The grass is always greener....

These photo's are of cats and dogs being killed for food.

Not acceptable? Think it's horrible?

Then why doesnt that same line of thinking apply to a cow, chicken, or pig?

Okay, I'm going to use this post to address the comments made by "Anonymous" - even though I know who you are :). First let me say, Thank you for posting and an even bigger Thank You for making a statement that challenges what I'm saying. That's the whole point of this. Get a dialogue going. So- here we go....

In your comments you made several points which I want to address but before I do let me be the first to say that I agree with most of what you said.

1. You're absolutely right when you say Americans have their priorities messed up. I'm also sick of turning on the news and hearing about Britney Spears, or Lindsay Lohan, or Iraq, Bush, and any other politician to be honest. It is all kind of a joke. I mean let's not forgot that more than half the country voted the dumb ass back into office and now those same people -just 1 YEAR LATER- hate him and think he's a disaster. Well I hate to break the news to all of you BUT HE WAS ALWAYS A FUCKING DISASTER! I know many people that voted for him the 2nd time and I love many of them, but it BLOWS my mind how they could've done that. They are all intelligent, caring people but for some reason they lost there grasp on logical thinking. So, "Anonymous" I can see how you are frustrated by that. I'm right there with you. That's why I always say this country needs to WAKE UP. Only people that were half asleep could've given that asshole or people like him the keys to the country.


2. Keep in mind though that I didn't vote for him either time, and have been 100% against him since day 1. I've also seen right through him since day 1, even going so far as to predict we would be back in Iraq within 2 years of him taking office. OOPS- it took him 2 1/2 years-MY MISTAKE! So, as far as I'm concerned that gives me the right to run my mouth as much as I want about him because I'm not responsible for him - unlike the people that voted for him. That leads me to the Animal issue.


3. Americans and Romanian's couldn't be more different when it comes to this issue. I get that and I understand that. The fact is that most people (not all) in Romania have been involved in farming for at least some part of their life and have either directly or indirectly killed a farm animal for food. They don't have the disconnect with their food like we do here in America. In this country our dead animals come packaged in cute, fun, and colorful containers and wrappings. They are sold by cute, fun cartoon characters and mascots. They are sold (for the most part) in clean, pristine grocery shops where you never have to see or smell the blood and guts behind the slaughter. I can GUARANTEE you that if Americans had to start killing their food themselves that we would become a nation of mostly vegetarians real quick. Now I know that they have those cute, fun things in Romania but that's just been for the past 10-15 years. Western Culture doesn't have that big of a hold yet-but it will soon. You don't see factory farming on the scale you do here, and that's what I'm trying to highlight. How we are killing the animals for food is what the big problem is. Re-read the post and really think about all those environmental issues. They are real and it needs to be addressed. Like I said I don't expect people to just become a vegetarian like that, but you can still be responsible about eating meat.


4. Lastly, I know I speak about the Animals a lot but that's my passion. Very few people are speaking up for them so I'm going to. Every human being on this planet has someone fighting for their rights. Whether it's minorities, the poor, the children, the homeless or whatever there is always an organization to help, and their should be. There's enough room in this world and enough need for every issue to be addressed at the same time. They're all important and you'd be surprised how connected they are. Usually if you solve one major problem or issue you solve a dozen more along with it. Just because we can treat animals horribly doesn't mean we should. It's our responsibility as the species at the top to care for the others - not exploit and destroy them. Gandhi once said, "You can judge how a society treats it's people by the way they treat their animals". What he was saying was that if a society has evolved to a point where they care for their animals and dont exploit them then their citizens would be treated just as well if not better. He was right. How someone treats an animal is a direct reflection of how that person treats people. Just look at serial killers. They all start out killing animals. So , I don't think it's a coincidence that we are a country of Animal Exploitationists and also a country of gun-toting, racist, homophobic, crusade fighting religious fanatics that love to vote people into office that go around the world taking over countries by force so they can control more of it. Trust me-it's alot more connected than you think. Can you picture a country full of vegetarians going around declaring war for selfish gain, exploiting the environment and segregating huge portions of the population? Well can you? I'm sure you can't. But for a country that kills 10 billion animals a year for food, 40 million animals a year for vivisection and countless others for fur and leather it makes perfect sense. Fits like a glove.

The other point I would like to make is this. "Anonymous" has a dog that he loves very much just like many of you do that eat meat. So here's my problem with of all you. How can you say it's wrong to eat a dog or a cat but it's okay to eat a rabbit, cow, deer or chicken? I bet if any of you that eats meat spent any significant time with a cow and gave it a name and took care of it , like you do a dog or cat, you would stop eating cow. What you have to do is realize that their suffering is just as real and horrible as it would be for a dog, a cat AND EVEN YOU. The other thing I can't ignore is this: Meat IS NOT a necessary part of life. We don't' need meat to survive. We need the protein that's in the meat. There are a million other ways to get protein and that's proven by the fact that tens of millions of people worldwide live their whole life without ever letting flesh pass through their lips.

Living a cruelty-free, compassionate life is more possible and easier today than it ever has been.

So why don't more people make that choice?

LUAP :)

P.S. - Don't worry "Anonymous" , I'll be posting about other topics next week. :)