links for 2006-04-29

links for 2006-04-28

Hate mail

I get suprisingly little hate mail here, which kind of surprises me. Maybe I’m really not offending that many people… or maybe they’re just not reading. In any event, the other day I got an interesting letter. Below is what he wrote, with my responses interspersed (I know, I know, do not feed the trolls):

Please enlighten me. I am not a vegetarian, but I have no particular feelings of rage or disgust against anybody that choses to be. What I am is a single parent with three children who gets upset when activists who have no concept of the real world try to influnce the one I live in. If you really care about stopping animal cruelty drop out of society and live off the land, because one cannot exist in this modern world without contributing to said cruelty.

It’s pretty simple, really. It’s impossible to live a life completely free of cruelty. However, just because one can’t completely avoid contributing doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do our best to make some sort of difference. It’s quite easy to avoid animal products in one’s diet and same goes for clothing. That takes care of a major chunk of it. And, really, we don’t need animal products to live, so it just makes sense to cause the least amount of harm as possible.

So burn that leather coat, take off those leather shoes,

My leather coat and shoes are long gone. :)

…please don’t crank up that internal combustion engine driven vehicle,(emissions harmful to both man & beast). I don’t know how but i’m sure that somehow reading this e-mail will contribute to animal cruelty,if for no other reason than it’s keeping you from your animal saving crusades. Sorry to cut this rant short but i’ve gotta walk the dogs before I drag the clan to Wegmans for some cage free eggs(wait a minute kids they’re 4 times more than regular eggs-sorry no breakfast for you!

Of course, the easy answer to this is not to buy eggs. That’d the cheapest choice of all!

PS- If I do not receive a response to this I will assume that you plan to do the honorable thing and exit society. The worlds downtrodden chickens will be very pleased!

You mention animal rights activists not having a concept of the “real world”… I think the problem is more that many of us have *too* much of a concept of the real world. It’s the everyday consumer that doesn’t realize the unnecessary pain and suffering that goes into meat production since what they buy is packaged so sterilely, looking far removed from the way it did when it was alive.

Listen, I know I’m not changing your mind with any of this, but consider watching a movie like Peaceable Kingdom. It may give you a little better of an idea why compassion towards animals isn’t some weird, strange, unreasonable ideal.

links for 2006-04-21

Call to vegans in San Diego

I got an e-mail the other day from a reader asking, “Do you know of any one in the San Diego, California area who would prepare vegan dishes for the home bound?” I said I would post it here looking for help.

If you can help or know someone who can, drop me an e-mail or leave a comment and I’ll put you in touch.

links for 2006-04-19

links for 2006-04-18

links for 2006-04-13

I’d kiss a pig before the I’d kiss the winner

Over the last few years, I’ve seen a lot of these types of stories, ones where someone (often a school principal) will kiss a pig if a certain amount of money is raised for charity. In this story, whoever raises the most money gets to kiss the pig and “bring… Wilbur home.” The money raised pays for youth programs and the maintenance of the Loudoun County fairgrounds’ livestock and show buildings.

Ugh.

In the usual case, kissing the pig is portrayed as this crazy, disgusting thing… a “sacrifice” a person will make as an incentive to raise money. While it amuses a lot of people, it does nothing to battle the stereotype of pigs as dirty, disgusting animals. But, really, unless a pig’s been out for a roll in the mud on a summer day, kissing a pig on the nose is no more disgusting than kissing your dog on the nose.

Maybe I’m making too much out of it. Maybe it’s just a harmless way to raise money. But, in the article linked above, there’s little question: the pig that’s “won” will either be killed for food. “Wilbur” will be eaten.

And I wonder what “youth programs” will be supported by money raised at a fair with bull riding, dairy shows, goat shows, and a livestock auction (“offering Beef, Lamb, Goat, Pork, Chicken, Duck, Rabbit, and much more!”). I might be making some false assumptions here, but I can’t find any further information on the “youth programs,” so I’m left to guess. It’s also unclear how much of the money raised will go to the fairgrounds, which promote more of this type of event.

I said what now?

Periodically, I look back at old blog entries just to see how far I’ve come. Every so often, I run into an entry that makes the current-me cringe… like this one from five years ago. An excerpt:

I don’t know whether I’ll ever make the jump towards veganism, but even now, I’m trying to be as “cruelty-free” as possible (buying strictly organic milk, sour cream, etc.) as well as cutting back on cheese (due mainly to the saturated fat content).

Fortunately, two years later, I was already talking about replacements for honey even though I hadn’t gone vegan yet. That redeems me a bit, right, vegan five-oh?