I've been having a hard time lately. It's like that saying--once you know you can never go back. Well, I feel that way not just about feminism, or racism, or capitalism but also about animals. Once I learned how they are treated by us, humans, I just can't go back to a lifestyle that supports it.
And it's hard.
It's not hard to eat a vegan diet or refuse leather goods or to not go to circuses. But it is hard being with friends and wanting them to understand but not wanting to be pushy or radical or scary to them.
I don't find it radical to want all creatures to be treated with respect. I know all of my friends feel the same way--if they didn't then I wouldn't be there friends; still, how do some people choose to live consciously on a daily basis while others just acknowledge it theoretically?
We've all been exposed, in some capacity, to videos where the chickens are being de-beaked, where the foxes are skinned alive, where pigs are eating the tumors off of each other, where dogs and cats are being throw in mass graves after being shoved into gas chambers to die a slow death.
Anyone who watches it will admit it's heart-breaking, but so many people now refuse to watch. They blame it on sensationalism or over-dramatization--even though they fully know that these things really do occur, everyday. They know they occur and that's why they won't watch.
Knowing is hard, because once you know if you don't change, then you're an asshole. Then every time you eat meat or dairy or whatever, images of raped cows and bleeding slit-throat-pigs pop into mind. And no one wants to feel guilty for eating food.
But pretending it doesn't exist doesn't make it go away. Pretending the meat was grown in a vat and not connected to living creatures does not make their deaths invisible. Or that animals don't feel "enough" pain as a justification for our normalization of their abuse.
So yeah, knowing is hard, but we have to know, we have to learn, if we want our world and all the beautiful, feeling, creatures in it to have better lives (and that includes our own).
To watch and learn check out some of this site and this video.
Kudos Krystal! I have been trying a vegetarian diet, and I have never once tried to acquit myself with those hollow excuses most people present to support their laziness or hypocrisy - humane killing is one heck of an oxymoron! The reason I am not surprised that most people do not want to watch uncomfortable things or hard things is because most people live in denial or delusion - accepting hard truths takes away their sense of security or status quo, which they have so grown to like that their sense of individuality has now taken on a pseudo-identity of the larger group they are a part of! Unfortunately, I have experienced this in the past and still do with people I know and care about, but you cannot make anyone think unless they feel the compassion by themselves. I just try to do my bit, and hope that more and more people would miraculously be able to wake up from their slumbers! Good post!
ReplyDeleteI agree, just focusing on my part is all I can do. Thanks for commenting!
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