Maim Difference
"People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs." --Rodney Lee
Maim Difference
"People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs." --Rodney Lee
Very true. The inconsistency of animal rights activists who wear leather shoes has been shown many times. I have yet to hear the activists respond to this, however.
Patrick at October 18, 2003 6:33 PM
And fur much more closely resembles teddy bears, which are so cute and don't deserve to die.
And black leather is so hot that even the PETA activists can't bear to have sex without it.
Lena at October 18, 2003 8:57 PM
well, i am a vegetarian so i suppose i should respond to this. I really despise PETA for giving all animal lovers a bad name. I used to be a strict vegan, eating no animal products and owning no leather shoes or fur (i have weakened and now eat dairy). I believe ALL animals no matter how repulsive to me personally have the right to live (even Leno).
However, i have never condoned becoming militant towards people with different opinions. I believe raising awareness is much more effective than throwing paint on people...although perhaps not as much fun????
By the way I love this blog! Intelligent discussions on a blog, who would have thought it?
rowena at October 19, 2003 9:49 AM
And I'm loving your comments Rowena. Do come back, and bring more Ozzies.
Amy Alkon at October 19, 2003 11:11 AM
What I don't truly understand about veganism is why the extremes? I can understand the refusal to wear leather or silk, because it necessitates the killing of something, but wool??? I thought removing the fleece was good for the sheep. During those hot summer months, it would be shear delight (bad pun intended) for them, I would think.
And dairy products? They don't involve killing anything and the cow will manufacture more milk than her calf can drink.
Patrick at October 19, 2003 6:46 PM
Vegans are really out of their minds. They don't eat honey because it's collected without the consent of the bees. Has anyone done a study of the psychological fucked-up-ness of vegans?
Lena the Hippo at October 19, 2003 8:06 PM
I've been a vegetarian for a while, and have been trying to switch to completely vegan for a while, but it is hard. Some posters to this blog may think I'm fucked-up (based either on this post or on previous posts), but that's ok.
Even though chickens don't die laying eggs and cows don't die giving milk, their lifespans are much shorter in the modern mass-production farms than they used to be in the old-fashioned farms. Even in James Herriott's books, he talked about the 'modern' dairy farms and how impersonal they were, and those were very modest compared to what happens now.
HOWEVER, I would never protest someone wearing fur or leather or silk or wool, or the food that someone else chooses to eat. My choice is my choice. If someone asks, I'll tell them why I think it's not so nice for us to take advantage of animals for our use just because we're able to, but I don't make a big deal of it. My family all still eats meat and dairy, and they know why I don't, and we get along just fine.
The problem with all forms of activism is the extreme that people take it to. I have what I believe in, and I'm willing to discuss and debate it with anyone who wants to. But I'm not willing to beat someone over the head with it. That won't make it attractive, it doesn't win me any friends, and probably just does more damage to the 'cause' that I was hoping to promote. People get so focused on themselves being in the 'right' and by default others with differing opinions being in the 'wrong' that they can't agree to disagree.
Peggy C at October 19, 2003 9:07 PM
I don't think you're fucked-up person at all, Peggy. You sound like a real smart one.
Lena at October 20, 2003 5:47 AM
Actually, Peggy, you MIGHT have a shot at persuading someone that way -- in a way somebody who tosses a bloody raccoon on Vogue ed Anna Wintour's plate never would.
Amy Alkon at October 20, 2003 6:56 AM
Thanks! Besides, plants are 'alive', too, so I wouldn't wants someone hurling soybeans at me and telling me that I'm a murderer for eating those poor defenseless little plants.
Peggy C at October 20, 2003 8:35 AM
Yes, plants are green, living things -- just like Godzilla or the Blob or Herman Monster. How could we possibly hurt them?
Lena of the Night at October 20, 2003 10:06 AM
This sort of thing always reminds me of a scene in the movie 'Switch':
"Do you know how many poor animals had to die for that coat?
"No. Do you know how many rich animals I had to fuck for this coat?"
Eric Pobirs at October 21, 2003 10:14 PM
Regarding chickens, I always buy my eggs "cage free." Mass produced eggs come from chickens fed hormones and kept in tiny cages stacked from floor to ceiling. The beaks are filed off so they can't peck at each other. I'm no animal rights activist, but this seemed just a little more cruel than I wanted my hard earned tax dollars supporting.
I also don't eat veal because of the cruelty of confining a baby calf in a box all it's life, not allowed to even stand up so the meat stays tender. That's a little more inhumane than I needed to satisfy my discriminating palate.
And lobster is another food I don't indulge in. I used to work in a grocery store the provided lobsters and even steamed them for you. I had the happy job of working in the meat department and (among other things) doing the steaming. It unsettled me, taking a living thing, placing it a steamer and then ten minutes later, producing the finished product: a dead crustacean that I scalded to death. Besides, the animals are disgusting. Normally, they are reclusive bottom-feeders (like some people I know of) but when kept in a tank in close confines with one another, they become cannibalistic.
I watched two lobsters in the bottom of the tank, one laying with its head over the the other's. The tiny limbs surrounding the mouth were working, and I thought, "Is this lobster doing what I think it's doing?"
Sure enough, ten minutes later, the bottom lobster lay motionless at the bottom of the tank, its eyes were gone and there was a tiny hole in the skull, and I could see the hollow recess within, where presumably its brain used to be.
The other lobster seemed to have found a new vitality and was moving with much more vigor than the other remaining lobsters. "You know, you could have asked me for some melted butter," I said to it.
Poor thing, lying dead at the bottom of the tank with, its huge bound claws lying so still. Since no one else noticed it, it stayed there for quite a while and became a meal for other lobsters. They ate the legs and other stuff. I guess the claws were too tough to break open. Maybe I should have dropped a nutcracker into the tank.
I didn't keep that job long. I hated scalding the poor things to death, and I started naming them. Serving lobsters to people and saying stuff like, "Oh, you got Crustacea. *Sigh* I liked her."
Patrick at October 22, 2003 2:44 AM