No One Has Ever Bought Oat Milk By Mistake

Recently, someone asked me, “Why do vegans make their foods look and taste like meat if they don’t want to eat meat?” Quite simply, it’s not the food product itself many vegans eschew, it’s the torture, suffering and death of sentient beings we don’t want to support.

I know many people who chose to go vegan, not because they didn’t like meat itself, but because they understood the industry’s vile methods of food production, and didn’t want to participate in it. Once you’ve truly been awakened to the reality of the animal agriculture industry, once you have bore witness at a slaughterhouse, once you have learned of the tortuous practices of farmers, transportation companies, and processing plants, the thought of eating meat is stomach-turning.

And yet, we might still crave that pizza…

What to do, what to do – right, let’s take our food and nutrition knowledge, our technical expertise, and our flair for creation and make a plant-based food that emulates our old favourites, so we can enjoy the flavours we love without the blood on our hands.

Seems pretty straightforward, and I’m not sure why non-vegans don’t get this. Even if they don’t get it, what difference does it make – it’s literally harmless to them or anyone else.

Or is it?

This is a debate currently in front of various bodies of government in the US and EU: more specifically, the labelling of plant-based foods using traditionally meat-centric names. It appears the animal agriculture industry and their cohorts, which includes some politicians (surprise!) take issue with plant-based products using meat-centric names because it might cause people to be confused and buy the wrong thing. This would accidentally subvert profits from the animal agriculture industry, upsetting the status quo and causing consternation about misleading the public.

I kid you not.

So what I take from this is these big multi-billion-dollar industries think you, the general public, are TOO STUPID to realize a veggie burger is NOT a meat burger. Or that soy milk is not from a cow. For realz.

Meanwhile, as stated in the following article from Euractiv.com, ““Only one in five consumers say that these terms should never be used on plant-based products. On the other hand, we have one in four consumers who said that they see absolutely no issue with the use of these terms,” Camille Perrin, senior food policy officer at  BEUC, said during a EURACTIV event on Thursday (15 October).”

As an Animal Rights Activist (ARA) there is no shortage of meat-eating dolts out there who are uninformed and uncaring about the drawbacks for consuming meat, both from a health perspective and a humanitarian perspective. I see them all the time at protests, driving by yelling, “I love bacon!” and “For every animal you save, I’m going to eat two more.” Yeah, real bright sparks. Quite frankly, if they are the one per cent who get fooled and buy plant-based burgers by accident, I’m just going to laugh. Clearly, their intelligence levels are below par, and therefore, no amount of labelling will help them. But the majority of people will be able to discern, simply by reading the name, that a veggie burger is not a beef burger.

And let’s talk about this naming conundrum shall we? Speaking of burgers – a hamburger is NOT made of ham. A hot dog is not made of dog meat. A sausage is simply food product minced into a cylindrical shape and inserted into a casing. The dictionary meaning of filet is “1 : a ribbon or narrow strip of material used especially as a headband. 2a : a thin narrow strip of material. b : a piece or slice of boneless meat or fish especially : the tenderloin of beef.” It describes fabric FIRST, then applies that meaning to a piece of meat.

If you really want to get down and dirty with labelling, how about this: a hamburger is “ground animal flesh shaped into a patty”; cheese is “ruminant breast milk fermented with the stomach lining of a baby cow”; Hot dogs would be “pig feet, snouts, ears, anuses and other off cuts minced into a smooth paste and shaped into a cylinder”.

I mean, I’m just sayin’.

And all of it is made by abusing and torturing sentient beings who did not ask to be here, and simply want to live their lives with their babies in peace – much like you and I….in fact, EXACTLY like you and I.

The fact is the plant-based food industry is growing in leaps and bounds, even non-vegans partake of plant-based foods for health or just a change in diet now and then. And animal agriculture is a sore loser. They don’t like it. So rather than get on the bandwagon, concede defeat, and diversify into plant-based products, anticipating a solid future in that industry, they are fighting hand to hand and down and dirty to discredit, disrespect, and disparage their plant-based counterparts in the food industry.

They are currently focusing on such inanities as labelling an item, and when that falls flat, they will find something else, but we know the industry is on a solid decline as more and more people are becoming awakened and want change.

For me, I enjoy my burger, patty, disc or whatever it’s going to be called because it tastes great and no one died. However, I have a feeling the industry is going to end up “eating their words” on this one. Pun intended.

Behind the curtain

Language has a very powerful effect on our perceptions. This is nothing new, of course, but in this age of instant video and streaming images, it often seems we are more connected to visuals than words. And for many, this may be true, but there is still a lot of power in a word, and words are the foundation of communication.

As a writer, words are my thing, my “thang”, my vibe, my feelz; I’m very conscious of grammar, spelling, and context, how a message is delivered, how it is received. I was the kid who read the cereal box in morning while having breakfast. I didn’t just read it, i read it in DIFFERENT VOICES!

Ok maybe that’s not something you need to know….

What I have noticed as an ARA (Animal Rights Activist) is words really define our relationship to others. ARAs think of non-human animals as persons equal to themselves. That’s the basis of our credo in veganism: no one life is more important or less important than another, especially based on species. In other words, (pun noted), all living beings are equal and deserve the right to live their life as they choose, not be subjugated and oppressed and used by another species.

So simply calling the pigs on the trucks he or she, rather than “it”, emphasizes their equality to us. The same way we call our pets – dogs, cats, etc. our fur babies, our children; the same way we identify to our pets as their mama or papa; the same way we call our different species pets “siblings” to others in our homes, all this brings their legitimacy as family members, not animals, into societal norms. And we’re ok with that – everyone does it. Even non-vegans.

It stands to reason, then, the same would happen with so-called livestock animals or wild animals or marine animals. Humans in general want to keep that demarcation line in place differentiating higher consciousness creatures from alleged lower consciousness creatures so we can justify using them for our own gains. We’d never put our human sister on an auction block when SHE became too old to work; but it’s ok to do that to a horse because IT is a different species. Notice one is a SHE and the other an IT. That is the inherent power of words.

And with great power comes great responsibility, as Spiderman’s Peter Parker Principle states (say that three times fast!)

As ARAs, we make a concerted effort to use appropriate labels on non-human animals, as we do on human animals: he, she or the binary “they” for some. It’s respectful to acknowledge an individual’s personhood, how they identify, who they feel they are; as citizens of the world, most of us wholeheartedly acknowledge these identifiers and label them appropriately.

However, words can also prove to emphasize the emotional disconnect we experience too.

We use words like rapiers, cutting away reality and carving out a whole new perception with only an infinitesimal connection to the original meaning because it’s less offensive, less stark, more PG, just more pleasant. We don’t like nasty stuff. That’s for horror movies on Saturday night, something we can pretend is not really there because we can shut it off before we go to bed.

Really, we are just pulling the wool over our own eyes.

The fact is, we can call it what we want, it is what it is.

Case in point: I’ve noticed an increase in interest in small-scale farms: considered more sustainable, ethical, moral, and beneficial in many ways. Certainly, one could argue at least with regards animal welfare it’s an improvement over factory farming. I mean not much of an improvement but still….it is the latest argument popping up for proponents of eating meat. The animals live pleasant lives in a homey, small farm setting, with fresh air, blue sky and gently rolling hills to meander before they are harvested and processed by the farmer…..wait, what?

What does that mean? Harvested and processed. “We raised Millie the cow from 3 months old, she was basically a member of the family! and my 5 year old son and i just took her to be processed so we can have steak all winter long!”

What the fuck?

The google meaning of processed is:

“perform a series of mechanical or chemical operations on (something) in order to change or preserve it.”the various stages in processing the wool”

It doesn’t mention stunning the animal with a stun gun, hanging her up on a hook by one leg, slitting her throat, then chopping her into tiny pieces. THAT’s what actually happened to Millie. Yet, the whitewash perpetrated on the butchering of a “family member” has to take place to keep the small scale farm ethical and humane. A neutral, vanilla term such as “processed” keeps the reality hidden from view, so everyone can wander around singing the praises of small scale farms.

In actuality, a sentient, loving girl, (maybe Millie, maybe someone else) was raised alongside other animals, felt connection, safety, security and belonging, only to wake up one day to be horrifically betrayed, terrified, hurt, and ultimately killed in as bloody a manner as is possible, to return home in little brown paper wrapped parcels, only flesh and bone chunks, so her family can chow down on her body with little to no thought about her feelings.

But by using the words “harvested” or “processed” the actuality is glossed over quite effectively to better assuage the conscience of the farmers AND the general public who think purchasing “grass fed” “organic” and “homestead raised” is a better and more humane way to eat meat.

Better or more humane for whom?

The animal still dies a bloody death and what’s even worse, she has been lulled into thinking she was safe, loved, part of a herd, protected. She was oblivious to the fact that the human animals who were raising and protecting her didn’t care about her at all as an individual, but only in so much as what she could provide for them.

Calvin – Black Goat Farm & Sanctuary, Smithville, ON

So I have a word for you. For all of you who use words like “processed” or “harvested” in order to justify supporting an industry replete with cruelty, abuse, murder, and inhumanity; for all of you who try to hide behind the pretty flounces of the curtain of the English language to avoid having to think unpleasant thoughts, who employ the trappings of word magic to effectively eliminate any culpability for the pain and suffering of millions of creatures here on earth.

LIARS.

Plants vs Flesh Eating Zombies

“Plants have feelings too. So if we eat plants, why can’t we eat animals?” At first glance, this seems a legit statement. Science HAS proven plants have “feelings” – of a sort, and well, we all know non-human animals do, so where do vegans go from here? Vegans decry taking a life for our useage, so what the fuck are we supposed to eat based on this rationale?

Most of us understand non-human animals have feelings: they have consciousness, think, feel, have babies with whom they bond, live in communities in which they bond, recognize faces and scents, communicate, and have individual personalities. They are not automatons designed for our personal use and to do our bidding; they are beings in their own right.

this would be your “free range” chicken…..

Plants have been scientifically proven to sense their environment using hormones and sensory ions: they lean into the light for food production, many close up at night when there is no sun to produce food, enabling them to retain moisture. Plants also sense beneficial fungi and work underground through the root systems to connect with plants of the same type to send signals and nutrients back and forth. There is no doubt nature is amazing. However, does this mean the plant has the same sentience as an animal? Science has shown that answer is No.

The main consideration for feeling pain is a central nervous system. Human and non-human animals share this attribute. Plants do not. Plain logic shows animals and plants sentience is different: animals scream, cry and bleed when cut; plants do not. Certainly, modern research has shown plants do have a reaction to being pulled from the earth or off a stem, it is an automatic sensory reaction to a change in their environment. It’s not a feeling of pain or fear, it’s more a chemical reaction to what’s going on in order to adapt to their environment. This has been proven scientifically.

A plant’s life goal is to procreate – that’s it; that’s all. So having a blossom or fruit plucked from a plant, where the seeds will be disseminated elsewhere and germinate and grow to fruition is exactly what it wants. The area where the fruit is plucked from becomes the focus of the plant as it sends enzymes to promote quick healing so it’s food production can be sent to further it’s goal of procreation. That is its reaction to being eaten. Not fear, not bleeding, no screaming.

All this to say: plants want to be eaten! Since pollination, seed dissemination, root upheaval, etc are all vehicles for a plant procreation, being eaten is the fulfillment of their life goal.

Now, they are obviously not rubbing their hands together in glee, chortling at the success of building the prettiest fruit and being chomped on by someone to further their ends of world domination, umm no. Invasion of the Body Snatchers aside, if a plant is eaten, it has fulfilled its raison d’etre – its reason for being: spreading its seeds.

Conversely, non-human animals do NOT want to be eaten. We can tell this, quite simply, by their body language, no science needed. Rolling eyes, crying in terror, running physically away, shaking, vomiting, defecating where they lay/stand – all very obvious signs of fear and distress. Their life goal is NOT being fulfilled by being eaten, because their life goal is to LIVE. Killing an animal will not cause it to spread seeds around the earth to continue life. Science has proven non-human animals do feel the same as us; they have a central nervous system which allows them to feel the excruciating pain of suffocation in gas chambers or the sting of a bloody blade. This is NOT a natural process for them.

selecting a pig for slaughter

We don’t want to die. Humans sometimes die in car accidents, work accidents, through illness; we devise laws and methods to protect us and heal us so these events are fewer. Animals don’t want to die either, but rather than putting measures in place to protect their lives, we condone their death and we justify it by saying it fulfills the “circle of life”.

No. A plant being eaten fulfills the circle of life. An animal being killed ends it.

“Get A Job!”

It’s a cry I hear frequently while protesting. It’s directed at those of us who are taking time out of busy schedules to bear witness to the suffering and cruelty of the animal agriculture system and other forms of speciesist control and oppression.

And I wonder: why do these people think we don’t have jobs? Why do they assume we are all dirty hippie layabouts, who do not contribute to society and don’t pay taxes? I mean do they think we mooch off of society, hanging out in our communes wearing Jesus sandals and dashikis, clouds of questionable smoke wafting around our heads?

Time management: heard of it?

Sure, we are obviously not at work at that moment in time; some have days off, some have later shifts. Some of us are retired, having spent our lives working, contributing and paying taxes (and still are) and are now enjoying free time but choosing to do something positive with it. But there we stand, at our corners, with our signs, peacefully bearing witness to beings destined to end up at slaughter mere moments later, and all around us the hue and cry “Get a job!” echoes around us continuously.

I saw comments on a thread on Facebook a few days ago, and someone posted the “get a job” remark, to which I replied, “Why do you assume they don’t have jobs?” And you know what he said? He replied, “Well they obviously they have too much time on they’re hands.” (sic)

So there it is, peeps. If you have spare time after work, and decide to do something constructive with your time, such as exercise your Canadian Charter Rights and Freedoms, then YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS.

Apparently, to be a legitimate contributing member of society, you must work all day and night, with only enough time to get a few hours sleep in between shifts. If you have extra time on your hands, and maybe go shopping, or to the library, or lounge in your backyard, or protest something you feel strongly about, then YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS.

I kid you not. This is a thing.

Then I noticed something: the opposition had protesters too. Morning, afternoon, evenings, whenever we were there, they were too. Did they all quit their jobs to keep up with us? They must not realize they now also have TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS, and so it might be helpful if we yelled “Get a job!” at them now. I mean, if we are there, and they are there, WHO’S WORKING?? Who is keeping our economy going, paying the taxes, supporting medicare and social programs? Because now we all HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON OUR HANDS!

I don’t know if our country can ever recover from this.

Basically, the phrase “Get a job!” directed at activists infers our cause is unimportant and should therefore be abandoned in pursuit of more productive tasks. But who is the arbiter of what’s important and what is not? Who decides which task qualifies as important to society and which impedes it’s advancement?

Rosa Parks, MLK Jr in background
Stock Photo

I understand we have opposition: people who disagree with us. Maybe even hate us. There is a fundamental belief out there that those who shake up the status quo are bad, troublemakers, malcontents, maybe even criminals. It appears it has never entered their heads that protesters are the people who bring about change; who bring issues to the forefront of awareness in society. All the things in this world that we have accepted now as the norm were all once issues which were fought over, with many, many dissenters. Emancipation, desegregation, the vote for women, abortion & bodily autonomy, child sexual abuse, Indigenous rights, corporate glass ceilings: all these issues drew blood in society. People died to bring about these changes, and we’re still fighting for them today in many cases. Who are these people who fight for these improvements?

Us. Activists. And it has ever been so since the dawn of time.

And what’s important to realize is we don’t have to be activists to make ourselves heard. There are many ways to bring about change. Activism can be as simple and as quiet as living a certain lifestyle with conviction: no fanfare needed. Lead by example.

But there are some of us who like to make a little noise, shake things up, challenge the “man”, plants seeds and just generally kick society in ass and get some discomfort going to fertilize those seeds of thought. That doesn’t make us bad; it doesn’t make us toxic; it doesn’t make us unemployed layabouts, either. It does however, scare people.

Humans historically feared the unknown.; We burned witches, despite the fact they healed the sick; we oppressed different cultures, even while appropriating goods and actions within their communities – because it was unexplainable. As cave dwellers, we didn’t travel far from our homes – to do so was to challenge our survival. Predators, extreme weather, starvation, murderous rogues from other tribes: these were our enemies and being away from the cave put us in jeopardy. Routine was familiar, safe. Introduction of some new element or being meant things were different, unknown, and it created rampant and widespread fear, because our and our tribe’s safety was dependent on knowing the who, what, when, where, and why’s of our environment. Changes are rarely welcomed with open arms, and even today, that is still typical . Despite all our advancements and technology, we are still animals and we still have a need for security for our survival.

So activists with radical ideas and loud voices threaten not only everything we hold dear, but our very existence! Obviously, most people will oppose the new ideas and are fearful of the strident message: it challenges the margin of safety we have put around ourselves. It introduces elements of the unknown and we sure as heck can’t have that!

One of the arguments against protests I hear from people is that we “disturbed their peaceful, lovely day.” Well, duh. That was our intent! They weren’t going to hear our message magically with feathers and sparkles blown in by a gentle breeze a la Disney stylez. People don’t sit up and take notice of quiet, pretty messages floating by on clouds of inconspicuousness. You send someone a message like that, where does it end up? Still floating – forever and ever. And ever.

Captain Paul Watson, Canadian Citizen and founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

No, the way to catch attention, make people sit up and think, is to be loud and maybe even obnoxious. Activists want to disturb you; they want to interrupt lovely days; they want you to hear their message. It might be the only way you will actually HEAR it. Once you hear it, it stays with you, and you think about it. And you may disagree, in fact, as history as shown, you probably will disagree – emphatically. But eventually, as you continue to hear the message over time, in different ways, some subtle, some not so much, your opinion might change. And that seed of thought, that bud of transformation is how we as society grow and progress from cave dwellers to a civilized society.

We in Canada have an unalienable right to civil disobedience. It’s in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We are allowed to gather in public, peacefully – but not necessarily quietly. We are allowed to express our views publicly by any way we choose – yelling, talking, leafleting, creating dramatizations, marches, public spectacles, signage, speeches. We are allowed to disturb your peaceful day. We are allowed to disrupt traffic, to agitate. We are allowed to ROCK YOUR WORLD.

That is our job.

As Ghandi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Out With The Old…

Three years ago, I was wielding a spatula, slinging spices, and rocking a carving knife, making some delish meat-centric meals for my family. All this whilst brandishing a dry pinot or three in a tipsy waltz across the kitchen.

My favourite shows were Master Chef, Hell’s Kitchen and Dinner Party Wars. I watched them almost exclusively, over and over, as I drained bottle after bottle of dry white.  I seemed to have a penchant for anything creative all my life, writing, sewing, painting, and eventually that evolved to include cooking.

 All the recipes revolved around meat, which I didn’t actually like much. All my life I have had issues with eating meat: the stringiness, the fat, the cartilage, the gelatinous textures, the smell of bones. So I rarely ate it myself, but I was a “feeder”: I cooked for everyone else. And I mean everyone!

Every kid on the block stopped by for breakfast, lunch or dinner. My kids would call their friends and say “she’s making spaghetti” and BING! someone would magically arrive at my door just in time, and naturally, I made them up a plate. My daughter’s friend would ask his mother what they were having, and then contemplate one second before stating “I’ll see what Carol’s making.”I didn’t mind one bit; I enjoyed it. But I rarely ate it. Turkey at Christmas; a hamburger at a bbq, pepperoni on a pizza, but steak? nope. Chicken on the bone? Nope. Chops? hell no. 

Then I changed a few things in my life. I left an abusive ex; the box of pinot stopped gracing my counter, and I started thinking about my health. ME. My health. My life. Things I wanted. Not anyone else. Just me. What a revelation. 

I didn’t want to eat flesh. I didn’t want to eat animals. I didn’t want any part in an industry that commodifies sentient beings and reduces them to “cuts of meat” in a supermarket. I had spent years doing it in order to please others, to follow the status quo. I did it because doing what I wanted was not an option, and in truth, I didn’t know what I wanted because all my time was spent catering to what others wanted. I had become a non-entity in my own life. I was no better off than the animals bred into the agriculture industry. I followed “the herd” because that’s all I knew and all I was allowed.

And then I deleted the negative and inserted ME into the equation. 

Better late than never, eh?

And as most vegans say: I wish I had done it sooner!

Empathy for animals has to go beyond our pets: cats and dogs. It has to go beyond wild animals hunted or trapped for fur or other products. It has to go beyond animals threatened with extinction. These issues are understood around the world as being legitimate concerns which even non-vegans will support. 

But it also has to include agricultural animals: horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep. It has to because it’s plain logical. Why protect some animals and not others? What is the difference? Non-vegans will say “well they are bred for food.”These animals which were bred to fill a human concept: that it’s easier to go out into the field and kill a cow for food than hunt it. So agricultural animals were bred out of human LAZINESS and greed. Nature didn’t breed domestic animals, humans did. So they are not natural to this world, but now they are here, why do we think it’s ok to abuse them and not dogs (which we also bred)?

We are disgusted at the Chinese Yulin Dog Meat Festival but celebrate ribfests all summer long. We think it’s horrific that some Asian cultures eat live octopus, but really enjoy slugging back that raw (read ALIVE) oyster. And this year, we were horrified that due to a Chinese delicacy of bat soup, we ended up locked down in our homes hiding from a zoonotic novel coronavirus, but we conveniently ignore H1N1 outbreaks because “mmm bacon”.

Oh believe me, I ignored the facts too. I’m guilty of all of the above and then some. But when I made the change and stopped eating meat, I also started reading and researching, and I opened my mind to thoughts and ideas about which I previously had not heard. I went back to my nature spirit roots and had some serious conversations with my soul. I did a lot of housecleaning in my mind, opened up a few musty windows and gave that space a new coat of paint. 

I like where I am now. I like me. I have goals. I have a purpose. I have drive. I’m connecting with a new tribe and I love how that feels. I’m tapping into my creativity, my spirituality, and my imagination and it’s looking up as never before. And it’s all because I stopped using other sentient beings for my own selfish needs. I recognized we are all animals: some human animals, some non-human animals, but animals just the same. We all deserve to be treated with respect; we all deserve love; we all deserve life.

Won’t you consider this concept too?  

That Day I Changed My Mind

So I did a thing yesterday, peeps. I’d been wanting to do it for a while, but even as a vegan, I was kind of in two minds about it. I have to admit, I had to figure it out for myself.

I attended an action to protest the use of horses pulling carriages for tourists in Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario. The reason I was in two minds is because I love horses and horse-back riding. I always have, even as a child. I always wanted to own a horse so I could leap nimbly onto his back, lean into his strength and ride, swiftly and smoothly, across fields and meadows. I wanted to fly over country fences, turn corners perfectly on the inside leg, feel the majesty beneath me, and bond with a beautiful animal spirit in the process.

Yeah I watched a lot of Disney.

I was in two minds because I watched a family member battle a grievous disease by taking horseback riding lessons, which helped strengthen her, calm her, and heal her simply by being able to connect with the lovely soul of a training horse; by learning how to care for it as well as ride it, she grew stronger and more capable to handle tasks elsewhere.

Obviously, I had a deep respect as well as love for these amazing creatures. So why would I want to abolish horse-carriage rides, remove the opportunity for others to enjoy and benefit from horses too?

I needed to find out what all the hullabaloo was about.

(NB: I’m now vegan for 3 years, but admittedly at 59, it obviously took most of my life to get there, despite the fact that I am and always have been an animal lover. I don’t really know why it took so long, but all this means is that I do not have the right to judge someone else for being slow to awaken, even though I often do. #sorrynotsorry see that post here.)

We did some marching, made a lot of noise on a quiet, Sunday afternoon, waved our signs, signaled our thrill when passers-by supported us, and generally took the small, quaint town by storm. Not gonna lie, it was fun.

not sure who took the pic, but this is the group of activists I marched with in NOTL on Sunday, with Adam Stirr in the lead with the megaphone.

People were pissed, man! And I kinda understood why: here they were for a holiday stop after a harrowing spring with covid19 dogging everyone’s heels. All they wanted to do was eat over-priced, overrated meals, shop in over-full stores with over-inflated rents, flash over-used credit cards around, and just generally enjoy a long over-due break from every day life, letting over-worked horses drive their over-weight asses around in over-the-top record heat….wait….what was that?

You heard me.

Ok, so why exactly were they pissed we were there? Because we interrupted their day. We had the unmitigated gaul to bring an injustice into the forefront of their day out. We ripped the air of peace and serenity like a tornado through a spider’s web, and it was not well received by many.

I was able to hear some of the comments, some of them I can actually print here because they are PG rated. Oh who the hell am I kidding? We were told to fuck off; suck a dick; go home; get a job (how does protesting indicate we are unemployed?); get out of THEIR town (who owns NOTL?); and other remarks stated under breath as they snuck by us.

I don’t think they understood, or maybe they’d forgotten, civil disobedience is one of our Charter Rights. Our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows all citizens to gather in public and protest peacefully (yes even vociferously) in an effort to educate the public about issues which some feel need to be addressed and even changed. It is our right – not a privilege – a right to do so on any given day of the week. And it is how women got the vote in 1918 in Canada; it is how desegregation came about in 1954 in the U.S.; it is how changes were made by Martin Luther King, Jr.s March on Washington in 1963 in support of racial equality; it is how the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.

Sorry, NOTL, but we the citizens are allowed to go anywhere in Canada and make noise for issues we feel need to be changed. In this case, it was for the injustices perpetrated on animals in our society: specifically horses.

The horse drawn carriage rides are a commercial nod towards the old days of horse labour in our society and are publicized to reflect the old-fashioned, quaint aura of Old Town in NOTL. Many cities use these types of enterprises for tours, complete with period clothing and vernacular. It’s charming and appealing to be driven around in style, gandering at the architecture and local sights, and makes one feel a little bit better than the mere peons on foot. It’s an ego boost.

But it comes at what cost to the horse? Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, is animals, and horses specifically to this situation, are considered property. A commodity to be used by its owner as needed. They are just another tool to making money: like a computer, a car, or a pen – and as such can be disposed of by its owner as they see fit once they are no longer profitable. Most cities have minimal animal protection guidelines, especially for carriage horses, which are often not enforced due to lack of knowledge. Care for the horses is reliant upon the owner of the company, and with the Ag Gag Bill 156 looming, that will soon be something we can’t monitor. In the case of NOTL, the animals home treatment is not in question. The Sentineal family is well known in the community for their care of horses, but that’s not the issue here, which from the comments I heard Sunday, is what people don’t understand.

How this particular business cares for their horses in not in question. It’s the fact that they are put to work pulling carriages in 30 plus degree heat and below zero temps for up to 9 hours at a time; they pull carriages between erratic and dangerous traffic, breathing in car and truck exhaust, hearing motorcycles gunning their engines, people honking horns, dodging pedestrians blindly crowding cross walks. They have little respite in summer from the broiling Ontario sun and heated tarmac. Many of the horses are slaughter house rescues, which means they were already dumped by some previous owner after their use had finished and may suffer from other health concerns related to that previous industry. This is how the business justifies their actions. They “saved” these horses from the slaughterhouse and gave them a great life pulling fat-assed tourists around in heat and humidity so powerful we put weather warnings out for the general public because it’s so dangerous!

Other cities have, in the last few years, banned horse-drawn carriages and many incidents have been publicized about horses collapsing and dying due to mistreatment, ill health or weather. These cities have switched to electric carriages: a clean, green version of the horse-drawn carriage, not governed by any vague and unenforced welfare guidelines, not affecting any living being negatively, yet just as productive and effective.

So now that I have attended one of these actions, I shall be going back. I mean, my blog is all well and good, but with only a few followers, it’s not going to make any big dent in public education about animal rights. Attending a protest will cause disruption, will cause agitation (that’s why they used to call protesters ‘agitators’ back in Susan B. Anthony’s day). Disruption and agitation is how we catch people’s attention. It’s how we can get people to think, even just a little, about the situation. Just like I did. And maybe, we can help a few others see the truth about horse-drawn carriage rides, animal entertainment exhibits, wild animal incarceration, and factory farming. Maybe we can help them change.

Just like I did.

 

 

 

Death of an Activist

I’m writing this at 2 a.m. the day after a fellow activist was killed at a vigil for pigs at Fearman’s Pork slaughterhouse in Burlington, Ontario. I can’t get it out of my mind. This is a vigil I have attended. I have stood on the corners with signs; I have stood at the gate entrance, providing water and succor to the pigs held in captivity in transport trucks. I have bore witness to the cruelty withstood by these baby pigs. I have seen their cuts and bruises from mistreatment; I have watched as they foamed at the mouth out of fear and dehydration; I have witnessed them walking over their dead comrades in the truck, pigs who did not survive the trip. I have seen the result of living beings crammed into a truck for days on end in 40 deg heat or sub zero temperatures, with no food or water, covered in puke and shit. But no body cares about that because “mmm bacon”.

It reminds me of the old photos of the trains running to Auschwitz.

So here I am at 2 a.m., feeling angry, so angry that I’m about to kick some meat-eating butt because apparently, even someone – a human – dying is not enough. There is an uproar now, but when it all dies down, will anything have changed? Oh yes – life will have changed for Regan’s family and friends, but that’s a small price to pay for your Big Mac isn’t it? It doesn’t directly affect you, right? And hey, if we can turn a blind eye to millions of animals brutalized and used as commodities every single day, then the death of one activist is a mere drop in a very big pond.

Let me ask you something: do pictures of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival enraged you, upset you, incense you? Well, what’s the difference between the dog meat festival and the annual ribfest celebrations we hold? It’s a “fest” right? If someone put a plate of luscious ribs in front of you, could you tell if they were dog meat or pork or beef? Bet that’s a big fat fucking NO.

So fuck off with your “the dog meat festival is wrong”, because if that festival is wrong, so is ribfest. They are ribs. Flesh and bone. Does it matter which animal was caged and mistreated and ultimately killed to get it? If it does to you, then you are NOT an animal lover. You are a PET LOVER, and there’s a big fucking difference.

It means you discriminate over which life is valuable and which isn’t – you feel you have the power over life to be able to state unequivocally that someone should be fought for at all costs, but someone else is expendable. And why? Because of their shape? Colour of their fur/skin?…..oh wait…..See what I just did there?

So fuck off.

You can’t be an animal lover and eat meat. You cannot eat meat without perpetuating a vile, gross industry of torturing and killing animals, therefore how can you say you are an animal lover? If defies logic. It simply does.

When shown slaughterhouse images you are disgusted, angered, you know it’s wrong: but you eat that burger on your plate anyway. Knowing. KNOWING. The drivers of the trucks transporting those pigs: they know. The employees clicking away at their keyboards: they know too. But when they take their lunch break and they bite into their bologna sandwiches or leftover chicken wings, they don’t care. It’s disgusting and it’s frustrating for those of us awakened to the reality and fighting to make changes. And when I hear someone died fighting for those changes, and no one is listening and learning, then I fear for our world. Truly.

When you see these images, Yulin Dog Meat Festival or pigs in gestation crates or calves in tiny veal crates, you want social media censored so you don’t have to be affected by the atrocities, but that is the wrong thing. Why aren’t you questioning your revulsion? Why aren’t you trying to find out more about these atrocities you don’t want on your newsfeed? Here’s a thought: rather than burying your head in the sand, or asking social media to bury the images, you should be stopping the actual acts that create the images YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE!

Don’t like seeing images of dogs in cages? Well you can block it but the dogs will still be suffering. Don’t like seeing cows having throats cut and pigs prodded with electric shock batons into a gas chamber? It’s not going to stop just because you don’t see the images anymore. The dogs will still be boiled alive – so will turkeys and chickens for that matter. Just because you don’t see the images on your timeline, doesn’t mean it isn’t still happening. Stop eating meat; don’t kill the messenger.

Don’t censor the truth, change the reality.

#goveganforregan

Lions, Tigers and Zoonotic Diseases – Oh My!

Whether you blame the Wet Markets in China or a communist conspiracy theory, one thing we can all agree upon is the Covid19 is a zoonotic-caused pandemic.

It’s not the only virus to pass from an animal to a human, either. SARS, MERS, Mad Cow Disease, H1N1 (Swine flu), Avian Flu – all originated in animals, passed the species barrier, and mutated to pass from human to human afterwards, becoming novel viruses with which we had no natural immunities.

Each one seems to get progressively more serious, and I have to wonder when human kind is going to get the hint. And it’s not a subtle hint either; it’s a kick-in-the-face,-fall-flat-on-your -back-into-a-quagmire-of-quicksand,-bloody-and-broken,-and-eventually-get-sucked-into-the -murky-abyss-of-world-wide-epidemic kind of hint.

Helloooooo!

Even before these viruses became a household word, the health of humans was compromised by animal products to a degree. Heart disease, high cholesterol, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and more could be linked to animal products: meat, dairy, eggs, processed meats. And because we have advanced medically, we are able to combat these diseases without making huge changes to our meat-centric diets.

But Mother Nature had other ideas. If we weren’t going to get the hint that way, she had to throw something really direct our way so we couldn’t ignore it.

BUT WE STILL DID!

What the fuck do we need to open our eyes? I bet if a holy being himself floated down from the sky and showed us graphs, charts, and pictures, we STILL wouldn’t believe it because…well…bacon…

You don’t have to be vegan to eat plant-based. The two are intrinsically different in concept. Being Vegan is a lifestyle: we don’t eat any animal product or by-product and even avoid use of animal by-products like leather, wool, etc. (as best we can) due to compassion for the living sentient being being sacrificed, the health of the planet at large, and our own health.

 “Veganism is a way of living,” according to the Vegan Society, “which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.”

Someone who eats plant-based chooses to consume little to no animal products for health reasons alone, and typically these folks consume more whole foods as opposed to processed or prepared. But there is no set rule for being plant-based.

Based on this information, and this latest pandemic explicitly caused by eating animals, it’s hard to figure out why more and more people aren’t becoming plant-based. With all the panic-buying, grocery stores are sold out of meat (as well as toilet paper) and yet MEAT CAUSED THIS.

Even if you don’t care about the animals, do you care about your children? About their health? About your aged parents’ health? Are you willing to risk their lives on the next novel virus which eating animal flesh will prompt? What if it’s worse than Covid19 with a higher mortality rate, one that affects middle aged folks, rather than primarily the elderly? What if?

Are you willing to live in the “what if?”

All I Want…

All I want is a kinder world, peeps.

Is that too much to ask?

I want wars to stop; I want hatred to disseminate into nothingness. I want people to stop hurting each other, hurting their children, hurting animals. I want everyone to have enough to eat, and all the clean water they need. I want everyone to have a roof over their head. I want everyone to have access to all the education they want, and I want them to pass on what they learn in order to help others.

I want the dollar store products to actually be a dollar!

I have chosen a path which is not an easy one. After years of personal oppression in one form or another and then intense domestic abuse, I have chosen to advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. It took me many years to reach this point of awakening, but in retrospect, it was always in me. I actually always felt this way, but didn’t know where to start, and probably wasn’t ready anyway. You don’t have to like it – but then if you’re reading this blog, you probably agree anyway – you don’t have to though. I can do what I need to, say what I need to, and it shouldn’t affect those who do not agree at all.

But sometimes it does. And that’s really cool.

When I post a meme or an article that gets a dissenting response, I get kind of excited because I know it struck a chord in someone. Typically, it’s in disagreement, but I don’t care – it has caused them to think, to formulate their viewpoint, express it, and open an avenue for discussion. This is a good thing, but more importantly, it is a sign that someone’s conscience has been tripped, and like a domino chain, one thing is going to lead to another – eventually.

We are stubborn creatures. We don’t like change. Change is part of the unknown – outside our primitive cave, away from our tribes, was the unknown, filled with predators, isolation, danger. Today, we still don’t like the unknown, change, things that are different. When faced with change, our security, what we have always known, is challenged. Change is denounced, we defy it, we fight it to protect our security. Eventually though that domino effect kicks in and we learn to adapt.

Suddenly, we all start to agree: yes, slavery is bad; yes, women are equal to men; yes, racial discrimination is wrong. And it took one person to introduce the idea, to put forth their arguments, to spread the information, to set the example. Just one person.

I bet they pissed a lot of people off at first, spouting their new-found idea. I bet they were ignored, laughed at, vilified perhaps, until the idea started to take hold with a few others, and grow with time.

Maybe even violence ensued. ‘Cause that’s how we humans roll.

I feel so strongly about developing a peaceful, kinder world, that I am willing to stand with those game-changers for my cause, despite the unpopularity it may generate among my friends and acquaintances.

Veganism may be a fad to some, a trendy diet to others, a rebellious act to yet others, but to me it’s the best path for a kinder world. Because if we are kind to the “lowliest” animals on the planet, it stands to reason we will be kind to those we consider equal. Eventually, this concept may lead to us thinking of all living beings as equal, which takes things up a further notch to a perfect world.

That’s what I’m striving for, peeps. So if I post something that pisses you off or ignites a spark of dissention among you, then I am doing my job right.

Because all I really want is a kind, peaceful world.

Greta: Chapter Two

Nothing should surprise me anymore, peeps. I mean the world is now dealing with the coronavirus, originating with people eating bats, ffs, so how could anything possibly surprise me these days?

And yet, every day I hear or see something which does.

Case in point: right-wing pundit Michael Knowles – yes, a grown man – appeared on Fox News and publicly name called Greta Thunberg, 16-year-old climate activist. This on the heels of Fox’s own Laura Ingraham, of The Ingraham Angle, comparing her to the murderous children in Stephen King’s classic horror “Children of the Corn”.

Knowles was invited to talk about the climate crisis and Thunberg’s speech at the United Nation’s Summit last year on Fox News, making clear his cynical approach to climate change stating, “If it were about science it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.”

Ingraham vilified the girl on her show by inferring “Thunberg wanted people to “cede control of our economy, our way of life, our way of transport, how many children you want to have, and if we don’t go along, we will be punished by our own children,” The Guardian stated.

She said, “I can’t wait for Stephen King’s sequel, Children of the Climate.”

First of all, a young person speaking out on world issues, albeit in a manner generally considered strident, does not make her mentally ill. The fact that she has placed on the autism spectrum does not mean she is unintelligent. Most people suffering from mental illness would be quick to point out their disorders do not make them “less than” in this world, unable to formulate educated opinions and even express them succinctly. In point of fact, Knowles off-hand comment has not only insulted Thunberg, but it has insulted, on a world-wide level, all those suffering from mental health issues, inferring they are incapable of making a well-informed, knowledgeable judgment. Shame on you, Knowles.

As of this writing, Fox had apologized for Knowles’ comment and admitted they were not seeking him out for future shows.

But then what about their own employee, Laura Ingraham? Crickets on that, as far as I can see.

Name calling and finger pointing aside, the thing that sticks with me in all of this is Knowles comment that the climate crisis is not about science and the climate change movement is not led by scientists. Where the fuck did he get the idea that there is no science behind Thunberg’s pronouncement that climate change is real? There is page after page of scientific reports, articles, graphs, and treatises showing real, solid evidence to support climate change. Here is a link to a government-approved NASA article, for instance, and that is just one – and I’m pretty sure the SCIENTISTS at NASA will argue for its legitimacy. I mean, if anyone has scientists, its NASA, right?

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the opposing factions have their scientific evidence too. I’m just saying Knowles was clearly talking out of his hat by pointing out this issue is not led by science, and is being put forth, in its entirety, by a 16-year-old girl. A mentally ill one – because, you know, if you’re mentally ill then you’re not capable of intelligent thought.

So yeah, peeps, I thought I was pretty much immune to being rattled by things people in a position of influence said, but I guess there are still many things mysterious and perplexing in this world.