Feroe Island, Denmark each year, who then brutally slaughter them to show how adult and mature they are, all the while hearing the dolphin’s cries that sound humanlike.

Undercover footage exposing men in factory farms horrifically abusing pigs and throwing piglets around like a football - is the latest news. Daily, I am overwhelmed with reports of shocking crimes inflicted on nonhuman animals, not to mention the ongoing slaughter of a 50-100 billion animals every year, every day, every second, everywhere in the world. When is this insanity going to end? Has the human race gone entirely mad?

Eating murdered corpses breeds violence and is the mark of a truly misguided and speciesist society. The Vegan Ethic is hope and a possible solution to the madness that is synonymous with the human race. I never hear of vegans killing or raping. When we become vegan, we “veganize” – we become more kindhearted. It’s something we can easily do to help try to turn it all around and become who we are really meant to be as a species. Some of you may be saying I eat animal products and I don’t kill and rape. (You DO pay someone to inseminate cows & pigs, sometimes on a rape rack, and kill nonhuman animals for you; animals that are not much different than your family dog in their awareness).

A change of consciousness will surface when becoming vegan. Humans have the potential of limitless Love. Let’s bring about a vegan world that in no way resembles the ailing one that has been in existence for ages. As vegans; we usher in the long-awaited ‘Age of Peace’. The Age of Peace; where the scariest animal of all; the human, lies with the lamb.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

AND YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT!


VEGAN QUOTES by M. “Butterflies" Katz – Vegan Poet

“It’s pitiful to see humans so coldhearted and not in touch with their natural feelings of empathy and compassion; so much so that they could be complicit in crimes against nonhumanity. We cannot rise to who we are really meant to be, if we are inflicting (or paying someone else to inflict) misery and suffering on others. We free the animals and our own higher nature by living a vegan lifestyle.”

“All species and the natural environment are interconnected. By living a vegan lifestyle, we liberate ourselves from the guilt, (however hidden), of imposing suffering on other beings, and thus we free our high-minded and spirited nature to emerge. I believe that this evolution of the human consciousness, (which is not passive, but takes effort), is the way out of the critically threatening planetary problems we are facing. It is the non-violent approach to gaining rights for animals that will lead to their emancipation, and ours.”

“Regulating animal exploitation through welfare reform is like regulating rape, torture and murder. If the conduct is wrong, we should unite and work for the end of this behavior, rather than work for inflicting harm in a more “humane” way. There is nothing humane in enslaving and commodifying the lives of sentient beings. We need vegan campaigns to impress upon people that veganism is a moral imperative for all humans.”

“War and revolution have been tried over and over again. It's already been done before, you know what I mean? But EVOLUTION, which could be the new paradigm way of solving our planetary problems, has not been tried enough. This is what the noted quote ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’ is talking about. In order to change the consciousness of humanity; we must change our own.”

“I’m amazed at how many (educated) people still think that ‘vegan’ is a diet. I’m offering my three decade vegan-point-of-view with my 2009-up-to-date-definition of a vegan: Veganism is an ethical stance that rejects and protests the present structure that views animals as a commodity rather than the feeling, conscious beings they truly are. Vegans strive to rise above their speciesist mindsets. Hence, vegans avoid animal ingredients in food, clothing, products, and don't support businesses that exploit animals. Vegans exclude dairy, milk, cheese, eggs, honey, gelatin, meat, whey, silk, wool, leather, animal-derived substances in toiletries, products, and food. Vegans don't buy products that are tested on animals. They don't vote with their dollars to have animals perform for them, race for them, fight for them, entertain them, or die for them. Vegans don't support slavery.”

“Vegans don’t feel they are deprived. They feel fortunate to have been awakened. It is not difficult to be vegan once you get past the initial re-educating yourself from the misconceptions you were indoctrinated with by a misinformed, cruel, and insensitive society. It is our obligation to evolve humanity by striving to reach our higher nature of compassion. We can do this by seeking the councel of our conscience and following what it says.”

“The spiritual harmony that comes from being vegan is wonderful beyond words. Everyone I know who became vegan, (not pseudo vegan), is more energized, has had physical ailments disappear, and has gained more mental clarity and self-esteem. Knowing how the vegan ethic can benefit humans, free the animals, and has the potential to help save the planet, I have no qualms about telling every person who will listen about the virtues of veganism.”

“Throughout history, people have made major shifts in thinking. There is no reason to believe that people can’t do this once again. In fact, if the human race is to survive, we must shift to veganism, because animal agriculture is rapidly destroying our planet and the heart of humanity, not to mention the billions upon billions of nonhuman animals killed at the hands of humans. Veganism; non-violent and abolitionist, is humankind’s next evolutionary step.”

“Often people are not aware of the extreme cruelty involved in the animal products they eat and wear. We can no longer, in good conscience, ignore what goes on just so people can have products, garments and the food they “WANT”, that are completely unnecessary.”

“Apparently, we are the ‘reasoning’ animal, but with all our intelligence, we as a humanity, have not seen something so easy to see; the natural feeling to want to save lives rather than being the cause of misery, suffering, and the death of other sentient beings.”

“Veganism is related to many other social justice issues. If you are an environmentalist and want to help save the planet, first and foremost, you must be vegan because animal agriculture is reaping havoc on the environment and possibly the chief contributor to global warming. If you are a feminist, you must give up dairy and go vegan. The female reproductive systems of nonhuman animals are grossly exploited, and must be objected to; by not paying someone to do this to our sisters. If you are a peace activist in protest of violence, the first step would be to remove the violence you participate in by purchasing non-vegan products. Veganism is a solution to world hunger and a lack of equal distribution of food. Most of the grains and soy grown in the world goes to feed human-bred and enslaved animals for human consumption. If we did not breed and eat cows, pigs, etc, there would be plenty to feed the world’s starving humans. A balanced vegan diet is a better health plan for humans than the money-hungry ones in existence. I naturally knew animals were not food when my brother told me that meat was a dead animal, when I was twelve. My understanding of the vegan ethic has now expanded to seeing it as a remedy to the world’s many illnesses.”

“If you are not vegan, go vegan. Skip ‘vegetarian’ altogether as veganism is the only ethically-consistent position. Dairy cows are tortured and then they are brutally slaughtered just the same as cows for meat; it’s all the same business.”

“I’m telling people the truth. People don’t always want to hear the truth, however! Why do vegans have to be so careful about how we are telling non-vegans THE TRUTH? Remaining ignorant of the atrocities that humans inflict on animals (that is within our control to stop with our purchasing power), is not justifiable. Ignorance is not bliss. Your ignorance is the opposite of bliss for billions of suffering animals, who so deserve the right to their little portion of light and bliss.”

“I’ll see their Christmas cards hanging in a row on a string with ‘Peace on Earth’ messages and at the very same time, look at the products of extreme violence that they have on display in their shop window. I believe people really do want Peace on Earth in their heart of hearts, but they have not figured out that they sustain horrific violence with the food on their plates or the leather shoes that they wear. Violence begets violence.”

“The mainstream has not yet broken free of their misguided conditioning that thinks humans are superior to nonhuman animals and therefore we can do whatever the hell we want to them; use them for our purposes, at our will. This mindset is the conformist’s way of thinking, but one that must be done away with and replaced because it is not truthful. In being a conformist we must ask ourselves ‘is this something I should be conforming to?’”

“If the world was the way it should be, no being would live in fear of being hunted, slaughtered, enslaved, or commodified by the human species. Humans are the scariest animal of all. Humans are the only species that enslaves other species, and his own. Humans are the only species that employs a large number of assassins to carry out a mission on others of his own species, who they don’t even know, and take their life simply because someone told them to. Humans are the only animal that takes pleasure in imposing misery on other sentient creatures.”

“Veganism is intertwined with the peace movement; they should be considered synonymous, in my opinion. I don’t believe vegans should be terrorizing to other animals; human or nonhuman. Veganism has Peace as its foundation. The term ‘militant-vegan’ should be obliterated. It is an oxymoron. Vegans are ushering in a gentler world. We are making a stand saying we are in protest of all the violence, and we are showing the rest of humanity that people can (and should) live by a more expanded compassion.”

“When I consider all the animals that are brutally slaughtered to ‘make merry’, it doesn’t feel like ‘the season to be jolly’. Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with you (and me). Veganism is the one thing you can do today, right at this moment, to make a statement about nonviolence.”

“We vegans, in order to form a more perfect union of all that exists, and to establish true justice, ensure harmony and serenity of spirit, provide for the common good of all, to promote universal nonviolence, and to secure the benefit of freedom for all, should establish a ‘vegan movement’ dedicated to the fulfillment of these declarations. Let’s come together to share the same direction, from uniquely differing paths; to assist each other in the attainment of our common goal; a vegan world. Towards this end, we must dedicate our highest spiritual, mental, emotional and physical selves to attaining this new paradigm. Lets’ come together, with this shared vision – and make ‘a vegan world’ come to be.”

“If I tell people the Truth about speciesism, people get uncomfortable because it challenges their indoctrination that humans are the superior species and all others are here for their use; to subjugate. It’s 2009 and slavery ought to abolished. Man is the only animals that enslaves. Man enslaves other races of his own kind because he thinks his race is superior. This is racism. Men enslave women, by using brute force, and only one sex has a hand in the laws governing both sexes. This is an example of sexism. Humans enslave and exploit nonhuman animals by the billions upon billions. This is speciesism.”

“I’m tired of being upset by people’s shoes that are made of animal skins. Everywhere, what is considered ‘normal’ is offensive to me. I am disgusted when I see a rodeo sign on the road. Inflicting misery on innocent beings is “normal” in our society. Ponder that. I’m tired of a “butcher” being a “normal” shop owner! I’ve had it with killers casually discussing their fishing or hunting of my friends. I am tired of seeing an animal bought and sold at the farmer’s market like a garment or object. I’m tired of the vegan lifestyle being thought of as so difficult. It’s not hard at all. I’m tired of veganism not being taken seriously; when in fact, it is a universal remedy for many of our ailments. I’m tired of so much violence. Veganism is an antidote. I’m tired of selfishness and apathy being normal. What is now normal; is something I don’t want to be. I’m amazed at how so many people really want to be normal. They follow what the majority of humans do; just so they can be normal. I want to live in that world where ‘Vegan is Normal’. Because in truth; it is.”

“To live in a world “as it should be”, one could start by climbing above their unjust mind-sets such as racism, sexism, ageism, nationalism and speciesism.”

“People have a human supremacy stance that carries them through life. We call ourselves “owners” of our dog. This is to be expected because we grew up in a world that teaches and even legally states that animals are ‘our possessions’. Often, people will pay money for an animal; which I find unthinkable. Commodifying another breathing conscious being is immoral.”

“Society is selling an assortment of lies and people are buying them. Television commercials are some of the worst forms of lying that goes on in the world. When I see how people listen to the TV commercials that entice them to eat sizzling muscle of a butchered gentle animal and think it is a “delicacy”, or accept as true the commercials that lead you to believe that an enslaved nonhuman animal is HAPPY to give you its bodily secretions or dismembered body parts, I can see how Nazism was ABLE to ‘come to be’. Apparently, it’s easy to sell lies to people.”

“Society programs us with illogical lies about animals just as Nazism has regarding races of man. The oppressive conduct of society towards animals can be compared to the oppressive nature of Nazism. There are strong parallels between racism and speciesism.”

“What if we could awaken ourselves to filtering everything through our own reasoning mind, and through our own conscience, rather than just following societal norms? In our discovering of Truth (with a capital T), we must evaluate what we've been taught through reasoning and through our own sense of right and wrong. We can know what is really true because it is written in our hearts.”

“When I realized (at age twelve) that animals were not food, but sentient friends, and that everyone else thought differently, I knew right then and there not to necessarily trust what mainstream perception is handing me; to take people’s words with a grain of sea salt! If they couldn’t see this obvious Truth that animals are beings not that different to us; (two eyes, a brain, a heart, a nervous system, emotions, families, loveable, communicative) and should not be killed and eaten, what else were they not seeing that they think they do see?”

“Humans prize their intelligence and use it as rationale as to why they have the right to dominate/own/enslave nonhuman animals. But to me, this seems like a fundamental lack of intelligence, like they really are not seeing very basic simple truths of life; truths that are easy enough for a child to comprehend (and they do).”

“Some say being vegan is too eccentric and difficult, but it is actually the very least we can do to respect the inherent rights of others. It is the first step.”

“Vegan education does seem to be accepted much easier by a child who has not been “adulterated”. Children naturally know, with proper instruction, that other animals are friends and not a commodity. An excellent way to spread veganism throughout the world is to ‘indoctrinate the youth, by telling them the truth!’”

“If I were a parent, I would not likely send my child off to a public school. Public school is an environment that teaches children the history of humanity from war to war, and makes heroes of mass murderers. Then school systems reinforces what they teach with lunches made from murdered sentient beings, even though the American and Canadian Dietetic Associations say that a pure plant-based (vegan) diet is appropriate for all stages of life. From early on, we train our children that violence is acceptable, even honored. We fill their sweet, beautifully innocent minds with lies about how we should treat other species with which we share the Earth. We serve them lunches derived of enslaved, tortured, and brutally murdered animals and products of their exploited reproductive system.”

“We were taught in school about Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist and philosopher, (1829-1910), but we were taught half truths. What they omitted was that Tolstoy said "If a man earnestly seeks a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from animal food." In school, we were taught about Albert Einstein, physicist and 1921 Nobel Prize recipient. However, we were NOT taught that he said: "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." -or this: "It is my view that a vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind." We were taught about Mahatma Gandhi, Hindu pacifist and spiritual leader, (1869-1948), but we were not taught that he said: "It is very significant that some of the most thoughtful and cultured men are partisans of a pure vegetable diet." -or this: "I do not regard flesh-food as necessary for us at any stage and under any clime in which it is possible for human beings ordinarily to live, I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species." We studied Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian sculptor, artist, inventor, (1425-1519), but somehow our school teachers did not teach us that he said: "The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."”

“We feed our children a diet and an education that holds them back, keeps them down, and retards the progress of humanity. Vegan children are healthy, happy, and highly aware little persons. The children are the hope of the future; let’s direct our non-violent vegan education on them!”

“For me, having ideals, principles and ethics are more important than having a relationship with a person. However, having them both together can be a real high! Many people are in a relationship because of financial reasons, just to have someone or they’d be alone. I would rather be alone (or without a human relationship) than be with someone that was not lifting me to a higher consciousness. Since veganism is humankind’s next evolutionary step, a quality relationship would have veganism as its foundation.”

“It's a widely held belief that people need animal products for survival and good health, even though there are many long-time vegans who are very often healthier than the omnivorous majority. Any country whose economy is largely based on animal exploitation results in its people believing that there's little left to eat if you don't eat animal products. When people find out that I'm vegan, they ask me, 'But what is left to eat?' I tell them that I eat from the vast variety of plants found in the New Four Food Groups; grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit as recommended by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, rather than from the food group charts that were produced by those who profit from dairy and meat consumption.”

“Because of 'milk mustache commercials' and other economic propaganda, many people still believe that they need animal products for their well-being and survival, despite the overwhelming evidence that the very opposite is true; that in fact, a vegan diet protects us from many diseases that plague the human race.”

“We are the only species that drinks the mother's milk of another species. Would anyone suck on the udder of a cow for her milk? Of course not; we would consider it unnatural. Her milk is meant to nurture her baby calf. The truth is; dairy milk for human consumption is produced in a very unnatural way: first by artificially impregnating the cow (sometimes by strapping the cows on to what the industry itself calls rape racks!), then by stealing her baby within 24 hours of birth, despite her bellowing cries. (It's horrific what will become of her calves.) This grim cycle is repeated over and over and over until the cow is no longer profitable and then she is sent off to slaughter.”

"I like the taste of meat" is no longer a tolerable rationale.”

“We are destroying our planet; choking it with too many people and all their pollution. However, we can lighten our footprint on our tired Earth by choosing to be vegan and purchasing local produce.”

“‘Humane Slaughter’ or ‘Happy Meat’ is not the answer .’Happy meat’ is an oxymoron. No conscious being is happy to have their life reduced to a commodity and violently ended. Anyone can go online and see graphic footage of animals in a slaughterhouse about to meet their death in a horrific way. It's real; yet people have not been willing to open their eyes or their hearts to the suffering they are imposing on others. Becoming vegan makes us a kinder, smarter human being than we were before taking this step; which is essential to human advancement. Becoming vegan, by definition, makes of us more compassionate human beings, and compassion is essential for human evolution. That's why Nobel Prize recipient; Albert Einstein said: "It is my view that a vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."”

“Avoiding animal products is good for people. It's good for the animals. It's good for the planet we all share. Change is in the air. Many human beings are realizing that we don't have a right to exploit, enslave, or be a part of the immense suffering inflicted on other feeling creatures. Nor do we have a right to continue a practice that is possibly the biggest contributor to global warming and the devastation of our environment. We don't have a right to perpetuate the horror that is human starvation, by using the world's grains to feed animals in order to feed our own addiction to meat. We don't have a right to over-use and pollute our diminishing water supply to sustain the farm animal business; which uses far more water than is needed for growing plants.”

“Veganism has "right" on its side. Veganism is a solution to our planet's ailments. The Earth and its people are crying out for change. Veganism is the next step for humanity that will bring the change we long for.”

“From questioning farmers at the local farmer's market and elsewhere, I've learned that many organic (and non-organic) gardeners use blood and bone fertilizer on a regular basis. I question what to purchase with our dollars: food grown with chemicals that damage the soil’s fertility and our own health or food grown in blood and bone; the by-product of an industry that exploits animals. I accompanied a local organic certifier on an inspection, which made buying organic food less desirable because of my strong stance on veganism. I needed a solution to this problem. I never thought I would get my hands in the dirt with the worms, but I decided to learn how to grow our food, vegan-organically.”

“For those who want to be an animal rights activist - simply become vegan. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, you are actively protesting the shocking behavior of human beings towards their animal kin. Why have we not grasped The Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have them do to you?' Why this 'easy-to-comprehend notion' is so hard for others to see in regards to all sentient beings, is an enigma.”

“Some animal rights people identify with being vegan but they "cheat", as they say. They need to keep in mind that cows are perpetually kept pregnant, inseminated by a human, and endure torturous conditions. These gentle friends have their newborn (whom they instinctively love and want to care for) stolen, sometimes, within 24 hours of birth. "Cheating animal rights activists" should consider this before they partake of a little cheese or pizza.”

‘Animal rights activists should be vegan as an example to their followers. People who look up to them are guided by their footsteps. Living a vegan lifestyle is a moral starting point for those who are an inspiration to others. It's not difficult to be a vegan if one grasps how profoundly meaningful it is. On the contrary, when one recognizes all the suffering and damage that stems from consuming animal products, it becomes hard to imagine why people decide not to be vegan!”

“Some activists work to save the whales, while they contribute to the persecution of cows. People want to punish others for their 'cruelty to animals' while they are cruel to animals every day by consuming animal and slaughterhouse products. This behavior is speciesist.”

“The concept of animal rights activists giving their lives to the animal rights movement, while not living as vegans, is inconsistent with logic and calls out for 'change'. Being members of an evolving human race, it becomes our duty to change for the better - in order to advance human consciousness.”

“It makes much more sense to spend our time, money and resources to promote non-violent vegan education, which encompasses all animal rights issues, instead of working on regulating or bettering the conditions within a system that should simply be abolished; a system that stems from a misinformed, flawed culture. We need to unite and work for empty cages, not better cages. I don't want to be a part of extending 'a pat on the back' to institutionalized exploiters responsible for misery and death imposed on nonhuman animals day after day, year after year, because they enlarged the prison stalls where they hold innocent animals captive or because they agreed to use cage-free eggs. It makes more sense to educate and change the mindsets of people; the purchasers, who are creating the demand for these products, by paying businesses to callously exploit non-human animals (and humans too).” (See www.abolitionistapproach.com)

“We have to stand up and speak the whole truth: Veganism and animal rights are synonymous. And I'm not speaking about a wavering, when it's convenient, not-to-make-a-fuss-in public-type of veganism that some are espousing. It seems that some of the big vegan and animal advocacy organizations are lowering the standard of the Vegan Ideal; to the point that they are replacing the word "vegan" with "vegetarian" in their literature and on their websites. I don't want to promote vegetarianism (which has come to mean dairy and egg consumption; hardly a vegetable which the word vegetarian implies).”

“Vegans do oppose factory farms, of course, however if there were no factory farms, most vegans would still be vegan. It's not about whether the process is "humane" or not. Veganism is a protest against a speciesist society that believes nonhuman animals were put here for our use, to be our property, to be subjugated by us; regardless of whether they are "humanely" raised or not. There is absolutely no such thing as humane enslavement, exploitation or murder.”

“There is nothing "humane" involved in the animal husbandry system, even if a product is labeled "humane". The "humane meat labels" are merely marketing schemes to make people feel good about themselves while they are still directly supporting cruelty. So called "humanely raised" animals have a number of torturous practices inflicted on them. Even when "free-range" farmed animals are allowed to live outdoors, they are still subjected to excruciating mutilations without painkiller, such as castration, branding, dehorning, tail-docking, and de-beaking. They are still slaughtered in the same violent way as factory-farmed animals. Sentient beings are filled with fear as they are prodded down a narrow chute. They can hear and smell what is happening to others before them, they desperately try to turn around, but can't, until it becomes their turn to be hung upside down on conveyor belts, and have their throats slit. Some are dismembered while still fully conscious. The whole abysmal system must be abolished and that is the only solution worth working towards.”

“Thus far, the history of humanity is appallingly oppressive. It is difficult to stop the slavery in Sudan if you are living in the U.S., however, in most places in the world, one can choose to live vegan - a universal protest against slavery. Vegans do not pay someone else to enslave, rape, exploit and kill other conscious beings.”

“We need to lead by example that there is a better way. I'm suggesting (and it's not my theory) that evolution be our form of revolution. We need to bring about a gentle world, where no one lives in fear.”

“There is a lot of internal conflict between the differing factions of the animal rights and vegan movements. If we were all at least vegan, (not pseudo vegan), that would be an essential starting point for the unity we need to actually win rights for nonhuman animals. We carry our veganism with us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; it is the most genuine form of animal rights activism.”

“Being vegan, I walk the Earth dressed in a confidence that this path is leading me to commune with the higher realms of consciousness and further away from the trivial pursuits of mankind. Being vegan is a peaceful solution to what ails our planet today. We change the world, the course of history even, by changing ourselves; by reprogramming our thoughts; we evolve human consciousness.”

“I remember when I couldn't explain my 'new found veganism' without being verbally attacked or ridiculed. Now, no matter in which hemisphere I find myself, that never happens anymore. Sometimes I think that peoples' reactions might be a reflection of our own assurance, or lack of it, on being vegan.”

“There was a time when dogs were carnivore; end of story. Now, we know that dogs have evolved to being able to thrive on a pant-based diet. Dogs are evolving along with their human companions.”

“I remember being vegan when NO ONE else around me was, or had even heard of it!! This was prior to computer technology. I was absolutely SURE of the 'rightness' of it, and yet, NO ONE ELSE agreed.”

“I remember first being exposed to the truth of dairy. I remember saying 'NO, let it not be true that I have to stop eating dairy. Too hard! How can I possibly stop eating my rennetless cheese and ice cream?' Now, 30 years later, the thought of eating the secretions and bodily fluids of some animal is a repulsive thought; the other end of the spectrum from 'no, not my cheese too' way of once thinking.”
“Human consciousness is evolving. We can reprogram our thoughts. We can alter our habits. We can change our viewing, for a higher one. I remember NOT KNOWING what it will be like to be vegan and will my health fare? Now I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the truth of veganism. What religion could teach more than a vegan’s life of compassion? What could make someone feel closer to God than LIVING 'a more gentle and kind way' every minute of their life? Now, I KNOW, that the vegan diet and lifestyle was an immeasurable help to my physical and spiritual health. I remember when I was young, pondering why people didn't see the truth of veganism. 'What was wrong with them; were they blind?' I wondered. Why couldn't they comprehend, see, feel something so obvious to me? And NOW, many more people DO agree with me! And yes, the times; they are a changing, but those same questions still live inside my mind; unchanged after all these years 'why can't people see the TRUTH of veganism? It seems so easy to see.'”

“Even though we are at war as are many other countries, crime and violence is rampant, humans enslave and abuse children, wasteful consumerism is on the rise, clear cutting of old growth forests is practiced and it looks like the world is a real 'nut house'; don't give up! Human consciousness is obviously evolving as seen from the growth of the 'vegan movement'. We vegans are the forerunners of a 'super humane' race. So yes, the times; they are a changing! And we're all a part of it. As vegans, we are voting with our dollars, for which way it will all go. There is a dichotomy in existence on the planet; both are expanding simultaneously. Wars, overpopulation of Earth, pollution of our natural resources are all escalating. At the very same time, veganism and a COMPASSION FOR BEINGS BEYOND OURSELVES, is also growing.”

“I LOVE nonhuman animals as much as superhumanly possible in order to combat animal exploitation; in order to STOP the hunter from shooting the beautiful deer, or the vivisector from coldly and cruelly torturing sweet innocent love objects, or the Asian man from killing and eating man's best friend, or a woman wearing a coat made from the stolen coats of a multitude of animals who had to suffer in agony for it, or the billions of farm animals living a life of hell because of humans; whose capacity to feel is all clogged up with animal fat. The karma is clear. As vegans, let's lead toward the Light of Love, Truth, Gentleness, Integrity, Honesty and Soulfulness. Don't lose heart. Don't give up, for the times; they are a changing!”

“The new paradigm vegan may attempt growing his/her own food, ‘veganically’; without blood and bone, fish meal, animal sludge or manure sourced from the exploitation of animals. Instead he/she will use plant-based compost and mulch, rock dusts, crop rotation, nitrogen-fixing cover crops, and other non-animal based and chemical-free fertilizers to replenish the soil; a more sustainable, compassionate and healthier method of growing.”

“Convey the vegan message with Love, always having in mind to SAVE THE ANIMALS, first and foremost. Don’t let our anger towards the treatment of animals lead us to be violent in any way, in order to save animals. This will only make vegans look bad in the eyes of non-vegans and hurt the movement.”

“Veganism brings with it FRIENDSHIP WITH ANIMALS. There are many other species to love beside humans!”

“A vegan does not ever cheat!! The vegan diet is not like a raw food diet that you can cheat with. Being a vegan is a way of life. It’s a character-defining quality. It’s a solution to world hunger. It’s a health plan. It’s a panacea; that even encompasses our spiritual health.”

The above quotations by M. 'Butterflies' Katz may be used with proper credits.
www.veganpoet.com
www.thevegantruth.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The world is not flat; Animals are not food.


(Photo: Wanda Embar, VeganPeace.com)


Driving along a country road, I see a turkey -- the kind people eat. Its magnificence gladdens me. Lying on the hills, I see gentle-natured cows and wonder how anyone could want to eat them. Nonhuman animals have been friends whom I can count on; angels. My heart leaps with joy that I live so harmoniously with other species.

I continue on down the country road. I see plastic numbered tags tacked to each cow’s ear, and I think to myself ‘Am I the same species to those who would do this to a cow?’

I’m continuing down the country road in Northern New Zealand where cows are still free-ranged (luckier than their factory-farmed brethren), but certainly NOT free. They are slaves. I’m distraught by humans enslaving others. My heart is jolted when I see that man would set a dog on a herd of docile creatures to round them up; aggressively herding those who are peaceful – making the slaves do what the master wants.

Next I see a horse tied by a fairly short rope, struggling, pulling the rope and eating grass. Being tied there, what else was the horse going to do, but eat grass? That was the human’s purpose; for the horse to eat the grass in that spot. I think of what a miracle that a great strong horse builds mass by eating grass. I envision what a horse’s life should be; running free in the fields and meadows of open wilderness. Man sure does break the horse’s spirit. What an awful thing to have on your dossier; caging up and enslaving creatures that were meant to live in the wild.

Eating animals is insane. They are not food. We are herbivores. How can I make this statement with such conviction? Because I’ve been vegan for 31 years and have excellent health and a better mental clarity, as do all my other long-time vegan friends. We, as humanity, inflict suffering and misery on other sentient, feeling creatures, needlessly. My life is a testament to that fact.

There was a time when everyone thought the world was flat. They were wrong. The majority thinks and believes that animals and their bodily fluids are food. They are as wrong about that as they were about the Earth being flat. It’s an error in judgment of that magnitude. That we can own, enslave, exploit and eat nonhuman animals has been the indoctrination for ages, passed on from generation to generation, so it is deeply imbedded. However, it is also easily broken free of once you awaken to the Vegan Truth. I’m absolutely positive that an animal is not food; in fact, I’m more certain of that than the world being round; which is only hearsay evidence. I’ve looked into the eyes of many nonhuman animals and I know for certain that animals are NOT food.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Vegans are ushering in Peace on Earth




It’s the Christmas season and once again I’ll be sign-writing PEACE on EARTH on shop windows. I’ll see their Christmas cards hanging in a row on a string with ‘Peace on Earth’ messages and at the very same time, look at the products of extreme violence that they have on display in their shop window. I believe people really do want Peace on Earth in their heart of hearts, but they have not figured out that they sustain horrific violence with the food on their plates or the leather shoes that they wear. Violence begets violence. We could likely end wars by feeding the world a vegan diet. We can test this theory by feeding incarcerated murderers a plant-based diet and see what happens. I’ve witnessed dogs become gentler from eating a vegan diet. I call it “veganizing”.

The mainstream has not yet broke free of their misguided conditioning that thinks humans are superior to nonhuman animals and therefore we can do whatever the hell we want to them; use them for our purposes, at our will. This mindset is the conformist’s way of thinking, but one that must be done away with and replaced because it is not truthful. In being a conformist we must ask ourselves ‘is this something I should be conforming to?’. Let’s endeavor, each of us, to be the peace that we want to see in the world. If the world was the way it should be, no being would live in fear of being hunted, slaughtered, enslaved, or commodified by the human species. Humans are the scariest animal of all. Humans are the only species that enslaves other species, and his own. Humans are the only species that employs a large number of assassins to carry out a mission on others of his own species, whom they don’t even know, and take their life simply because someone told them to. Humans are the only animal that takes pleasure in imposing misery on other sentient creatures.

If we are truly a peace advocate - we must be vegan. We must live as an example to all that we can live in harmony with each other. Veganism is intertwined with the peace movement; they should be considered synonymous, in my opinion. I don’t believe vegans should be terrorizing to other animals; human or nonhuman. Veganism has Peace as its foundation. The term ‘militant-vegan’ should be obliterated. It is an oxymoron. Vegans are ushering in a gentler world. We are making a stand saying we are in protest of all the violence, and we are showing the rest of humanity that people can (and should) live by a more expanded compassion.

I could be less violent in my verbal communication. We all have room for improvement in removing our violent behavior, in order to literally create PEACE on EARTH. In celebrating Christmas and in the pursuit to become more God-like, Christians (and those of other faiths and beliefs) can give the gift of mercy to all our wonderful four-legged friends or our feathery two legged ones, and go vegan. When I consider all the animals that are brutally slaughtered to ‘make merry’, it doesn’t feel like ‘the season to be jolly’. Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with you (and me). Veganism is the one thing you can do today, right at this moment, to make a statement about nonviolence.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

To Tell the Vegan Truth


I’m amazed at how many (educated) people still think that ‘vegan’ is a diet. I’m offering my three decade vegan-point-of-view with my 2009-up-to-date-definition of a vegan: Veganism is an ethical stance that rejects and protests the present structure that views animals as a commodity rather than the feeling, conscious beings they truly are. Vegans strive to rise above their speciesist (and racist, sexist, etc.) mindsets. Hence, vegans avoid animal ingredients in food, clothing, products, and don't support businesses that exploit animals. Vegans exclude dairy, milk, cheese, eggs, honey, gelatin, meat, whey, leather, silk, wool, animal-derived substances in toiletries, products, and food. Vegans don't buy products that are tested on animals. They don't vote with their dollars to have animals perform for them, race for them, fight for them, entertain them, or die for them. Vegans don't support slavery.

Vegans don’t feel they are deprived. They feel fortunate to have been awakened to this Great Truth. It is not difficult to be vegan once you get past the initial re-educating yourself from the misconceptions you were indoctrinated with by a misinformed, cruel, and insensitive society. It is our obligation to evolve humanity by striving to reach our higher nature of compassion. We can do this by seeking the council of our conscience and following what it says.

Often people are not aware of the extreme cruelty involved in the animal products they eat and wear. We can no longer, in good conscience, ignore what goes on just so people can have products/garments/food they “WANT”, that are completely unnecessary. If you purchase wool, you might think it doesn’t hurt the sheep. It does; tremendously. Routinely performed on sheep, (a very gentle animal), are cruel practices without anesthesia such as mulesing (a horror I won’t go into). Dairy cows are tortured and some of the most abused females. The crimes against innocent nonhuman animals that people are complicit in - is disgusting. Apparently, we are the ‘reasoning’ animal, but with all our intelligence, we as a humanity, have not seen something so easy to see; the natural feeling to want to save lives rather than being the cause of misery, suffering, and the death of other sentient beings.

Veganism is related to many other social justice issues. If you are an environmentalist and want to help save the planet, first and foremost, you must be vegan because animal agriculture (this term is bizarre through the eyes of a vegan) is reaping havoc on the environment and possibly the chief contributor to global warming. If you are a feminist, you must give up dairy and go vegan. The female reproductive systems of nonhuman animals are grossly exploited, and must be objected to; by not paying someone to do this to our sisters. If you are a peace activist in protest of violence, the first step would be to remove the violence you participate in by purchasing non-vegan products. Veganism is a solution to world hunger and a lack of equal distribution of food. Most of the grains and soy grown in the world goes to feed human-bred and enslaved animals for human consumption. If we did not breed and eat cows, pigs, etc, there would be plenty to feed the world’s starving humans. A balanced vegan diet is a better health plan for humans than the money-hungry ones in existence. I naturally knew animals were not food when my brother told me that meat was a dead animal, when I was twelve. My understanding of the vegan ethic has now expanded to seeing it as a remedy to the world’s many illnesses. Looking at the big picture; I see veganism as a solution and our next evolutionary step.

If you are not vegan, go vegan. Skip ‘vegetarian’ altogether as veganism is the only ethically-consistent position. Dairy cows are tortured and then they are brutally slaughtered just the same as cows for meat; it’s all the same business. The spiritual harmony that comes from being vegan is wonderful beyond words. Everyone I know who became vegan, (not pseudo vegan), is more energized, has had physical ailments disappear, and has gained more mental clarity and self-esteem. Knowing how the vegan ethic can benefit humans, free the animals, and has the potential to help save the planet, I have no qualms about telling every person who will listen about the virtues of veganism.

I’m telling people the truth. People don’t always want to hear the truth, however! Why do vegans have to be so careful about how we are telling non-vegans THE TRUTH? Remaining ignorant of the atrocities that humans inflict on animals (that is within our control to stop with our purchasing power), is not justifiable. Ignorance is not bliss. Your ignorance is the opposite of bliss for billions of suffering animals, who so deserve the right to their little portion of light and bliss. Veganism is not some strange ‘eccentric’ way of thinking; it’s for everybody! Nearly every vegan, all around the world, will tell you that it is the best thing they’ve ever done! Veganism is ‘the real thing’. It’s not written in some book from centuries past, (probably misinterpreted, if I know humans); it’s written in our hearts. We know it is the ethically right thing to do. I feel compelled by moral obligation to tell the vegan truth.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

20 Responses to the question "To What Extent do you take your Veganism?"


The following 20 responses were answering the question: “To what extent do you take your veganism?”

"It is a moral baseline. Having been awakened to the reality of our unnecessary exploitation of other sentient beings, I would no more take up eating or wearing animals than I would take up robbery and murder."

"I take my veganism very seriously, as it greatly influences virtually all aspects of my life. Not only are my food, clothing, and general product choices affected, but my entire world view is filtered, or purified, though vegan-colored glasses."

"It is the central tenet of my existence. It informs every decision I make and colors everything I see in the world. I have never compromised as I see it as my moral baseline. Sometimes the knowledge about the animals' suffering is hard to bear but I would never wish to return to ignorance. Veganism is my life now and it is the best choice I have ever been fortunate enough to make."

"One is either a Vegan or not a Vegan, not both, not either. If I didn't avoid speciesist abuse to my utmost extent possible I wouldn't be Vegan. I love to say "I'm Vegan" instead of "I'm a Vegan", for me removing the 'a' makes my Veganism a permanent life choice, just like I'm Atheist, I'm Male, I'm William."

"I actively research things I buy to make sure that they are vegan, e.g., I don't buy stainless steel, new computer monitors or anything else with animal products in it (even if it's only a possibility and I can't find out for sure for that particular product), even if it is only a trace amount. I won't help others to buy/use anything non-vegan, and guests are not allowed to bring anything non-vegan (except what they are wearing!) into my home."

"It defines my life in all respects."

"You either do or you don't. You can't portion it off."

"I don't buy anything that isn't vegan. My dogs are vegan. I try to bake often and give goodies to friends."

"Food, clothing, medications, pet care, toiletries - no compromises."

"I don't really think there should be any variation of commitment when it comes to veganism, for if one isn't striving to eliminate all cruelty from their life in every possible way, they aren't, in my opinion, vegan. It is a complete way of being, and it's not something you can have a half-hearted attitude about. It is life encompassing. I will take it as far as I possibly can until all cruelty is eliminated from every aspect of my life. Veganism is incredibly important to me and I take the suffering of animals very seriously."

"I strive to remove all animal products from my life. I also strive to be an example of a healthy and happy vegan for others to follow."

"Veganism is about reducing harm to animals (including human animals) in my daily living."

"I am a conscientious objector to animal agribusiness. Moreover, as far as possible, I strive to avoid any and all products of deliberate exploitation, as Donald Watson and the Vegan Society founders did, and I attempt to do everything I can to respect all other conscious beings and the environment we call home."

"Very seriously. Deeply. It's one of the core aspects of my identity."

"To my investments, philanthropy, and purchases."

"Veganism is the most important issue facing the planet."

"Level 5, all the way baby! Strict Vegan; past the point of no return."

"Very seriously, I am proud to be vegan."

"Being a vegan is the very least I can do to respect other sentient beings. I also advocate veganism every day, every moment I can."

"I don’t take pharmaceuticals (tested on animals), and being a long time vegan, I don’t need pharmaceuticals! I am completely vegan with the exception of driving a car, having a refrigerator and having a computer; items that may contain animal products. Other than that, I make no compromises. My clothing, food, entertainment, toiletries and cleaning products and who I support - are all vegan. I avoid eating in non-vegan restaurants that have vegan options; I don’t want to give my money to animal exploiters. I grow food vegan-organically. My dogs are vegan. When you really understand animal exploitation, it becomes quite easy to maintain being a vegan. Every being should have the basic right to live their life! The human race is unjustly speciesist and elitist."

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Where Vegan is Normal


Adam Kochanowicz begins his online show with: “You’re watching The Vegan News; where vegan is normal.” I chuckled. I loved that! I am tired of this world where needlessly inflicting suffering on other feeling beings is “normal”. Traveling guests come and want to leave because ‘the vegan thing’ is a little too out of the ordinary for them. They’re upset because vegans think animals should have rights; and mainly the right not to have their life made into a commodity. This is ironic. I think it is more fair for the vegan to be upset; knowing that every second, billions of animals are being enslaved, grossly exploited, tortured and murdered, for no better reason than “I like my meat; it tastes good”. Marinate your leg with some tangy sauce and broil it, and it would taste good (to some). Is that a logical reason for someone to eat you; because you taste good to them?

If I tell people the Truth about speciesism, people get uncomfortable because it challenges their indoctrination that humans are the superior species and all others are here for their use; to subjugate. It’s 2009 and slavery ought to abolished. Man is the only animals that enslaves. Man enslaves other races of his own kind because he thinks his race is superior. This is racism. Men enslave women, by using brute force, and only one sex has a hand in the laws governing both sexes. This is an example of sexism. Humans enslave and exploit nonhuman animals by the billions upon billions. This is speciesism. They do it because they can. They kill and eat the most gentle of all the species. They do it because they follow the conditioning handed to them; because they want to be “normal”.

This traveling non-vegan guest says to me, ‘Doesn’t it bother you that most everybody else thinks so differently than you?’ Yes. I can’t wait for ‘what is normal’ to change. I’m sick that such a lack of compassion is “normal”. But if not a single other person in the world believed as I did about veganism; I would still be vegan. I’m positive it is the right thing to do.

The non-vegan says to me, ‘What if an animal was treated nicely and died of natural causes, would it then be all right to eat it?’ I reply, it’s better than the usual scenario, but no. It’s not food. If you died, I would not eat you. People have no idea how healthy they are going to feel when they rid their bodies of rotting body parts and the bodily secretions of other species; which is not the correct fuel for our system.

I tell this non-vegan guest that he is an animal too. He is in disbelief and acts like I’m not speaking truth. I tell him that nonhuman animals also have two eyes, a heart, a brain, lungs, a nervous system, consciousness, families, feelings…they are not that different to us. Being a dog lover, he kind of saw that point. After the initial shock of my staunch vegan viewpoint, he started to become open to the concept. Other young guests were helping to educate him. They showed him pamphlets on how eating animals contributes to global warming. After reading them, he wanted to be vegan for several days of the week. In order to create unwavering vegans, we need to impress on people that becoming vegan is for the animals. Our veganism will endure when we have that ‘aha moment’ and realize that we have no right to enslave and exploit other species. Our health, the health of our planet, and being able to feed the world’s hungry are all bonus benefits that will come from the shift to the vegan way of life.

I’m tired of being upset by people’s shoes that are made of animal skins. Everywhere, what is considered ‘normal’ is offensive to me. I am disgusted when I see a rodeo sign on the road. Inflicting misery on innocent beings is “normal” in our society. Ponder that. I’m tired of a “butcher” being a “normal” shop owner! I’ve had it with killers casually discussing their fishing or hunting of my friends. I am tired of seeing an animal bought and sold at the farmer’s market like a garment or object. I’m tired of the vegan lifestyle being thought of as so difficult. It’s not hard at all. I’m tired of veganism not being taken seriously; when in fact, it is a universal remedy for many of our ailments. I’m tired of so much violence. Veganism is an antidote. I’m tired of selfishness and apathy being normal. What is now normal; is something I don’t want to be. I’m amazed at how so many people really want to be normal. They follow what the majority of humans do; just so they can be normal. I want to live in that world where “Vegan is Normal”. Because in truth; it is.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

RAGS


We called him Rags. He was just a cur-
But twice on the western line,
that little old bunch of faithful fur
had offered his life for mine.

And all that he got was water and bread,
or leavings of soldier-grub,
But he’d give his heart for a pat on the head,
or a friendly tickle or rub.

And Rags got home with the regiment,
and then, in the breaking away,
well, whether they stole him or whether he went,
I am not prepared to say.

But we mustered out, some to beer and gruel
and some to sherry and shad,
And I went back to “Sawbones” school,
where I still was an undergrad.

One day they took us budding M.D.’s
to one of those institutes --
where they demonstrate every new disease
by means of bisected brutes.

They had one animal tacked and tied,
and slit like a full-dressed fish,
with his vitals pumping away inside
as pleasant as one might wish.

I stopped to look like the rest, of course,
and the beast’s eyes leveled mine,
and his short tail thumped with a feeble force
and he uttered a tender whine.

It was Rags, yes, Rags, who was martyred there,
who was quartered and crucified,
And he whined that whine which is doggish prayer
and he licked my hand—and died.

And I was no better, in part or whole
than the gang I was found among,
And his innocent blood was on the soul
which he blessed with his dying tongue.

Well, I’ve seen men go to courageous death
in the air, on sea, on land!
But only a dog would spend his breath
in a kiss for his murderer’s hand.

And if there’s no heaven for love like that,
for such four-legged fealty – well…
If I have any choice, I tell you flat,
I’ll take my chance in hell.

Edmund Vance Cooke

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Excerpts from The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain


Mark Twain wrote a brilliant piece; too lengthy in it’s entirety for a blog. It is hilarious and thought-provoking. Enjoy these excerpts from the Mark Twain Essay entitled The Lowest Animal from his book; Letters to the Earth.

~~~~~~~~~

“I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower animals” (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals; since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, the new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals.”

“I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor servings in order to partially appease that appetite. I furnished a hundred different kinds of wild and tame animals the opportunity to accumulate vast stores of food, but none of them would do it. The squirrels and bees and certain birds made accumulations, but stopped when they had gathered a winter’s supply, and could not be persuaded to add to it either honestly or by chicane. In order to bolster up a tottering reputation the ant pretended to store up supplies, but I was not deceived. I know the ant. These experiments convinced me that there is this difference between man and the higher animals: he is avaricious and miserly, they are not.”

“In the course of my experiments I convinced myself that among the animals man is the only one that harbors insults and injuries, broods over them, waits till a chance offers, then takes revenge. The passion of revenge is unknown to the higher animals.

Roosters keep harems, but it is by consent of their concubines; therefore no wrong is done. Men keep harems, but it is by brute force, privileged by atrocious laws which the other sex were allowed no hand in making. In this matter man occupies a far lower place than the rooster.

Cats are loose in their morals, but not consciously so. Man, in his descent from the cat, has brought the cat’s looseness with him but has left the unconsciousness behind—the saving grace which excuses the cat. The cat is innocent, man is not.

Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity---these are strictly confined to man; he invented them. Among the higher animals there is no trace of them. They hide nothing; they are not ashamed. Man with his soiled mind, covers himself. He will not even enter a drawing room with his breast and back naked, so alive are he and his mates to indecent suggestion. Man is “The Animal that laughs.” But so does the monkey, as Mr. Darwin pointed out; and so does the Australian bird that is called the laughing jack-ass. No---man is the Animals that Blushes. He is the only one that does it—or has occasion to.”

“…Man---when he is a North American Indian---gouges out his prisoner’s eyes; when he is King John, with a nephew to tender untroublesome, he uses a red-hot iron; when he is a religious zealot dealing with heretics in the Middle Ages, he skins his captive alive and scatters salt on his back; in the first Richard’s time he shuts up a multitude of Jew families in a tower and sets fire to it; in Columbus’s time he captures a family of Spanish Jews and –but that is not printable…Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. It is a trait that is not known to the higher animals.”

“The higher animals engage in individual fights, but never in organized masses. Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and with calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out as the Hessians did in our Revolution, and as the boyish Prince Napoleon did in the Zulu war, and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel.

Man is the only animal that robs his helpless fellow of his country—takes possession of it and drives him out of it or destroys him. Man has done this in all the ages. There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner, or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, cycle after cycle, by force and bloodshed.

Man is the only Slave. And he is the only animal who enslaves. He has always been a slave in one form or another, and has always held other slaves in bondage under him in one way or another. In our day he is always some man’s slave for wages, and does that man’s work; and this slave has other slaves under him for minor wages, and they do his work. The higher animals are the only ones who exclusively do their own work and provide their own living.

Man is the only Patriot. He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices of other people’s countries, and keep them from grabbing slices of his. And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for “the universal brotherhood of man” –with his mouth.”

“Man is the Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion—several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself, and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven. He was at it in the time of the Caesars, he was at it in Mahomet’s time, he was at it in the time of the Inquisition, he was at it in France a couple of centuries, he was at it in England in Mary’s day, he has been at it ever since he first saw the light, he is at it today in Crete—he will be at it somewhere else tomorrow. The higher animals have no religion. And we are told that they are going to be left out, in the Hereafter. I wonder why? It seems questionable taste.

Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal. Note his history, as sketched above. It seems plain to me that whatever he is he is NOT a reasoning animal. His record is the fantastic record of a maniac. I consider that the strongest count against his intelligence is the fact that with that record back of him he sets himself up as the head animal of the lot: whereas by his own standards he is the bottom one.

In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which the other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately.

Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh—not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court.”

“And so I find that we have descended and generated, from some far ancestor—some microscopic atom wandering at its pleasure between the mighty horizons of a drop of water perchance—insect by insect, animal by animal, reptile by reptile, down the long highway of smirchless innocence, till we have reached the bottom stage of development—namable as the Human Being. Below us—nothing…”

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Song Lyrics: LIKE ANIMALS




This profound song lyric is from the old, original version of Dr. Doolittle with Rex Harrison playing Dr. Doolittle. He is a vet that talks to animals. He is brought to trial for being insane, and this song is his defense in the court room scene, brilliantly performed.



LIKE ANIMALS

I do not understand the human race.
It has so little love for creatures of a different face.
Treating animals like people is no madness or disgrace.
I do not understand the human race.



Why, I wonder - why do we treat animals like animals?
Animals treat us so very well.
The devoted way they serve us,
They protect us when we’re nervous,
Oh they really don’t deserve us…
All we give them is hell.




Tell me how does man repay them?
Do we ever stop to praise them?
No, we don’t, and this dismays them, you can tell.
We are riddled with ingratitude
We give no love or latitude
In every way our attitude…well, like animals
No that’s not what I mean-

I mean, why do we treat animals like animals?
How can people be so inhumane?
The cows and chickens we make feed us
Dogs and horses show they need us
And though cats don’t always heed us…
Their affection is always plain.
What do we do?
We neglect them,
We do nothing to protect them,
We reject, don’t expect them…to complain.
We ignore them, or we beat them,
When we’re hungry, we eat them,
It’s appalling how we treat them
It’s insane….
Like animals.




We humiliate their mothers and confine them.
We create their wretched status-
Then we use it to malign.
I mean, why should we say, “treat him like a dog”?
Why should we say “working like a horse”?
Why should we say “eating like a hog”?
When we mean is eating like a man, don’t we?
Of course.

A man of ill repute is called a weasel or a rat,
A woman we dislike is called a vixen or a cat.
A family with healthy reproductive habits –
Occasions the remark,
Oh you know them, they breed like rabbits.
Stubborn as a mule, stupid as an ox,
Slimy as a snake, crafty as a fox,
Remarks like this really get my goat.

Why don’t we say, “Noble as a frog”?
Why don’t we say “healthy as a hen”?
True, we say “devoted as a dog”,
But what we should say is, “sleek as a giraffe”,
“Pretty as a Pig”, eh
But that will be the big day,
But when? But when? But when?



When will we stop treating them like animals?
Is the human race entirely mad?
Women wear a baby goat skin,
Or a lamb skin – or a stoat skin
But to them it’s just a coat skin
Oh, it’s terribly sad.

When you dress in suede or leather
Or some fancy fur or feather
Do you stop to think of whether, for a fad-
You have killed some beast or other,
Or you’re wearing someone’s brother,
Or perhaps it’s someone’s mother, in which you’re clad.
Like animals, like animals, like animals.



Oh it is true you don’t live in a zoo
But man is an animal too.
So why can’t you, like me
Like animals.
Like Animals.