Farewell Casey Kasem, Humanitarian, Vegan and Advocate for Animals - and All-Around Great Guy

I was a huge Casey Kasem fan in the 1970s and 1980s, back in the heyday of the radio show he hosted, American Top 40.

Little did I know at the time that Casey was very political. In fact, he was a lifelong supporter of a variety of progressive causes, including the anti-nuclear movement, environmentalism, social justice and Arab-American rights. And guess what else? He was a committed vegan and an animal rights activist! He became a vegetarian in 1974 and a vegan in the early 2000s. 

With a heavy heart, I read of Casey's passing over the weekend. He died at the age of 82, after spending years combating the effects of Parkinson's disease.

He was a man of so many talents. Not only was he known as Mr. Top 40, he was also a master voiceover artist, perhaps most famous as the voice of the hippie slacker Shaggy in Scooby Doo.

Because Kasem was more famous as a nationally recognized D.J., most people probably overlooked all of the wonderful work he did to help animals. He was, for example, the national chair of the Great American Meatout, which sought to educate people about the harm and violence that came with meat consumption. In 2005, he received the Celebrity Animal Advocate Award at the National Animal Rights Conference.

In a 2007 interview with Dr. John A. McDougall, Kasem discussed his views on the treatment of animals. What better tribute to Kasem than to include his views here?

Here are Casey Kasem's reflections:

"Let's begin with the chickens. Put in those cages that are no bigger than a folded newspaper. Chickens have pride and a pecking order. When you consider that they are in there, some of them without beaks and some of them with beaks. Those that have beaks of course cannibalize the others, because they need room to move, they can't even move their wings. And of course their feet are getting tangled in the wire. And then there is one wire cage set upon another and another and another and another. And the feces fall on top of the heads of these creatures. As they are born and they happen to be born a male chicken, they are thrown into a plastic bag and they suffocate in the bodies of their brothers. And the female chickens, their beaks are put into a metal machine that cuts the beak off. Some of them don't survive that. They are made to create eggs and ultimately become food for animals I guess, if not human beings."

"The pigs are stored very often in the same way. In concrete buildings that are warehouse size. And in order to keep the floors of the building clean, they use ammonia. We know that pigs are much more sensitive in smell than humans are. Could you imagine living your entire life smelling ammonia, day in and day out, in a darkened room. Children don't know that those pigs don't get out and play in the mud, that those pigs are just products, treated like inanimate products."

"Then you have the calves, in their 2 by 4 prisons. Where they have no opportunity to ever feed on their mother's breast. The animal is immediately taken from the mother and the calf is put into this little stall. Not allowed to suck on anything, but just fed milk, so the price for their bodies can be a lot higher as they sell milk-fed veal to customers at restaurants. The mother, the cow. Never seeing their offspring, but being artificially inseminated, again and again and again, so that their udders will be full, because they are impregnated. And that means more milk for the dairymen. Their udder is so big, that they are literally on the floor. They too, hardly ever see the sun or the grass or graze."

"And this goes on and on and on. For all kinds of animals. Not to mention the ones that are being experimented upon. So, this is my priority. I feel that if I do nothing else in life, but can turn a few people around, I can do a lot to help the animals in their tortured lives."

"In protest against the animal industry, we have to stand up and let people know why it is that we don't eat cheese and we don't drink milk. Besides from the fact that it's not healthy for you, how very unhealthy it is for those animals who have just become products. They are not beings anymore in the eyes of the people who produce them."

"I believe that if in the 4th or 5th grade, children could take a field trip to a slaughterhouse, we wouldn't have to worry about people becoming vegetarians. It would be just automatic. It would happen in a day. Those kids would get such an eyeful and their teachers as well."

"I just think that Americans, who unfortunately grow up watching television, motion pictures, day in and day out, where there is so much slaughter of human beings. I would hope that they would recognize, that if we can go back to the very basic thing, that is not to want to bring death to anything, anything that has eyes and can run away from you. And realize that that is basically right and should be just core in our thinking, then that could be the beginning of really a new world order, ultimately. Because as long as we keep killing animals, I have a feeling that we're going to keep killing people. There is certainly a relationship there."

Farewell, Casey. Your wonderful voice of compassion and reason will always be missed!

Back After a Hiatus to Blog as Much as I Can..

You may have noticed that I disappeared for a while. Judging from my last Blog post - in August 2013 - it has been nearly a year.

Good blogging is not easy. It requires a lot of time and thought and energy. I've been writing a lot over the past year. Alas, not much of it has been about animals. I've turned my attention to my fiction, which has, I'm pleased to say, really taken off.

But the plight of animals haunts me. Specifically, the horrific treatment of animals by human beings continues to vex me. I can't outrun it. I can't get away from it. I lose sleep over the treatment of animals.

One of the reasons I stopped blogging last year is because so much of what I blog about here is tragic. I'd always make an effort to post something happy, but in the end - let's face it - the giant historical record of human interaction with animals has been, on the whole, one filled with ghastly nightmares and unspeakable horror shows, and acts of kindness have been drops of water in the ocean, and grains of sand on the beach.

To deny this is to deny an essential truth about human beings. Whatever good comes of the human species, it is offset by giant factories and huge storage warehouses and massive tanker ships full of cruelty. There is no escaping human sadism when it comes to animals.

Those of us who are sensitive souls can do one of two things. We can run away from it, or try to shield ourselves from it.

Or we can reluctantly march into battle, a battle we'll lose, but one we ought nevertheless to fight, against our fellow human beings who are inflicting this cruelty.

Part of the battle, it seems to me, is to show the positive and healthy ways in which a growing number of human beings are interacting with animals in this day and age.

But it would be a lie - a big lie - to emphasize these happy interactions at the expense of more disturbing truths.

I'll blog as much as I can about animals, as much as my psyche and stomach and soul will allow. Blogging is one way to fight against the cruelty. Another is to educate ourselves. And still another is to take some sort of action to help the animals. Even little steps, small things, make a big difference.

I like to hope things are changing, moving in a positive direction. I'm not always sure of it. But I am sure of one thing. I want to return to the march to sanity. Because when I take part in it, I feel better. I feel engaged in something bigger than myself. Fighting for animals is one of the few things that makes me feel fully human again.

Words of Wisdom from Gary Francione

Words of wisdom from Gary Francione, who has been a source of so much wisdom over the years. He is absolutely right. The key is to link Animal Rights and Human Rights. One without the other is meaningless. The violence used against animals comes from the same place as violence used against humans. It is rooted in an objectification of both, the dangerous tendency to see them as means to ends, or commodities, or the "other."

5 Reasons to be Hopeful at the Start of 2013

With the start of a new year, there are ample reasons for animal rights advocates to be discouraged. Yet there are also reasons to be hopeful. Here are five:

1. As of midnight on January 1, 2013, Israel has banned the import and sale of all cosmetics and cleaning products that have been tested on animals. (Source)

2. Last month, firefighters in Boynton Beach, Florida, saved four rabbits from the inside of a burning house. One of the rabbits was suffering from smoke inhalation, so one of the heroic rescuers used an oxygen mask to help restore the animal's breathing. (See the image above.) (Source)

3. At the Barry Room, a popular restaurant serving the House of Lords in London, England, foie gras - the horrendously cruel delicacy made from the liver of force-fed ducks and geese - has been removed from the menu following protests by animal rights activists. (Source)

4. Here in Canada, the provincial environmental ministry in Ontario is launching a probe into mass animal burial sites near Marineland, which - along with the sustained protests against cruelty at that theme park over the past several months - will continue to shed negative light on the Niagara Falls tourist attraction. According to former Marineland staffers, the park has been burying huge numbers of animals - more than a thousand in four mass graves - without any public scrutiny. The graves are located close to the Welland River, which connects with the Niagara River. (Source)

5. Mexico City has strengthened its laws so that now people found guilty of animal cruelty will be made to serve up to two years in prison and a $500 fine if the animal is injured, or four years in prison and a $2000 fine if the animal is killed. These represent some of the strictest animal protection laws in this hemisphere. (Source)

The world presents us with ample evidence to be deeply pessimistic. Here are five reasons to keep fighting the good fight. It pays off. It may not seem like it, but it does.

Taking it All In, One Animal at a Time

If you're a believer in Animal Rights and Veganism, like me, then chances are you probably came to these beliefs as a result of your sensitivity.

I have a theory that most proponents of Animal Rights and Veganism are extremely sensitive people. Even the ones who seem dogmatic, or who rely too excessively on guilt-tripping, or who come across as too self-righteous, even a lot of those people are extremely sensitive, although they may not seem like it.

Unfortunately, this sensitivity - this heightened awareness of the suffering of others - comes with a price. The price is that we, the ones who feel an empathic rapport with the sufferers, tend to internalize everything we see or hear.

When Lennox the dog was euthanized the other day in Belfast, Ireland, who among us didn't feel the pain of his loss? Here was a dog who had a forever family and a forever home, yet he was killed by the authorities because of the type of dog he is.

Meantime, countless animals who never generate headlines are being euthanized every day. A Facebook friend of mine, who regularly posts pictures of cats for adoption at area shelters (especially ones up for adoption in the New York City area) spent all afternoon and evening (well into late at night) yesterday posting the pictures of cats who had been euthanized at the New York shelter. Without exaggeration, I'd say that by the end of the day there must have been about sixty to seventy pictures of these cats posted, for hours and hours, on my Facebook newsfeed.

Snowball (rest in peace)

Each cat appeared to be scared or vulnerable or upset in some way. They were all colors, all shapes, all sizes. Young and old. Male and female. Every kind of cat you can imagine. All of them were assigned names by the shelter: Bootsie, Wee Wee, Oscar, Dottie, Venicia, Amelia, Felix, Snowball.

Snowball (pictured here) was gray and white, a male cat. He appears somewhat disoriented. He was fifteen years old, so compared to the other cats (many of them a year old or under), he had lived a relatively long life. He was roughly in his 80s in human years. But what an awful way to go, even for a senior citizen:  alone, unwanted, with your remains mixed with the other remains of countless other cats euthanized the same day.

All cats deserve to be loved. All cats deserve a forever home. Yet these poor cats met a quiet and premature death when a needle full of fluid ended their lives.

I'm the kind of person who goes slightly crazy when I see these pictures. I go slightly crazy when I see videos of factory farm animals being slaughtered, or lab animals being tested, or seals getting clubbed, or pigs or sheep being taken aboard planes or ships and hauled off to other countries to be slaughtered in places that have even fewer regulations than Europe and North America. All of the bad news gives me the shakes. I start feeling fidgety. I have a hard time focusing.

And I definitely feel ashamed of my species.

When I disappear from blogging for a while, often it's because when it comes to animals, so much of the news is bad. And it's not just that the news is bad; it's that I internalize all of it. I take it all as deeply as I can. It gives me nightmares and makes daily tasks difficult to do.

Human beings, when you think about it, have gargantuan, sweeping and monstrous crimes to answer for. A friend of mine once said that the few Beethovens, Shakespeares and Van Goghs we've produced aren't worth the suffering humans have caused.

And yet, here we are, in the driver's seat, at the top of the food chain. And no matter how much the conscientious protest, this is the bitter reality of our world.

We can point to victories in recent years in the fight against cruelty and exploitation. But compared to the catalogue of mass murder, the victories are minor.

This post may sound like a rant, but it's not intended to be one. It is more a way of reaching out and telling the world how I feel each time I learn about the suffering of my fellow sentient beings. Being a vegan isn't enough. Donating money to great causes isn't enough. Leafleting and protesting aren't enough. And it is true that small numbers of people can bring about changes (to paraphrase Margaret Mead), but those changes are small compared to the monstrous cruelty that exists.

A.J. Muste, peace activist

But, in the last analysis, what else can we do but stand up for what our consciences tell us is right? It is an existential decision. It reminds me of when the aging anti-Vietnam war activist A.J. Muste (1885-1967) used to picket the White House during the early stages of the war. Muste, who was in his eighties by the mid-1960s and had spent his life fighting for peace and social justice, walked back and forth with a sign, day in, day out. Sometimes he was with a small crowd of kindred spirits. Often, he was alone. At one point, the uniformed guard came out and said, "Why even bother? What you're doing is not going to change the policies of this government." To which Muste replied: "I'm not trying to change the policies of this government. I just don't want the policies of this government to change me."

That may not seem like enough.

But if you think about it, it's all we've really got.

There. I feel better. Thank you for hearing me out!

Important Distinctions Between Animal Rights and Animal Welfare

I keep meaning to post this. This wonderful graphic makes important distinctions between the Animal Rights and Animal Welfare movements. Even though there is a fair amount of overlap between the two movements, their ultimate goals are dramatically different. Of course, this blogger falls into the Animal Rights camp. Until we recognize that animals are their own beings, with their own lives, and we have no right to use them for our own ends, there can be no real peace in the world.

Jonathan Safran Foer, why hast thou forsaken us?

Facebook and the blogosphere are all aflutter with commentary about Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the bestseller Eating Animals, becoming a spokesperson for Buyingpoultry.com, a website that promotes the consumption of "humane and sustainable poultry."

For those who haven't read Eating Animals (a book I've mentioned several times on this blog), it's Safran Foer's nonfiction account of the harsh treatment of animals in factory farms and a damning indictment of the food industry. It has been extremely influential in winning people over to veganism, including actress Natalie Portman, who, in 2009, said the book converted her to a vegan lifestyle. At the time, she wrote:

I say that Foer's ethical charge against animal eating is brave because not only is it unpopular, it has also been characterized as unmanly, inconsiderate, and juvenile. But he reminds us that being a man, and a human, takes more thought than just "This is tasty, and that's why I do it." He posits that consideration, as promoted by Michael Pollan in The Omnivore's Dilemma, which has more to do with being polite to your tablemates than sticking to your own ideals, would be absurd if applied to any other belief (e.g., I don't believe in rape, but if it's what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it). 

Jonathan Safran Foer, at the time he wrote Eating Animals (2009).

Eating Animals is a powerful book. It's not the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the Animal Rights Movement (that book hasn't been written yet). But it's persuasive and beautifully written, nonetheless, and it skilfully advances all kinds of sound reasons for adopting a vegan lifestyle, including arguments having to do with ethics, sustainability, the environment and freeing up resources to help feed the hungry around the world. Safran Foer, a young novelist who gained fame as one of the leading Young Turks in the literary world (no small feat in an industry characterized by declining sales and so hard to break into), is a hell of a writer, and he choses each word with passion and conviction.

When Safran Foer endorsed Buyingpoultry.com, which promotes "humane meat" and accountability in the poultry industry (an industry sorely in need of accountability), some vegans and animal rights activists felt deeply betrayed. Safran Foer's promo endorsing Buyingpoultry.com just went up on YouTube the other day (see it above or here). One particularly perceptive critique of Safran Foer's came from one of my very favorite blogs, the Veganomaly. The author described an unforgettable moment when she crossed a line after reading Safran Foer's account:

Several years ago, at about 4AM I got to the part in ‘Eating Animals’ where he shares the stories of the pregnant cows whose calves are discovered inside of them at slaughterhouses. I’m not going to go into more detail here, because it’s the single most upsetting animal-related thing I’ve ever read. Maybe it was being alone in my dimly lit room with an angry rain pounding on the roof. Maybe it’s the way that the dark and the quiet disrobe all the defenses you cloak yourself in during the day. I found myself so sickened, the kind that makes it impossible to think of anything but the suffering you just has described to you. The room spins, your heart unable to take such pain. I remember thinking “We’re told as children that monsters don’t exist, but I’ll bet no one ever asked a farmed animal”. That night, Safran Foer’s work gutted me. A part of me truly died and in doing so, provided a thick, impenetrable layer of emotional cement over my decision to live as a vegan for the rest of my life. (Source) 

The blogger went on to express her disappointment in Safran Foer, asking whether he'd become "nothing more than a particularly clever puppet for the foodies." Foodies, of course, are people like Michael Pollan and other defenders of "happy meat" and "humane omnivorism." They think that it is possible for human beings to engage in "sustainable" production and consumption of animal products in a way that is ultimately compassionate and shows deep respect for animals.

The blogger's discouragement is understandable. At the same time, as the blogger points out, Safran Foer never embraced veganism and did not consider himself a spokesperson for the lifestyle, despite his book winning over numerous converts. Be that as it may, it is hard to comprehend why someone so deeply aware of the suffering, pain and death that millions of animals endure on a daily basis could defend the so-called "ethical" use of animal products.

We can drive ourself crazy asking questions. Did Safran Foer really believe - deep down inside - what he wrote in Eating Animals? Was this just a cynical ploy by a wunderkind who clearly relishes attention to get even more attention? Does his rejection of veganism somehow negate what he writes?

For answers to these questions, maybe we should look at another author, Upton Sinclair, who lived before the emergence of the modern animal rights and vegan movements. His book, The Jungle, was a horrifying indictment of the meatpacking industry, with some famous passages about the inhumane slaughter of pigs. Many online sources claim Sinclair was a vegetarian. I tried to verify this in a biography about Sinclair by my friend and colleague Kevin Mattson. Mattson mentions Sinclair embracing vegetarianism in 1909 after a visit to Harvey Kellogg's sanitarium (Kellogg was the famous cereal maker), but there is no evidence that Sinclair was a vegetarian his whole life. And there is zero evidence that he was a vegan.

Yet The Jungle stands as a great monument that no only critiques the excesses of Gilded Age capitalism, but severely denounces the harsh treatment of animals more passionately than any other classic work of literature that I know of. It has been said (and maybe this is apocryphal) that Teddy Roosevelt promptly became a vegetarian after reading it (although T.R. didn't seem to abandon hunting). Certainly, it moved a lot of people in the early 20th Century to reject eating meat, which happened regardless of Sinclair's own personal diet.

Today, animal rights activists often quote the pig slaughtering scene from The Jungle (I've included it here on my blog) to capture the brutal essence of the slaughterhouse experience. Certainly, Sinclair was no vegan. Nor were a lot of the historical figures that we vegans quote for inspiration. I even found out the other day the other day that a famous Alice Walker quote I often use about animal rights - "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men" - was actually not her opinion, but her summary of a book she was reviewing, and that animal rights people have been quoting her out of context all these years (she's not a vegan; she's not even a vegetarian). Yet Walker's words, even quoted out of context, leave an indelible impression on people who are quietly contemplating the possibility of going vegan.

I bring up these things to make a point. Safran Foer isn't a vegan, that's clear. But his book - while not a masterpiece - is still a damn good one, and with his high profile, he's able to spread his message to a very large audience, one most of us could never hope to reach. It is too bad he doesn't necessarily practice what he preaches. Alas, a lot of writers do not. What is more important is that he has built a monument, in the form of a book, that will touch countless readers for generations to come, and continue to convert a lot of people to veganism. Of how many people can that be said?

Marc Bekoff in Forbes? The Times Are a-Changin'!

When I think of Forbes Magazine, I think of a business magazine that has been around a long time and has rightfully earned a reputation as a staid and venerable bulwark of free enterprise.

But Forbes surprised me with a long and detailed profile/interview with Dr. Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Bekoff is the author of the powerful The Emotional Lives of Animals and The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding our Compassion Footprint.

Bekoff is one of the most eloquent spokespeople for animal rights. He has written numerous books about the ethical treatment of animals and he travels around the world lecturing on the subject. He is also a past Guggenheim Fellow and a fellow of the Animal Behavior Society. In short, this guy is a heavy hitter. Yet he's not necessarily the kind of guy you see profiled in a magazine like Forbes.

However, there he is, speaking his mind in Forbes and saying very eloquent things. He speaks about a wide range of topics, from animal ethics to climate change to what he calls "proactive compassionate activism." There are moments when he sounds pessimistic. For example: "The stakes are huge if we fail to take care of other animals and Earth because we are on the brink of numerous irreversible losses to magnificent webs of nature. Our wholeness and that of the world at large is in peril.

But Bekoff ultimately sounds an optimistic note:

Rest assured that we are indeed making positive differences even if we don’t see them now. I also travel a lot, like you, and meet incredibly passionate and committed people all over the world who are dedicated to making the lives of other animals much better than they are. So, there is light, it sometimes seems very dark, but there is that ever-present glow that keeps me and many others going. I like to say we must get rid of all negativity, focus on what works, keep the faith, be nice to everyone including our opponents, and never say never – ever. We also need to “pick our battles” and accept that some people will never change, and that’s the way it is.

Marc Bekoff appearing in Forbes - a magazine that definitely does not have a history of publishing articles about animals and their well being - is itself a great victory. It is a sign that times are changing. Hopefully for the better.

Encouraging Signs Of Late

Staring into the abyss too long not only hurts the eyes, it can crush the soul. To allow yourself to empathize with suffering animals is noble. However, taking in too much suffering, seeing nothing but agony, and seeking out only the negative, can leave the sensitive person feeling defeated, traumatized and alone. That is why here at We're All Animals, I encourage kindred spirits to take out a moment from time to time to look on the bright side. Sometimes it's easy to miss the good things, the encouraging developments. They don't always generate headlines. But they're there.

There are five encouraging developments that are worth highlighting here. All three given me a heightened sense of hope about the future.

1. Denny's is now going gestation crate-free! They'll be joining McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and other fast-food giants in moving away from the practice of forcing pregnant pigs into tiny cages.  It's hard to grasp the significance of this development unless you know a bit about the history of Denny's. Growing up in a conservative Red State, I remember Denny's being the restaurant of choice for ordinary folks, working stiffs, truckers, night owls, flapjack-loving patriots and elderly men and women who sought out big plates of food for cheap prices. Denny's was always the all-American joint, usually located near the freeway, promising comfort food at all hours of the day and night. Denny's, according to the L.A. Times, has more than 1,650 locations across the United States. And they serve an awful lot of food made out of various pig products. So when they start the move away from gestation crates, that will have a big impact.

Said Greg Lindford, Denny's vice president of procurement and distribution: "Denny's takes its role as a responsible corporate citizen seriously. We will endeavor to purchase products from companies that provide gestation crate-free pork and are committed to influencing our suppliers to share in a gestation crate-free vision for the future."

Score one for the movement to jettison gestation crates. Actually, score many! Up here in Canada, the massive doughnut chain Tim Hortons is moving in the same direction.

2. While we're talking gestation crates, the grocery store chain Safeway in the United States is also going gestation crate free. Some vegans may say this is not enough. And they're right. But for these huge chains to acknowledge the cruelty of gestation crates, an issue that wasn't even on the table five years ago (honestly, who in 2007 even knew about gestation crates?) means the animal rights and animal welfare movements are having a huge influence on these corporations.

3. According to Mercy for Animals, meat consumption is on the decline in the United States. This is great news. As MFA notes:

In 2011, compared to 2010, the number of land animals that died for American consumption fell from 8.4 to 8.2 billion, or 242 million fewer animals - including 1 million fewer cows, 5 million fewer pigs, and 240 million fewer chickens. That's a nationwide drop from 8.9 billion in 2005 to 8.2 billion in 2011, or 725 million fewer animals killed. 

It is true that the number of animals dying is still staggering. But the decline is an encouraging sign. MFA points to a growing awareness of cruelty to animals, as well as such gruesome industry practices as the use of "pink slime."

4. The state of California is banning foie gras. The statewide ban goes into effect on July 1. There is also talk that other states may follow California's example (source). For those of you who don't know what foie gras is (even in my omnivore days, I never ate it), it means, literally, "fatty liver." One again, I'll let the wonderful folks at Mercy for Animals explain:

Its production entails extreme animal cruelty and suffering. Pipes are painfully shoved down ducks' throats and they are forced to ingest several pounds of food at once--far more than they would eat naturally. This process is often repeated two to three times a day. The ducks' livers become engorged and diseased, swelling up to ten times their normal size, and resulting in horrific emotional and physical suffering of these unfortunate animals. Most ducks find it difficult to walk and breathe normally. Many suffer from ruptured organs and die. Ducks are typically crammed into small, filthy cages for the duration of their lives, unable to move, walk, or spread their wings. They become so distressed, they sometimes tear out their own feathers or cannibalize each other. 

Kudos to California for banning this hideous "delicacy." Let's hope that other states follow California's example right away. Make no mistake: This ban on foie gras wouldn't have happened were it not for the rising influence of animal advocates.

Finally:

5: The Collapse of Ag Gag?: Earlier in the year, animal rights advocates became alarmed about the passage of repressive "Ag Gag" laws in Iowa and Utah that have introduced harsh penalties against whistleblowers who expose (through videos or photographs) the insides of slaughterhouses and factory farm operations. For a time, it seemed that Ag Gag laws were spreading across the United States like wildfire. But the movement's momentum is slowing. Efforts to introduce Ag Gag have either died or are dead in several states, including Florida, Illinois and Tennessee (source). Sadly, an Ag Gag law has just passed in Missouri, but thanks to compromises made as a result of pressure from animal advocates, there is a loophole in the legislation that gives whistleblowers 24 hours to report incidents of animal abuse or neglect to law enforcement should they witness such acts. Not surprisingly, the pork industry is calling the law "diluted" (source). 

It is true that animals are dying all around us in huge numbers as a result of human cruelty on a massive scale. But people are waking up. Pressure being applied steadily and rigorously to big corporations is working. Slowly, painfully, there is movement away from the insanity, in the direction of what might truly be called "civilization." If we ever get there, we have those kind men, women and yes, even children, who took it upon themselves to become voices of the voiceless, and who fought for the well being of animals, to thank for it. 

Signs of Hope in China

In China, where conditions for animals have traditionally been among the worst on earth for decades, Animal Rights activists are on the march. They're mobilizing as we speak, emboldened by basketball superstar Yao Ming, a retired NBA player who gained fame for his stunning performances on the court for the Houston Rockets.

Yao Ming is a superstar in China. So when he visited his homeland recently and spoke out against shark fin soup and the selling of bear bile tonics - both of which cause enormous suffering for sharks and bears respectively - his words influenced millions of people and helped strengthen China's fledgling AR movement.

The movement has been making tremendous gains over the last few years. They've enjoyed particularly strong success in the campaign against shipping dogs and cats to restaurants, and Chinese society is now moving away from that barbaric practice. Organizations such as the Chinese Animal Protection Network have been thriving since the mid-2000s. The Chinese are becoming much more receptive to pro-animal campaigns.

Moreover, more Chinese families are switching over to vegetarian diets. A new organization called POVchina (translation: Pioneer Vegetarianism of China) is an online resource for Chinese men, women and children who've removed meat from their diets.

And the wonderful group AnimalsAsia has functioned as a much-needed watchdog to monitor developments in China and across the rest of the region. They're sort of the Amnesty International of animal abuse in Asia.

These are but a few hopeful developments in the growth of the Animal Rights Movement in China. The internet has performed a valuable function in bringing a wide array of groups together inside the vast and densely populated country. Talk about a place that desperately needs such a movement. And when you begin to think that 10 years ago, there was very little in the way of animal rights agitation in China, recent developments are extremely encouraging.

Progressives Who Don't Connect the Dots

I admit: I was one of those progressives who, for the longest time, failed to connect the dots.

I spoke of human rights, yet I devoured pork chops. I agitated for peace, but thought nothing of the terror experienced by the chickens that eventually became my food. I wrote of social justice without realizing that justice is meaningless if it doesn't apply to cows and horses, lions and whales, and every other living, sentient being.

In short, I lived in ignorance. Thankfully, I came out of the darkness eventually. I realized that progressivism and humanitarian politics mean nothing unless animals are included in the equation. I'm just glad I realized it before it was too late.

I've been distressed to read that California's progressive governor, Jerry Brown, is calling for a budget cuts that will hurt animals. An article from the L.A. Daily News sums up what's happening:

Brown is hoping to convince the state Legislature to save about $23 million a year by repealing provisions of state law that require longer holding periods before euthanasia for shelter animals. The Hayden Law, passed in 1998, requires holding periods of four to six days for shelter animals before euthanasia - an increase from the 72 hours in previous state law - and requires the state to reimburse cities and counties for the costs of the extra time.

Brown's proposal would not force shelters to euthanize animals after 72 hours - but the state would no longer pay them for expenses longer than that, according to H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance.

"It would simply say that the state is not going to reimburse local governments for the cost associated with that additional holding period beyond three days," Palmer said.

To be fair, Governor Brown is governing a state that has been experiencing severe financial problems. California has been teetering on the verge of financial collapse for years. Cuts are needed in lots of areas if the state is going to move beyond crisis mode.

Moreover, the problem of overcrowded shelters is an issue for which the general public needs to take responsibility. It is the public's reckless disregard for the protection and lives of animals that results in shelters being so overcrowded.

But activists rightly point out that the cuts will harm a law named for another famous California progressive, Tom Hayden, in 1996. Hayden heroically campaigned on behalf of a law that would extend the period that shelters hold animals to four to six days before euthanizing them.

Cutting funds that help animals is a no-brainer for most Democrats and Republicans. Animals don't vote. They don't send in campaign contributions. They can't demonstrate on their own behalf. They can't speak out for themselves. Instead, they sit in cages for a day or two or three, trembling, disoriented, waiting for something to happen, not knowing that the something is going to be the end of their short lives.

My various Facebook friends and groups post pictures of shelter dogs and cats that are on "death row" and desperately need to be adopted before being euthanized. Their adorable yet sad pictures fill my Facebook page. On many of the images, there is a caption: "Sorry we failed you. Rest in peace." My heart sinks every time.

If Jerry Brown were a true, well-rounded progressive like Tom Hayden, he'd fight to keep that small portion of the budget intact that helps animals. Unfortunately, it's beginning to look like Brown is a pragmatic "progressive," someone who talks the talk, but has yet to connect the dots.

The Truth That All Omnivores Must Ultimately Confront...

Words of Wisdom from Moby

“If you look at the course of western history you'll see that we're slowly granting basic rights to everyone. A long time ago only kings had rights. Then rights were extended to property-owning white men. Then all men. Then women. Then children. Then the mentally retarded. Now we're agonizing over the extension of basic rights to homosexuals and animals. We need to finally accept that all sentient creatures are deserving of basic rights. I define basic rights as this - the ability to pursue life without having someone else's will involuntarily forced upon you. Or, as the framers of the constitution put it, the ability to have 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' By what criteria can you justify denying basic rights to any living thing? Realize that by whatever criteria you employ someone could deny basic rights to you if they objected to your species, sexual preferences, color, religion, ideology etc. Would you eat your housecat, or force a mentally retarded child to ingest oven cleaner? If not, then why is it ok to eat cows and test products on sentient animals? I believe that to knowingly commit actions that cause or condone suffering is reprehensible in the extreme. I call upon you to be compassionate and treat others as you want to be treated. If you don't want to be beaten, imprisoned, mutilated, killed or tortured then you shouldn't condone such behavior towards anyone, be they human or not.”
— Moby

Reflections of Veganism, Loneliness and Life

For a long time, I took a break from this Blog, even though I never took a break from believing that Animal Rights and Veganism are the most important issues of our time.

I had to work on editing a manuscript which will become my first novel. I'm excited that my novel is going to be published this fall. And for months, I devoted all of my writing energy to revising it and, hopefully, making the finished product better.

But I missed this Blog. And I missed advocating for the animals. After a few weeks, I started feeling out of sorts. A deep melancholy gripped me. On the freeway, I'd drive past those long, silver livestock trucks - some empty, some full - staring in those openings the forlorn passengers, going to some unimaginable destination.

If you're a sensitive type, and you feel a deep empathy for the suffering of other beings, how can you not go a little crazy when you see one of those trucks? Or watch one of those hidden-camera films of animals bleeding and kicking in the slaughterhouse? Or see all of the people you love eating meat without giving it a second thought?

It can be challenging to be vegan in a non-vegan world. It's especially hard if you're like me, surrounded by people who do not share my values or my lifestyle. It's easy to feel lonely and isolated. It helps to be part of a larger vegan community.

But some of us live in towns without large vegan communities. Where I live, there aren't any vegan bakeries. There aren't any vegan support groups or vegan clothing stores (although some stores do sell vegan clothes and shoes). You can buy some kinds of vegan ice cream, like So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream (I think it's called Purely Decadent in the States). And even though our one vegan pizza joint in this area, Valentino's Organic Pizza, closed its doors last year, you can still buy Tofurky-brand vegan pepperoni pizza. It's no Valentino's, but it'll give you your fix.

It's lonely. But it's even lonelier when you live the lifestyle and believe deeply in animal rights, yet you don't have an outlet for your thoughts and feelings. I suppose that's why this Blog has been so important to me in the past. It has helped me preserve my sanity and cope with the world around me.

Thankfully, every now and then, life offers a pleasant surprise or two. A week ago, I sat down with a graduate student who also happens to be a vegan, and she made these wonderful vegan Snickerdoodle-type cookies. Talk about heavenly! I ate a couple of them and told her how much I loved them. She said these cookies were one of the best ways to recruit people over to veganism. I asked her if she'd had any luck, winning hearts and minds with those wonderful homemade treats. She told me the cookies are but one way of nudging people over to the lifestyle. There are many others.

It's funny how one little moment like that made me feel hopeful and refreshed. Even if you can't find a beloved community inhabited by countless kindred spirits, you can still find inspiration from one or two or three like-minded people.

This is where the Internet helps. When I see the wonderful and creative and nonviolent actions that my brothers and sisters in Toronto Pig Save are doing to stop the murder of pigs on a daily basis, I take heart. I'm moved by their simple courage. Now they're starting a new group: Toronto Chicken Save. Thank goodness for activists like Anita Krajnc, whose quiet heroism has been tremendously inspiring.

When I wrapped up the rewrites and revisions on my novel, I was so happy to see my little Blog, my little shack along the Information Superhighway, still waiting for me. The Blog posts and images - both uplifting and tragic - seemed to beckon. There are still lots of times when I feel alone and isolated in my feelings and beliefs.

But even as I write these words, I feel rejuvenated. And I can feel my priorities changing. I realize the sadness I feel in those moments when I'm lonely pales by comparison to the sadness that a pig feels in a gestation crate, or a cow feels when her baby is stolen from her, or the way a chicken feels when she's fattened up during her short life in order for her to be murdered for her meat.

There are a lot worse things in this world than being lonely. And yet, in order to continue fighting for what's right, we vegans and animal rights advocates need to grab hold of those beautiful moments when we're not staring into the abyss, but - rather - we're savoring the simple pleasures that come from being able to enjoy what is denied to millions of animals on a daily basis: Life.

'Nuff Said

What more needs to be said?

Fighting the good fight: Canadian brothers and sisters spreading the word

My previous post (below) was a bit of a downer. Please watch this wonderful and very hopeful short film about our Canadian brothers and sisters spreading the truth and winning the hearts and minds of people. All it takes is one really well-placed image or documentary or article or leaflet to open someone's eyes. I was a meat lover and omnivore right up until when I watched Death on a Factory Farm. It was the jolt I needed. Something snapped in me. I woke up. I came to grips with the profound immorality of exploiting and destroying and consuming animals. If I underwent that transformation, anyone can.

The other side has a lot of weapons in its arsenal: Mass production facilities that destroy animals in an assembly-line fashion; a huge war chest to spend on advertising and finding new ways to increase efficiency; magazines and television shows and websites that promote consuming animal products.

But we have the most powerful weapon of all on our side. Truth. It's not always easy to know how to spread the word. But as one vegan banner showing a beautiful cow states: "They're worth it."

Two Years as a Vegan

I am about to celebrate an anniversary: Two years as a vegan. Going vegan is a decision that has been a tremendous source of happiness for me. It has changed my life for the better. It has improved my general outlook on the world. It has helped me to feel better, both physically and emotionally. Most of all, the burden of having a diet based on the mass murder of innocent beings is now off of my shoulders. It is a great feeling.

The decision to go vegan grew out of an increased awareness on my part about the right of animals to live freely, without being exploited or butchered en masse. This heightened sense of consciousness about the rights of animals has been a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because I've been freed from the confines of my earlier ignorance. It is a curse because once you open your eyes, you begin to see the extent of the suffering and the ferocity of a system that commodifies animals. You realize the truth of that old Antonio Gramsci, about the necessity of remaining pessimists of the intellect and optimists of the will.

You begin to see the world in an entirely different way when you adopt a vegan/animal rights lifestyle. In my past life, I never noticed livestock trucks on the freeway hauling their passengers to death. Now I do. In my past life, I didn't understand that putting ham in my mouth or chicken in my mouth or turkey in my mouth or beef in my mouth comes at far too high a cost: the life of a sentient being. Now I get it. In my past life, I failed to grasp the deep contradiction of supporting human rights and eating animals at the same time. Now I comprehend the vast gulf between the humanistic worldview and the belief that it's OK to breed animals for the purpose of exploiting them, eating them, wearing them, confining them to dark spaces, tearing them apart from their loved ones.

We cannot have human liberation without animal liberation. Human rights without animal rights is a travesty. Supporting a socio-economic system that is based on using and murdering sentient beings is not acceptable. Arriving at these conclusions can be a deeply freeing experience.

But how do you change a system that seems like an impregnable fortress? How do you transform customs and traditions and mentalities built on using and harming and destroying innocent beings? How do you open the eyes of others who may or may not be prepared to embark on the same odyssey that you are experiencing? How do you stay sane while you're driving on the freeway and you look through the holes in the livestock trailer and see all of the eyes and snouts and you can feel the fear of animals in the last days of their lives?

I don't have the answers to these questions. But I do have the answer to one question: What does it feel like, as one person, to disengage - as fully as you possibly can - from this odious system?

Answer: It is but the first step on the road to reclaiming one's own humanity. It's a long road, full of twists a turns, but also a joyous one to finally be traveling. Think of the poor souls who never find it, who aren't willing to break the shackles, and who never reach a level of consciousness that moves them in the direction of reclaiming their humanity.

Vegan Art That Really Brings the Message Home...

"The Last Thing You Will Ever See"

Painting by Dan Dunbar

We'll Never Forget the Animals!

Signs of hope...

This very impressive, orderly and nonviolent demonstration against speciesism was held in Madrid, Spain recently, sponsored by the Spanish animal rights group Igualdad Animal. Our European comrades are always coming up with creative new ways to protest against the exploitation and destruction of animals.