What's Fur Got To Do With Love?

The clip below was posted by vegan advocate Jordan Wyatt who is a member of the Invercargill Vegan Society and who hosts the podcast Co-existing With Nonhumans Animals.

The debate on Prime Time Irish TV show asks whether it makes any difference whether we kill animals for the skin or for their meat?

And as Jordon observes this woman who grew up on a "fur farm", actually makes a case for Veganism.

She also makes it clear that the way these farmers "love" their animals is no different than the way others who "use" nonhumans "love" their animals too!



You'll be convinced at her "love" ten seconds in, when she giggles before acknowledging that she has skinned the minks as well.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it! Upton Sinclair

At thirty seconds she says that this can't be cruel because there's 1400 fur farmers in Denmark. She rhetorically asks "How can they justify it if they thought it was cruel?" 
If one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people. -Ruth Harrison

"They LOVE their animals!"

According to her because they do this job everyday, they can't possibly not "love" those animals. 
Whenever people say, ‘We mustn’t be sentimental,’ you can take it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add, ‘We must be realistic,’ they mean they are going to make money out of it." - Brigid Brophy

She states the "love" these farmers have throughout the breeding and skinning seasons... 
People who claim to "love" animals while paying workers to harm and kill animals for their enjoyment are frankly delusional. I sure hope none of these people ever "love" me. - Jo Tyler

She concludes that there is no difference between "loving" these fur animals or "loving" the animals used for meat, milk and eggs. She's certainly right there... 
There is no moral distinction between fur and other materials made from animals, such as leather, which also is the result of the suffering and death of sentient beings. - Gary L. Francione 

In her mind it's all okay because we've always done it. "It's in our nature."
In the course of his development towards culture man acquired a dominating position over his fellow-creatures in the animal kingdom. Not content with this supremacy, however, he began to place a gulf between his nature and theirs. He denied the possession of reason to them, and to himself he attributed an immortal soul, and made claims to a divine descent which permitted him to annihilate the bond of community between him and the animal kingdom. - Sigmund Freud 

Their "love" it appears, is all about the devotion of confining these animals in tiny cages, denying them of their freedom, their babies and eventually - their hides and their lives. 

But of course this MUST be "love"... Of money.
Our economic order is tightly woven around the exploitation of animals, and while it may seem easy to dismiss concern about animals as the soft-headed mental masturbation of people who really don't understand oppression and the depths of actual human misery, I hope to get you to think differently about suffering and pain, to convince you that animals matter, and to argue that anyone serious about ending domination and hierarchy needs to think critically about bringing animals into consideration.” - Bob Torres

Whether it's fur, food or "fun". Please think critically. Please think kindly. Please think. Go Vegan.

Instructions For Murder. Don't Try This On Your Home Planet

There's a fund drive to produce a movie called Abattoirs Rising that hopes to make the grand finale of meat-animal-victims less stressful by means of mobile slaughter facilities.

You can also build your own portable bird killing apparatus.
Instructions and charts are included that show how to "put the bird in the kill cone first to keep it confined, then pull the head down making the neck taught and then slice the carotid with a sharp knife."

Seems everyone and anyone (brutal - do not go if you know) has a special method on how to effectively put an end to some one's life!

This woman does the job by gently stroking the bird while she prepares to "respectfully harvest" the hen. Before the stabbing, she softly coos "Hey Lady"... "Hey Beautiful"... She breaks the bird's neck. Then twists and snaps it off. She then gets teary eyed and says "It's never easy. I've killed hundreds of chickens this way".  

Or there's this man who tells his two grandsons as he's hanging the bird's legs to a rope tied to a tree, "You have to be nice to them, cause there's no reason to be mean".  (I wonder just how are the kids supposed to know what being "mean" is?)

A quick observation will show that there's a clique' of home-spun blood-lust on youtube. Some try to fancy it up by calling it "humane". While others don't pretend for a moment that it is.

But when these do-it-yourself murderers enlist and encourage the participation of kids, it becomes even more disturbing. Do children have the internal compass or courage to be able to evaluate what they're doing? Isn't it very possible that they are repulsed and unwilling, but fearful to admit it? Could Buddy have been his authentic self, if it was in rebellion to his father's expectations?

What about darlin' Darlene as she's egged on to shoot the pig in the truck? They praised her after the "perfect shot". But what kind of ridicule or punishment would she face if she had declined?

But the world we are privileged predators in, is in such a schizophrenic state. In nearly all circumstances, most of us who follow a pretense of social "rules", would never condone the harm of another being. But make it a "food animal", and let it be some one's kid being instructed to cause the damage, and we haven't the gumption to voice a peep of resistance for either victim. Clearly it's SEP.

Since we all live here though - I'm calling murder when I see it. 

And the carnists are getting away with it because there aren't enough justice seekers to put an end to it! Maybe more people ought to take the meat from out of their ears and get their minds off their stomachs, to see the real problems as they are. It's the social justice issue of our time! And the holocaust starts in our own back yards and extends to our home all over our planet!

I'm telling carnists now that your habits sicken me. The way you cavalierly dispose of other lives for gluttony and/or greed offends me beyond words! What kind of mad people are we anyway in the 21st Century? Stop with the blood-letting already - Please!

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

Meat Eater Violence to Vegan Animal Rights Activist

Vegetarians, vegans, animal rights advocates and activists... Are you a target? Just an hour ago I was on the road - minding my own business - when a truck with 3 ya-hoos pulled beside me. One of them yelled "Hey! Vegetarian - eat this!" Then the one closest to my rolled down window threw a half full beer bottle at my car and spit at me! To say I am shaken, disgusted and angered is an understatement! No, I did not get a look at their tag - I was too shocked and stunned to even realize what happened before they sped off. Yes... my car does have opinions on it that others would rather I not voice: - but there are appropriate ways of dealing with those you don't agree with. I swear - the next time I hear someone say that vegans or animal rights activists are "extreme" or "rude" or "pushy" I do believe I am going to set them straight with a piece of my very worn-thin sense of fair play and "tolerance". Hey moron meat-eater - Eat sh*t! Oh wait... you already do! file this under: extremely aggravated!