PETA - The Wacky Relative That Sometimes Gets It Right

As I mentioned here almost two years ago I don't often post much from the PETA camp... But I could find nothing in what Ms. Kirk has to say in this video that I disagree with. Can you?



If you do disagree and believe that violence towards nonhumans is acceptable... Please re-examine why you think that. Please question your premises with a critical eye. Please put yourself in the place of that other animal in order to come to a better conclusion. If you refuse to do so... You are a danger to us all.

As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right.
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Enemies: A Love Story

*Thanks to VeganElder for the title inspiration

Vegans Have Evidence of Violence

It's fair to say that most of us require evidence to confirm our belief in something. Unquestionable, tangible, irrefutable facts turn belief into confirmed knowledge.

Take for instance decades ago people heard of the conditions inside experimental labs, circuses, factory farms and slaughterhouses, but the truth could be denied without proof. Most said those claims of wrong doing were just exaggerated lies. So brave whistle-blowers and activists penetrated those "science" horror dens and other gulags of torture to capture evidence in photos and on videos. It always is difficult to discredit what the eye can see.

But I've noticed several instances lately where the industry, politicians and profiteers of animal use are attempting to silence the whistle-blowers. And individuals too are making accusations that these Animal Rights activists are also guilty of sending "threatening" emails and electronic data meant to be hostile and "violent".

For example there was the accusation made by Green Mountain College, regarding the scheduled killing of oxen duo Bill and Lou. The accusation was that slaughterhouses were "barraged" by "threats from the animal rights activists" - So much so that they were intimidated from doing the job... 

Evidence?

Another case is here on this MeatingPlace forum where industry blogger Emily Meredith's entry "Why can't we be friends?" writes: "Following the launch of my first blog post I received several emails that viciously attacked me personally. There’s no mistaking who these emails were from—they were from activists—and the authors of these emails were most certainly proud of their attempts to harass me. These emails were downright nasty..." 

Evidence?

And finally there's an incident that occurred just a few days ago wherein an individual claimed that questioning the actions of an individual who butchers lambs is unkind and "violent". In this individual's mind - Regardless of how harmful others might be... To speak out against those wrongs doesn't spread "love". 

At all costs - Don't be controversial.

So this individual claims that they were "viciously attacked" through their email box that included graphic images of aborted fetuses and slaughterhouse victims.

Evidence?

Now - My best advice to these individuals and anyone who has ever gotten such material is to document it! Publish it! Prove it!

Also - PLEASE RUN to the nearest law official and turn it over to the authorities! They have ways of tracing emails! And of course this would validate what you say is true. For your own safety and the peace of mind to your readers - You have an obligation to present factual proof that these allegations did indeed occur. Otherwise it leaves a broad streak of doubt that how can anything else you claim be accepted with confidence? I assure you - Those who would conduct themselves in such an ineffectual manner would be rejected by the AR community in no time flat!

Conversely in my years of knowing thousands of animal rights activists I've never met one who didn't approach the issues in the most intelligent, mature and upstanding ways. None who ever suggested violence. None who advocated or acted to inflict harm. In fact the opposite has taken place in my own experience. I've had my vehicle vandalized & bottles thrown at me in traffic because of my bumperstickers. I've been spit on at protests. I reported it.

I've been called "vegan *itch nazi", the "c" word and was told recently that I should be a "holocaust victim". I've received obnoxious comments on my blog and in email. I'd gladly post them if it served a purpose - Or if I took any of that nonsense seriously.

But most importantly - I'd certainly provide evidence to my audience if I fabricated a whole blog post around such accusations! What better way to vilify these folks than with evidence?

Finally it always troubles me to see so much negative chastisement surrounding those who advocate a vegan way of living. Contrary to the images that carnists wish to present of the blood-throwing, balaclava donning, bomb-making examples of animal rights advocates - Even "radical" ALF members have never harmed a single living being... Ever!

I believe these accusers are terribly misinformed about what an ethical vegan's motivations are. Most vegans consider themselves advocates of peace. And without justice there can be no peace! When innocent life is being exploited - Good people will always condemn that brutality. And when we do so - This is not violence. It is a shield and an outcry against it!

At the core we (animal right activists/vegans) all care about the wellbeing, safety and protection of sentient life. The same can't be said about the industries that breed life only to use and destroy it. Who really are the violent, hostile bullies? The evidence is any where you care to open your eyes to see it. Perhaps there is a time when we could tolerate  accept  forgive love those who inflict harm to others - (?) - For now my sympathies and energies are dedicated to the victims:

I have evidence that they suffer violently - At our will.

Vegan Peace

Holocaust on a Conveyor Belt - Assembly Line of Death

Holocaust on a Conveyor Belt - Assembly Line of Death



Scenes taken from the film Samsara

The Holocaust to nonhumans as explained by Gary Yourofsky.

"Before they reach their end, the pigs get a shower, a real one. Water sprays from all angles to wash the farm off of them. Then they begin to feel crowded. The pen narrows like a funnel; the drivers behind urge the pigs forward, until one at a time they climb onto a moving ramp. The ramp's sides move as well as it's floor. The floor is cleated to give the pigs footing. The sides are made of blocks of wood so that they will not bruise, and they slant inward to wedge the pigs along. Now they scream, never having been on such a ramp, smelling the smells they smell ahead. I do not want to over dramatize, because you have read all this before. But it was a frightening experience, seeing their fear, seeing so many of them go by. It had to remind me of things no one wants to be reminded of any more, all mobs, all death marches, all mass murders and extinctions, the slaughter of the buffalo, the slaughter of the Indian, the Inferno, Judgment Day, complicity, expensive races, races living at the expense of the race."
~ Richard Rhodes from Watching the Animals 

There is a more civilized way to live... Live Vegan.

In the Crosshairs of Gun Violence & Slaughter of the Innocent

Is it really that hard

to make

the connection?

There is a sacred spark in all life...

“We need never look for universal peace on this earth until men stop killing animals for food. The lust for blood has permeated the race thought and the destruction of life will continue to repeat its psychology, the world round, until men willingly observe the law in all phases of life, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”
Charles Fillmore, “The Vegetarian,” May 1920


The human cycle of violence will not stop until we stop the underlying violence, the remorseless violence we commit against animals for food.  The lesson is plain: when we harden ourselves to the suffering we inflict on animals in our own interest, and justify it by proclaiming our superiority or specialness, it is but a short and unavoidable step to justifying and inflicting the same kind of suffering on other humans in our own interest while likewise proclaiming our supremacy or specialness. 
Will Tuttle
Author of The World Peace Diet

There will never be any peace in the world as long as we eat animals. 
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Nobel Prize Winner in Literature 1978

To advocate the rights of animals is far more than a plead for compassion or justice towards the victims of ill usage; but for the sake of mankind itself, our true civilization, our race-progress, our humanity.
Henry Salt
Artist, traveller, diplomat, and Egyptologist 1780–1827

As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.  Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.
Pythagoras
Greek philosopher 570 - 490 BCE


Please for the sake of our own species... For the want of a nonviolent world - Go Vegan

Dairy Pitchfork Beating = Violent Eating - Go Vegan - Cows are Nice! :)

To those who say they enjoy their meat:

Is this "tenderized" enough for you?

Kinda gives a whole new look at what's at the end of your fork...Doesn't it???

This is only a part of the horrible things that happen to animals before they get to the slaughterhouse... Before they get to a plate -

Disgusted?  Then 
Go Vegan!

We Bully Kids - And Cows, Pigs & Chickens Too - Stop Violence - Go Vegan

We hear a lot of stories about bullies... Those "tough" ruffians who use force and might to subdue somebody else weaker than they are. There's bullies in schools, bullies at work and bullies involved in domestic violence... But here's a story that you may not have heard:

Once when I was walking down a country road... I heard some loud yelling coming from the house just within my sight. I hurried closer to see what the ruckus was - and there was this guy pushing and pulling at a kid a fraction of his size! As I looked closer I could see that there was a rope tied around the little fellow's neck --- I suppose he was 4 or 5 years old... And just a little thing too, because the guy outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds! Well, the kid tried desperately to dig his feet into the ground to avoid getting any closer to the guy. But the guy just kept tugging, and was cussing and screaming at the kid too... Telling the youngster he was stubborn and stupid; He finally dragged the kid to a tree. The kid cried and cried to please stop!... "You're hurting me!"... But the guy paid no mind and tied him tightly to that tree.

Oh what a site it was to see that poor little body shaking in terror! He kept crying out... Maybe he thought his mother or brother could help him break free from this mad man? But no such luck. The man walked a few steps away and as he turned around I saw a knife in his hands! He made no haste as he put the blade on the kid's neck and made a deep gash which spurted blood all over the place... I could see the kid's body collapse as the last of his life drained away. Then the man stepped back, wiping his brow like it was really hard work killing that kid. Now all he had left to do was butcher and eat him...

My point of this story is that there really is no difference in overpowering someone smaller, weaker or "less" than you, whether it's a child or a "kid"... That violence is violence. Whether the victim has two legs or four, it's all the same. And we bully, especially when we take someone's life. 

Happily we don't need to harm anybody! We can thrive on a plant based diet and eliminate causing these terrible acts. We don't have to be bullies! And we don't have to pay other people to do our bullying for us!

If you are reading this,the odds are you are within a few miles from any superstore that carries an abundant array of better choices than those that require the bullying of cows, pigs, chickens or kids. No one likes a bully. Please, Go Vegan

Oh... and by the way - In the time it took you to read this, 1600 goats were bullied and slaughtered without reason...

SLAUGHTERHOUSE MEAT PACKER VIOLENTLY KILLS 5 YEAR OLD SON

Gonzalez, a slaughterhouse worker confesses to killing and butchering his 5 year old son and placed the remains in plastic bags, later disposing of them in dumpsters. His meat-packing job is part of the debate over his confession. He did not work with knives at the plant. But among his duties, according to one worker, was to clean the "meat juices" (surely they mean blood) from the floor with hoses, foam, and wipers, raising questions about whether that skill would explain why investigators have found no evidence to corroborate his confession. While they are worrying about what "skills" could have aided the cover up of his son's murder, I wonder what exposures could have prompted Gonzalez to commit such acts in the first place? While he didn't do the stunning, sticking or killing of these animals he was witness to those violent acts all day long. He saw and heard daily the cries and screams of terror and pain. Gonzalez witnessed death on an hourly basis as a matter of routine nonchalance. The meat industry would like it's consumers to believe that these are unfeeling, inanimate "production units" and that the "system" insures that they are killed "humanely". However, Gail Eisnitz wrote a book called Slaughterhouse - The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry that contradicts this claim by the meat industry. Subsequently The Washington Post followed with an article titled "They Die Piece by Piece". One can only imagine the horror these workers (and animals) are inextricably (and permanently) damaged by in the "process" of making "meat". According to Robert K. Ressler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the FBI Cruel acts toward animals have long been recognized as indicators of a dangerous psychopathy that often claims more than animal victims. "Murderers ... very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids". Studies have now convinced sociologists, lawmakers, law enforcement officials, and the courts that acts of cruelty to animals deserve our attention. They can be the first sign of a violent pathology that includes human victims. There is reason to link the constant exposure of tortured animals to the death of this young boy. The meat industry is responsible for the suffering of billions of innocent beings in the name of "food". The violence inflicted on these animals by workers remains in their psyche long after the task of blood is done. We cannot possibly expect men to do these acts without requital upon a society that condones it. Meat requires killing animals. Killing animals promotes violence - Be Vegan.

HOLIDAY ANIMAL SLAUGHTER HOLY MEAT RITUAL

According to religious tradition Arabs and Saudis hauled animals in the trunks of their Chevys and Toyotas to sacred ground in order to perform the ancient Al-Adha sacrifices. Goats and sheep had their throats slit and were hung from dozens of trees. They were then butchered for their *meat* to celebrate these high feasting days which remember God's mercies... During the holiday much money is made by animal sellers and the slaughterhouse only miles away. But the lines are long and one can save costs by butchering their own animals. It's a grizzly scene with remains of animals strung from trees and unconsumable organs and blood scattered on the ground. Onlookers were disturbed at the sight but officials did nothing to protect the sensitivities of these people in Alkobar.

Reading this story reminds me of a similar tradition here in the U.S. where slaughterhouses are cranking double time to fulfill orders of turkeys and hams in preparation of our own holy days. Only we're much more "civilized" in this country. Most animals are trucked in huge livestock cars escorted to stainless steel rooms and hung on metal bleed rails while they are disassembled. We then wrap their body parts not in simple cloth or paper but rather in clean white foam and cellophane. Neatly arranged in florescent lit grocery store meatcases. Consumers can then paw through each of the remains to find their choice of "cuts". What might one decorate their holiday table with this year? A leg of a lamb? A rib-roast? A beheaded bird? A spiral sliced buttocks of a pig? Whatever the selection, it's presence is intended to symbolize the joy and goodwill of the season. And to honor a god for his kindness and generosity.

And then some of us are vegan and reject the rituals of killing and animal sacrifice...

Choosing instead to celebrate life with non-violence believing that peace begins with what (or rather "who's") not on your your plate...

War Soldiers Abroad Get Some USA Meat Violence

Here's the "logic" soldiers are in a foreign land using guns on humans... Humans are using guns on animals over here... Hey! Why not share in the blood bath! Seems there's a "deer jerky drive" in Pittsburg... A pound of flesh from each "bagged" deer is being donated to a meat packing plant so it can be "ground, formed, sliced and smoked"... giving the guys a real taste of "home". Here's some requests from soldiers - cd's, dvd's, computer games, magazines, and cell phones. They would also probably like to come home and would wish for world peace. So why are we sending them the product of yet more death and violence?