Vegan opression

I am on the food not bombs list serve I guess. I got this e-mail and it finally drove me to action (oh wait I mean typing).

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 2:15 PM, Michael A. Weber, Farm Animal Rights Movement <michael@farmusa.org> wrote:

    Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser.

    MFA Investigation Reveals Horrifying Abuse

    By now, you have probably seen the most recent Mercy for Animals undercover investigation, documenting horrific cruelties in an Ohio dairy operation. If you have not yet seen the video, please watch it, and read on to find out how you can get active to help dairy cows and calves. Animal science professor Dr. Bernard Rollin called the video "probably the most gratuitous, sustained, sadistic animal abuse I have ever seen.”

    (Click Here if you can't view the video)


    I agree with Rollins. The footage may not be the most graphic that has been published, but the abuses documented are so disturbing because they are not even done under the guise of “increased productivity” or “delivering low-cost food.” As Rollins goes on to say, “the video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty, based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless."

    We must use the public outcry about this cruelty to the advantage of dairy cows across the country. The abuses may seem like isolated incidences, but the fact that this took place on a relatively small “family farm” actually emphasize an important point: family farms often ARE factory farms, and even on supposed family, organic, or free-range operations, we NEVER know what cruelties are going on behind closed doors to bring people milk, eggs, and meat.

    Free Handouts to Spread the Word!

    Help us put a stop to this abuse, and similar offenses across the globe: share the investigation video via email, Facebook, and Twitter, and spread the word about cow and chicken treatment with our free Dark Side of Dairy and Eggs handout. This dramatic card explains the inherent cruelties to those industries and calls upon caring consumers to ditch dairy and eggs. Fill out our handout request form to create awareness about alternatives to cruel milk products.

    Need some ideas? How about leafletting a farmer's market, or asking a local health food store to display the cards! Call or email us if you need more than 100 handouts, if you'd like additional outreach materials (including posters or stickers), or if you have other ideas about how to get active on this important issue.

    Thank you for your active compassion!

    Sincerely,

    Michael A. Weber
    Campaign Coordinator
    Michael@farmusa.org
    800-632-8688

So i read that and this is how I responded.

This isn't fair. I shouldn't have to watch a video of some sick minded person doing sick minded things to animals. This whole thing doesn't even have that much to do with farming. It's about people being sociopaths, not about the treatment of farm animals.

Look, what happened here actually was illegal. Similar to how beating a child is illegal. However, feeding a child food that doesn't allow him or her to develop properly isn't illegal. Never letting your child breath fresh air or to see the light of day isn't illegal either! It's not illegal for cows either!

To me, this is taking the light off of the real issue, putting it on a non issue. Yes, we know some people are fucked up. But when it comes to factory farming, the problem is systemic. You can't just focus on issues that speak to our childish emotions. We have to look at this as adults and get everyone to see everything that is wrong with the picture.

This campaign you present to us is fear mongering. Typical problem action solution. You want us to get all riled up and yell at law makers who will then turn to the agricultural cartels and ask them what they want them to write. Then we will end up with more small farms out of business and more dominance of factory farms.

Even if you wanted to make a point about this incident, it is wrong to tie the problem down to factory farming. It's called scapegoating. The problem here is human sociology.

To me, this whole campaign misses the point by a mile!

The response that came back was even more scary than I had imagined!

We are an abolitionist organization, against the use of all animals for food- including the raising of any dairy or egg producing animals. We are not advocating for stricter laws for the treatment of farmed animals- we are advocating for the end of the raising of farmed animals entirely. I agree with you that we must “get everyone to see everything that is wrong with the picture”- and what is wrong with the picture is that anyone believes it is okay to harm animals when it is not necessary. Since drinking milk is not necessary, and all milk production harms animals, ALL milk production is unnecessary harm to animals.



We used this video, taken by our friends at Mercy for Animals, to demonstrate that we don’t ever know what’s going on behind the closed doors of the so-called farms that we get animal products from. The video is a perfect indicator of the worst cruelties that are behind even the milk at “family farms”.

FWIW, I've never met a vegan I considered terribly sane.

tamo42 wrote:
FWIW, I've never met a vegan I considered terribly sane.

I know quite a few who are plenty sane.  none of them are members of militant animal rights groups, though.  for what it's worth.

Tamo42 - Let's tread lightly, watching the negative comments directed at specific groups of people (as Paul says be nice).  I'm sure you didn't mean that the way it sounded.

Emile - that is scary, in both cases.  Thanks for posting your emails.

His reply (and we all know it's some guy who has associated "getting some" with his vegan extremism) was made of facepalm. I don't think I would have pinned the problem to human sociology specifically but I like how you called him out of scape goating.

I think maybe factory farming does have something to do with that particular problem; Working in an environment like that wears on people. I don't see how anyone could work there and have anything close to a normal attitude towards animals after a while.

Yes, it's illegal, but it happens all the time. Those Mercy For Animals videos come out all the time. I try not to watch them because they ruin my week.

You want us to get all riled up and yell at law makers who will then turn to the agricultural cartels and ask them what they want them to write. Then we will end up with more small farms out of business and more dominance of factory farms.

I'm with you here. I read a fair share of vegan related news/blogs, and they rarely focus on the root of the problem: Very simply, get rid of that corn subsidy and most of this will sort itself out.

Vegans are extremists. On one hand they don't want animals to work for them but on the other hand think of all the micro- and macroorganisms especially earthworms they are enslaving to feed their plants. These poor little earthworms are working 24/7 without being on par with humans.