Gettin' Friskies

I suppose I could just show this commercial and be like "lol this is what cats actually believe," but since this is a blog about veganism I feel I should analyze a little. What a weird dynamic we have where pets are a billion dollar industry and companies must market to the owners since they can't market to the cat. Again, we have the separation from reality, where the fish and turkeys and other animals in this video are happy and also appear to be tripping balls just like the cat. What I really dislike about this is the abuse of these other animals being fed to our feline friends through the capitalistic assembly line. It should not be cat vs. fish/turkey/chicken/etc., but an alliance of sorts for animal rights--the fight against ownership and the fight against abusive conditions. This is in the same disgusting vein as Soylent Green if you will.

Animal Rights

Humans rights abuses are pimples on the face of society, showing time and again that people are easily able to forget their own humanity. But what about animal rights abuses? People have a hard time remembering their human relatives, let alone that they are also animals. Animal rights is a pimple on the face of society too, but it is one that lies deep under the surface, causing much pain and redness, but not yet emerging to heal. It's one of those you know is simply filled with sebum, waiting to explode, but you can't pop it or do anything to heal it until moves to the surface.

What I'm trying to say is, I feel like animal rights is an issue that has been recognized by some, but definitely not taken seriously by others, and, therefore, has not even begun its biggest fight. I am often tempted to add in the question of, "was that person vegetarian?" when evaluating moral character, but as soon as that idea is brought into the topic, people seem to take away my legitimacy and refuse to hear what I have to say. It is crazy enough for me to mention women's rights or immigration law reform... god forbid I mention animal rights! But these issues are interrelated as all injustices are. We must fight "the man" in unison.

Which led me to thinking about how the animal rights movement might play out in the future. Will it be like other movements that have continued to marginalize groups within the larger group? Will pigs' rights come before cows' rights? Will we fight vivisection before we eliminate factory farms? Will we forget how other injustices are related to the cause? How environmental injustice is directly related to farm animal injustice, for example?

I am wondering how this will play out.

I am hoping we remember the necessity for inclusion.