Since I love animals, I do my part to ensure that meat animals are treated with respect when they are forced to give up their lives for my sustenance and culinary pleasure. I have no issue with hunting when it is hunting for food. I come from a long line of food hunters. One of my favorite childhood memories is eating Aunt Blanche's canned venison and gravy that she made every year from Uncle Harold's kill. I have hunted. I would hunt again if I had to for food. (However, I condemn trophy hunting. I have a relative who travels to South America to hunt. I assume it's for trophies. I have to take a don't ask, don't tell stance with him since we are otherwise close friends.)
But, whenever I talk with vegetarians and vegans and hear the reasons why they eschew eating animals and/or animal products, I listen closely to their positions. I'm always interested in hearing from them. Each one tells a different story about why they eat as they do. I've learned a great deal from them and have actually modified my cooking and eating as a result. Today I eat less meat and more vegetables. I frequently prepare vegetarian meals not because they are vegetarian, but simply because they are good and they are sufficient. I'm not likely to give up cheese, eggs, butter, and milk, but I am willing to eat less animal flesh.
My point is that when it comes to meat, I'm willing to listen to vegetarians, I do listen to vegetarians, and I allow them to have an influence on me because I am willing to examine my own position and modify it based on what I learn from them. I'll never give up animal protein and fat altogether. I crave the stuff. But my position is not the only viable one, nor is it etched in personal granite.
Here is something I have observed in the wake of the Tucson massacre. Gun toters are not willing to listen, or learn, or modify their behavior. (Of necessity, I speak only based on those with whom I've tried to have conversations.) The gun nuts are out in force on the internet, terrified that they will lose some particle of their ever-expanding right to carry and use ever more powerful weaponry.
I've had some exchanges with gun nuts since the killings and woundings. The only thing any of them seem to think about is the gun aspect of this horrific crime and how it applies to them. They don't seem to care about the why of the massacre, which is pretty complicated anyway. They don't seem to care much about the victims, of which there are hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions. They aren't interested in hearing about the political and social climate of our times. They're just worried about losing their guns. They need their guns to hunt. They need their guns to protect themselves. They need their guns for recreation. They need their guns to stay in control of their own lives (an illusion at best). They need their guns to... I don't know what all else. The list goes on.
And when it comes to listening, to considering another point of view, to willingness to modify their own outlooks on life in view of occurences such as the Tucson shootings... well, it just isn't there. There are many, many aspects of the massacre to consider. But the one that has stuck with me the most is the extreme defensiveness of the gun nuts. That's why I've chosen to contrast their reactions with those of mine, a self-described animal fat and protein nut. I guess some nuts can be cracked and others just become harder and harder and harder.
2 comments:
My high school history/civics teacher had a sign on his wall that read, "Sure history repeats itself, because nobody was listening the first time."
We had Columbine. How much changed? We had Virginia Tech, and the young man who did this:
http://livingfor32.com/story.html
How much changed? Now we have Tuscon. And how many others before and in between these. If someone doesn't start listening soon, we (the planet) will go the way of other extinct groups. The one who dies with the most toys is still dead.
I've come to the conclusion, Gianna, that the gun nuts really don't care how many people die, how many lives are sacrificed on the altar of the Almighty Second Amendment. They just want their damned guns and ammo.
Therefore, history means nothing to them. They are more afraid of the the government they themselves create and elect than they are of the possible extinction of the species. Pretty shortsighted.
I've long believed that we will go extinct, sooner rather than later, through our own stupidity. As a species, we really aren't very good at being what we are. In comparison, cats are very good at being cats and dogs are very good at being dogs. People are not very good at being people. I just hope that when we go we won't leave earth in such a mess that it will not support other life. I like to think that life in some form will go on after us.
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