Saturday, September 7, 2013
"Used-to-be-vegetarian"s
Nothing erks me more these days when I'm browsing the posts of people i barely stay in touch with on this social networking thing than seeing a post by a used-to-be-vegetarian that is anti-vegetarian, or just a joke about vegetarians. It's not like being atheist. Atheists who start off as theist are usually more outspoken than those who've just never believed. It's because they have experience with religion and religious traditions that a person who has never really followed any sort of religion would not have. "Fuel" for their "fire" for lack of a better phrase. They may come off argumentative or "preachy" about the idea that god does not exist. And quote passages of religious texts that are hypocritical or nonsensical because they have a passion to be anti-religion. But can this apply to vegetarianism? Do vegetarians just wake up one day and realize that they've been duped? That animal suffering doesn't really exist? That the devastating ecological impacts of meat production and consumption are all a lie? That the animals on dinner plates don't have emotional lives or thoughts or feelings like what we have? That animals are REALLY JUST BIOLOGICAL MACHINES LIKE DESCARTES SAID?!?!?!?!?! No, I can't imagine this is how it works. I think some people start getting bored and/or lose touch with why they decided to make lifestyle changes like becoming vegetarian and they easily "change back". Why some become "anti-vegetarian" is beyond me. It may be insecurities like what alot of omnivores have when talking to vegetarians/vegans about their diets. Alot of them say "I don't eat meat often..." and that's great, as long as they understand I'm not trying to ruin their meal if they're not trying to ruin mine by talking about why they think it's okay to kill deer and eat them while I'm eating my peanut butter and banana sandwich. Eat your fucking hamburger, it's your life/heart/ethics that you have to answer to, not mine. There was a "GHENT CONFESSIONS" post recently that was allegedly by a cook at a local Ghent restaurant who claimed that they put a little butter or dairy in every "vegan" dish they made because they evidently had a grudge against vegans, called vegans "pretentious fucks" actually. I read some of the comments and found the dialog that the person created a little amusing, and I commented. I didn't look at the post the same way alot of others did. I thought of how close minded this person was and my mind drew a person with no respect for ideas/lifestyles different than their own. How intolerant this person is/was. It seems strange to me that anyone would be intolerant about vegetarians, but I guess the "used-to-be-vegetarians" have that passion. Or they might just be hip wanna-be-foodies who got bored being vegetarian in a society of meat eaters and have a little bitterness in their hearts for those who are still living it.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
I really hope that there is intelligent life somewhere else in the universe
day 437
Like the anti-miracle that was the first cancerous cell reproducing, we spread across this planet, burning, destroying and making sterile anything and everything in our path. We are the super-species. We are the ones granted the great dominion over everything. Everything we know so little about. Everything that would continue to give life. To contribute to the cycle of continued existence for the organic matter around us that we only pay attention to when it's images are recorded on a digital ccd screen and broadcast on tv screens inside our homes. Inside these boxes that we work so hard to maintain and store our useless shit in. The boxes that separate "us" from "them". "Us" from the "outside world", that we have been taught that we are not a part of. The "outside world" is a part of us like a diseased limb. We can ignore it. It might be dying. But we're part of it, and if it dies, so do we.
I really hope that there is intelligent life somewhere else out there in the universe. I hope there's a planet that has sprouted the beautiful chaos that is life and organic matter that reproduces without a hyper-aware super-species that "advances" so much that it just kills everything. Earth has had relatively advanced life forms for a long time before humans started getting civilized. And life kept on chooglin. Things lived, things died and the cycle continued. Random, beautiful chaos kept things interesting. Natural selection kept things interesting (Well, before we started making TV's the size of walls! Now we're bored with anything that isn't reality TV!!! TV PARTY TONIGHT! TV PARTY TONIGHT!!!). Right now within the social structure we live in, there are people who would kill people they'd never have to see to get ahead financially. Let me re-phrase that: Right now people ARE killing people they will never have to see to get ahead finacially. To get ahead in this game. It's not really living anymore. It's a game. I wish I could go back to when they made the rules. Whoever "they" were... Because "they" didn't account for alot of factors when they made these rules that we live by. "They" didn't account for the very simple fact that economic growth CAN NOT GO ON FOREVER. CAN'T. WON'T. There are only so many things in the world that possess value to concentrate in the hands of those with the most valuable valuables. The king can only accumulate so much gold. His castle is only so big. Nothing goes on forever. Which is a scary idea that is often forgotten while we play this game. We go to work, clock in, sweat, lift, teach, sell, cook, serve, type, order, receive, program, repair, and do processes to make money to pay our bills. Bills that companies and banks mail us. They give us money and then they bill us for it. They give us cooking gas, clothes, electricity and digital signals that allow our cellular phones and computer to work and connect with other computers and cellular phones and then they bill us. These signals are already out there, why are we paying for them? The cooking gas is already piped into our apartment, why do we pay "distribution" fees for it? The DMV has been where it is for years and years, why do we pay extra fees for going to it? The answer to all these questions and many more is that we didn't make the fucking rules. That's why we pay for all this stupid shit. That and because it's all part of the game. It's like playing poker but you can't ever see the dealer or the other players. All you can see is your cards and you're not sure that the other players didn't look at your cards... But sometimes, when you take a couple steps away from the table, mentally, physically or emotionally, you start to realize how fucked up the game is... Sometimes you just play blind and bet big. And try to keep a sense of humor about it when you lose. Cause that's life.
Lately I've been riding my bikes while listening to music in headphones. Most people think this isn't safe because it's technically illegal. I don't think it's unsafe at all. I think you can hear cars coming up behind you and interpret their position better when you don't have music blasting into your ears from headphones, but does that make you safer? Shouldn't you be more worried about what's going on ahead of you and if everybody else is exercising the "due care" that the traffic laws require, everyone would be safe. And music in my ears tends to calm my nerves and make me ALOT less likely to yell at someone that cuts me off or honks at me which in turn makes it less likely that I will be involved in an intersection confrontation with an idiot who is having a bad day, which in a very real way, makes riding safer.
Like the anti-miracle that was the first cancerous cell reproducing, we spread across this planet, burning, destroying and making sterile anything and everything in our path. We are the super-species. We are the ones granted the great dominion over everything. Everything we know so little about. Everything that would continue to give life. To contribute to the cycle of continued existence for the organic matter around us that we only pay attention to when it's images are recorded on a digital ccd screen and broadcast on tv screens inside our homes. Inside these boxes that we work so hard to maintain and store our useless shit in. The boxes that separate "us" from "them". "Us" from the "outside world", that we have been taught that we are not a part of. The "outside world" is a part of us like a diseased limb. We can ignore it. It might be dying. But we're part of it, and if it dies, so do we.
I really hope that there is intelligent life somewhere else out there in the universe. I hope there's a planet that has sprouted the beautiful chaos that is life and organic matter that reproduces without a hyper-aware super-species that "advances" so much that it just kills everything. Earth has had relatively advanced life forms for a long time before humans started getting civilized. And life kept on chooglin. Things lived, things died and the cycle continued. Random, beautiful chaos kept things interesting. Natural selection kept things interesting (Well, before we started making TV's the size of walls! Now we're bored with anything that isn't reality TV!!! TV PARTY TONIGHT! TV PARTY TONIGHT!!!). Right now within the social structure we live in, there are people who would kill people they'd never have to see to get ahead financially. Let me re-phrase that: Right now people ARE killing people they will never have to see to get ahead finacially. To get ahead in this game. It's not really living anymore. It's a game. I wish I could go back to when they made the rules. Whoever "they" were... Because "they" didn't account for alot of factors when they made these rules that we live by. "They" didn't account for the very simple fact that economic growth CAN NOT GO ON FOREVER. CAN'T. WON'T. There are only so many things in the world that possess value to concentrate in the hands of those with the most valuable valuables. The king can only accumulate so much gold. His castle is only so big. Nothing goes on forever. Which is a scary idea that is often forgotten while we play this game. We go to work, clock in, sweat, lift, teach, sell, cook, serve, type, order, receive, program, repair, and do processes to make money to pay our bills. Bills that companies and banks mail us. They give us money and then they bill us for it. They give us cooking gas, clothes, electricity and digital signals that allow our cellular phones and computer to work and connect with other computers and cellular phones and then they bill us. These signals are already out there, why are we paying for them? The cooking gas is already piped into our apartment, why do we pay "distribution" fees for it? The DMV has been where it is for years and years, why do we pay extra fees for going to it? The answer to all these questions and many more is that we didn't make the fucking rules. That's why we pay for all this stupid shit. That and because it's all part of the game. It's like playing poker but you can't ever see the dealer or the other players. All you can see is your cards and you're not sure that the other players didn't look at your cards... But sometimes, when you take a couple steps away from the table, mentally, physically or emotionally, you start to realize how fucked up the game is... Sometimes you just play blind and bet big. And try to keep a sense of humor about it when you lose. Cause that's life.
Lately I've been riding my bikes while listening to music in headphones. Most people think this isn't safe because it's technically illegal. I don't think it's unsafe at all. I think you can hear cars coming up behind you and interpret their position better when you don't have music blasting into your ears from headphones, but does that make you safer? Shouldn't you be more worried about what's going on ahead of you and if everybody else is exercising the "due care" that the traffic laws require, everyone would be safe. And music in my ears tends to calm my nerves and make me ALOT less likely to yell at someone that cuts me off or honks at me which in turn makes it less likely that I will be involved in an intersection confrontation with an idiot who is having a bad day, which in a very real way, makes riding safer.
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