This is something which I have given a lot of thought into lately.
My mind seems to continuously hit walls. Barriers.
It’s almost as if it is preventing me from thinking this…
It demands a level of honesty that is… it’s there to grasp but I just can’t… get to it.
It’s a very hard and brutal thought I know.
But does that mean it to be untrue?
No, it is not direct 1st degree murder in most cases.
But complicit in the act of murder (and acts of murderers!) it is indeed, because everytime an action is taken to either consume, purchase or support the industry, a token of demand is set in motion. Another price is put on a head of some innocent creature. And this is what fuels the industry. This token is EVERYTHING. A token to kill.
The only difference is that, in our current system, killing other animals doesn’t qualify as murder because our judicial system and values have been built upon a foundation that humans are the centre of the universe. Wrong. We are not. Science proved this hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately our political system is from the stone ages and our monetary based economic system has been out of date for almost 100 years now.
So where does this leave us with our concept of murder?
Does it qualify as murder if you are ‘ignorant’ about your actions which demand murder? Is that excusable? No, it’s not. If anything, it’s a tragedy how little most people comprehend the true nature of our current social paradigm. Even more, it’s disgraceful how little effort is put into overcoming this ignorance. Pathetic.
It’s a scary truth that nobody is really willing to say. Not even in the animal rights movement or so it seems to me. Very few have the guts to say it. The Smiths even had an album called “meat is murder” but I never thought about it like that while growing up when I was still dumb, numb and full of rum.
If it is true, than most of us our guilty.
A world full of murderers. Walking around. Without a clue.
So where’s the justice? Who gets punished? Who takes the blame?
Why do we lock up people for killing people but not for killing other animals?
And the killing continues.
on and on and on
and we continue to be afraid
of saying the truth.
My suggestion:
lets call out the murderers. Lets admit that we are all at fault as much as anyone.
This truth must be brought out. Sure we can show them clips of animals suffering and tell them about the clogged arteries and the injustices of factory farming.
But what about that word… that word we ALL try to avoid? That M word.
It’s there. We want to say it.
Playing the blame game is too late.
Justice is too late. Punishment would mean self-extinction of our race.
Mass forgiveness is the only way.
But first we gotta help people understand. Not even for us or the animals. For them!
Because deep down inside, we are not murderers.
Murder is a product of culture. A mirror, which reflects the sick, twisted lies which flow through everyday life into the great ocean of our existence, polluting it’s waters until we are left drinking waste and swimming in the gutter.
So what I suggest is
* action
–>
* awareness
–>
* forgiveness
–>
* change
Lets start with ourselves. I already have. Take my hand and join the anti-murder movement. AMM. There’s no website. Nothing to sign. No emails. No products. It’s movement in our consciousness. To have the courage to stand up for what we know is right.
I would also appreciate feedback on this. I know I am a novice still when it comes to being ‘part of the solution’ but I’m sure a little youthful fruitful excitement can never hurt.
PS. if you are reading still, I also suggest you watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
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Markus,
I really enjoyed your post! I am with you 100% about calling this what it is – MURDER! Without a doubt, there can be no other name for it. And part of me agrees with your forgiveness plan (after all, didnt’ most of us eat meat/dairy at one time or another?); and yet, another part of me does not think I can forgive those who KNOW about the MURDEROUS aspects of the food they are consuming, the animal-tested cosmetics/laundry detergent/etc they are buying, the fur of another soul they are wearing, etc. It is these people I cannot, at least for now, seem to find forgiveness for.
RJ – The Smiths are a great band! And wow, I have never heard that song before, but wow. It just sums it up perfectly and honestly.
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Fabulous!
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Yes this is an excellent post. I have been thinking a lot about this lately- how almost impossible it is to get a salad now a days without a whole bunch of crap on it. I think the forgiveness aspect is that it is so hard for people to find vegan food. Sure in some places like LA or a big college town, NYC- but so many other places are still like the dark ages as far as making decent food available.
But yeah- you are totally right- It is so hard to believe how blind we are to this here in America considering we have higher thinking capabilities. In certain parts of the world youd have to go out of your way to get meat- and then it would either still be alive or with the head still attached so you really knew you were taking a life. You’d probably be very familiar with the anatomy of that animal as well.
It’s horrifying to think of someone carving up their cat or dog to eat it and then people blindly go out and buy very similar animals to consume without batting an eyelash.
I was thinking how great it would be for a few people to set up shop in the most unhealthy city in america. And everyone there would know they needed to eat better- so it wouldnt be a suprise. I’m not sure where that is but I think it used to be New Orleans..
I’d just love to see more strategies that people could come up with to respond like emt’s to certain areas because this is really an emergency going on. I’d love to see the vision of health so much more attainable n the simplist ways for the common man.
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Markus,
Yes to your question.
The problem is many here will believe this but not if they take the green peel which excludes family and friends.
Take Care,
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do you mean “pill” Big G?
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Hi BigG,
what do you mean by the green peel exactly?
are you saying we will only talk about this here and not extend these thoughts to our families and friends? -
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What are the animals that meat eaters consume fed with?
If I remember correctly, some 70% of the US’s grain production goes towards fueling our meat-tooth.
To say that vegans are killing more than the tens of billions of animals that are murdered every single year by the animal product industry is a little ridiculous, not to mention that the number one cause of CO2 emissions is factory farming byproducts.
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“It depends where the meat eaters gets there meat.”
No it most certainly does not. Animals are animals. It matters very little if they were raised and slaughtered “humanely”. Seems like you’re not on the same page Cliff. Are you claiming to eat no tropical fruit?
I’ve called my family out on the murder issue more than a few times. We have to paint everyone with the same brush, remove our personal feelings. We can’t say that some meat eaters are murdering animals and some are not. Ridiculous concept, really.
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I saw some documentary recently (maybe “Eating”?) that mentioned that we are growing corn that gets shipped to Brazil to feed their cattle, which are butchered and shipped back to the U.S. as cheap meat. Seems like a big waste of water, grain and fuel, if you ask me.
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vegans may murder more animals than meat eaters
that is one of the most ludicrous statements I have ever heard.
it’s like saying professional athletes are among the most obese in the world.
I mean seriously? you have clearly got your concepts wrong.a fruit tree = food for animals, home for animals
in case you haven’t noticed, this is a community that supports a fruit based diet.
Right now we could feed the whole planet with the amount of grains being fed to livestock.maybe you should spend a little less time surfing and educate yourself more before coming here talking nonsense.
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PS. fruit trees are also oxygen for the air and don’t require to be cut down once planted.
Although I don’t support the grain industry, it is still a huge step in the right direction that we stop consuming animals.and the horrors that go on in factories?
do you suppose vegans are behind that as well?I’m sure your a good person Cliff, and I hope you do a little more investigating and see the scope of the problem we are discussing here.
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I don’t know that I would call them murderers just for eating meat. If folks had to kill the animals themselves, then there would be many more vegans and vegetarians (hunters would likely be the exception). The majority of people are more like scavengers. They’ll eat anything that’s made easily available to them, as long as it doesn’t require a lot of effort on their part. It’s not like 100 years ago, where Eskimos had to eat seafood and deer meat during the winter, because all the plants were covered in snow. Food can be obtained incredibly easy now. Folks in cold climates can get fruit shipped from tropical locales. People continue to eat meat because it’s easily available, and it’s presented in such a way that it is appealing to the common person (it doesn’t help that the gov’t is being run by lobbyists from the meat industry). Folks just need to become better educated on the dangers to their health and to the environment by supporting a meat-based diet.
When President Obama won the election, and was seeking input from citizens, I told him what our priorities should be:
1. education (without knowledge, we can’t work on the other areas successfully)
2. health (without healthy citizens, our nation becomes weak (in more ways than one))
3. economy (will benefit from having an educated, healthy workforce)
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agree with everything you’ve said and love your passion, don’t know if I would call a child who is eating meat and drinking milk a murderer to their face, because as you say you were once numb to the facts and so are they. Babies like me, had cows milk in a bottle given to them before they could talk so they are weaned on it really. If I’d been educated from a young age I’m sure I wouldn’t have eaten animals, but the education isn’t there yet, because people believe in the benefits of animal products, due to advertising, doctors, etc.
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Ignorance of ones actions doesn’t change the reality of what those actions are in the big picture.
The meat industry = murder industry.Children eat what their parents give them. Parents buy what society tells them to buy. Society sells what people buy. The murderers murder because they make money from it. Society prevails because a society’s worth is measured by GDP. That means the more money being spent, the higher the GDP. Medical/industry makes more money the sicker we are = GDP goes up. The meat/dairy industry makes money the more stupid we are causing us to buy the stuff = GDP goes up.Profit folks. The politicians want you think that our welfare is important. Sure, after profit. But the worse we are, the more the rich get richer and those in power (corporations) stay in power.
You don’t live in a free country and you never did.
Are children, the ignorant, etc innocent?
Yes to a certain degree.But those who do the killing are not nor are those that know about it but do nothing to stop it.
It’s never too late to become a vegan. If you do it today, you’re already apart of the solution.Obama can do nothing.
The system we live in is inherently corrupt. Without the corruption, it does not function anymore.
Murder, sickness, misery = profit.Profit = happy executives and politicians
Happy executives and politicians = as ignorant and ‘innocent’ as everybody else trapped in the parameters of what it takes to uphold our current social structure.
The system is to blame above all else.
What to do about it? Not support it as much as we can.Action + Education + Awareness = CHANGE.
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well said 🙂 hit em with the truth! …. in a nice way 🙂
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great post M
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I too might of struggle with the labelling of who’s a “murderer” in the past.
I understood the hard way…
That everyone’s kind by heart. People are attached to materialistic and physical entities too much, that they ignore that true happiness and comfort is within. That what is see on the outside, is just..plain physical, and that discriminating between two physically harmless shapes is a waste of time.
In other words, people only do such sinful things, it’s because of habit, or social conditioning.
I’m sure everyone by heart, wants to be happy and compassionate. Except…they don’t have the battle morale to dive deep within themselves, and make the big change, even if it meant proverbially combatting friends and family.
It’s what I did, and those who kept close tabs with me understand my convictions. But they do not think it’s enough to change the world.
If humans don’t change the world in time, the world will change itself, through retribution.
We got floods, and other catastrophies happening because of the global warming. Not by CO2, but because of METHANE! Cow dung anyone?
I love all life, even my “worst enemies” with compassion, but I would not hesitate to challenge any of my adversaries in a friendly duel, to let them realize, how wrong they are. If they struggle to battle their own bad habits, then I will do the battle at them, for them. =)
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are meat eaters murderers?
Yes
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