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Holiday rant
Nov. 26th, 2009 12:15 amSo... there's this thanksgiving thing going on tomorrow. I really like the harvest festival and everything that goes with it. Food. Family. Fun. LOTS OF FOOD. Did I mention food?
It's a tradition that has existed since the dawn of the agricultural age 10,000 years ago. The last of the year's food is all ready to go, so we all dig in for one last feast as a hurrah against the cold winter that's about to come and kill half the village. And then we'll hurrah again throughout the winter to grit our teeth against the cold and declare ourselves to be alive and victorious even in the midst of our struggle.
Okay. So that all makes sense to me. But the way we celebrate it in the US is just weird. We celebrate the near genocide of an entire race of people that were indigenous to this land with a brutal massacre of millions upon millions of birds.
I mean, when it comes to brutal and horrible treatment of animals, you can't do much worse than the horrific treatment that turkeys and chickens get. It's disgusting and horrible.
And we're doing this to celebrate an event which, from the perspective of the remaining native people, was the beginning of the end of their people and the coming onslaught of the whites come to claim this land and murder its inhabitants.
I suppose its fitting really. Celebrate genocide with a massacre. Hooray.
So lets give thanks for living in a modern society with a massive meat oligopoly that makes eating animal flesh incredibly cheap at the cost of incredible suffering on the part of the animal and reduced quality of the meat, reaping in the cash for the few bigwigs that run their massive mechanized animal "farms" while driving out independent and local farmers. Joy of joys.
Give thanks that our ancestors murdered millions of indigenous people in this country so that we could bring our religion, philosophy, values, and industrial technology here to consume the vast untapped resources of this country and give us all the beautiful and wonderful consumerist culture that we now live in. Hey! Don't forget to head out on Black Friday to celebrate how rich you are for living in this amazing country by spending your wealth on unnecessary crap to give to your loved ones. Happy Happy Holidays!!!!
I give thanks that I'm aware that my behaviors and activities contribute to the suffering and death of conscious, emotional, intelligent, complex living beings around the world, both human and otherwise. I give thanks that I'm doing things, here and there, to try to improve the situation. And I give thanks that others are listening and trying to do their own part to make this world a better place for us, especially in the whole making/eating of food department. It doesn't take much to try to make a difference, and you don't have to do it the way I do it. Hell, you can do a whole lot better than I if you put your mind to it. But do *something* okay? Don't accept this crappy world and everything it tries to sell you.
It's a tradition that has existed since the dawn of the agricultural age 10,000 years ago. The last of the year's food is all ready to go, so we all dig in for one last feast as a hurrah against the cold winter that's about to come and kill half the village. And then we'll hurrah again throughout the winter to grit our teeth against the cold and declare ourselves to be alive and victorious even in the midst of our struggle.
Okay. So that all makes sense to me. But the way we celebrate it in the US is just weird. We celebrate the near genocide of an entire race of people that were indigenous to this land with a brutal massacre of millions upon millions of birds.
I mean, when it comes to brutal and horrible treatment of animals, you can't do much worse than the horrific treatment that turkeys and chickens get. It's disgusting and horrible.
And we're doing this to celebrate an event which, from the perspective of the remaining native people, was the beginning of the end of their people and the coming onslaught of the whites come to claim this land and murder its inhabitants.
I suppose its fitting really. Celebrate genocide with a massacre. Hooray.
So lets give thanks for living in a modern society with a massive meat oligopoly that makes eating animal flesh incredibly cheap at the cost of incredible suffering on the part of the animal and reduced quality of the meat, reaping in the cash for the few bigwigs that run their massive mechanized animal "farms" while driving out independent and local farmers. Joy of joys.
Give thanks that our ancestors murdered millions of indigenous people in this country so that we could bring our religion, philosophy, values, and industrial technology here to consume the vast untapped resources of this country and give us all the beautiful and wonderful consumerist culture that we now live in. Hey! Don't forget to head out on Black Friday to celebrate how rich you are for living in this amazing country by spending your wealth on unnecessary crap to give to your loved ones. Happy Happy Holidays!!!!
I give thanks that I'm aware that my behaviors and activities contribute to the suffering and death of conscious, emotional, intelligent, complex living beings around the world, both human and otherwise. I give thanks that I'm doing things, here and there, to try to improve the situation. And I give thanks that others are listening and trying to do their own part to make this world a better place for us, especially in the whole making/eating of food department. It doesn't take much to try to make a difference, and you don't have to do it the way I do it. Hell, you can do a whole lot better than I if you put your mind to it. But do *something* okay? Don't accept this crappy world and everything it tries to sell you.
