Something awesome is so close we can smell it. It carries the sweet scent of victory. But it will not be easily won.
We are behind in this fight, yet there is still hope. We have not yet called upon our secret weapon: you. We have not yet unleashed your awesome fury, your emo angst, your power to like and reblog and kick the rest of the internet’s ass.
Until now.
Join us as my brother, Matt Mims, co-founder of HEREblog, hits the final stretch of a quest so brash, so brazen, that his girlfriend didn’t even tell him it was happening.
Yes, it’s true: Matt is currently #8 in PETA’s 2010 Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door contest.
#8!!
He needs to get voted into the top 5 by Friday at noon EST to reach the Finals.
Will you help us now, in our hour of greatest need?
Your marching orders, brave warriors:
Oh, and extra hero points if you reblog this post!
Thank you!!
Dan
The Cove Film-Makers Break Up Alleged Whale-Meat Smuggling Operation
“This isn’t just about saving whales,” said Louie Psihoyos, the director of “The Cove,” a documentary that chronicles eco-activists’ battles with Japanese officials over dolphin hunting. “But about saving the planet.”
The sushi sting actually began in October, when the documentary’s associate producer and “director of clandestine operations,” Charles Hambleton, heard from friends in the music industry that the Hump, a highly rated sushi restaurant next to the runway at the Santa Monica airport, was serving whale. Mr. Hambleton, who has worked as a water safety consultant on Hollywood movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean,” created a tiny camera for two animal-activist associates to wear during a monster session of omakase — a sushi meal in which the chef picks all the dishes. Video of their meal shows the two activists, both vegan, being served what the waitress can be heard calling “whale” — thick pink slices — that they take squeamish bites of before tossing into a Ziploc bag in a purse.
The samples were sent to Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. Professor Baker said DNA testing there revealed that the samples sent to him were from a Sei whale, which are found worldwide and are endangered but are sometimes hunted in the North Pacific under a controversial Japanese scientific program. Serving unusual fish imported from Japan is the hallmark of many high-end sushi restaurants here, and whale meat is often found in Japanese markets, Professor Baker said. But he said he had never heard of it being served in an American restaurant.
Gilbert Ng joined us for a photo session several weeks ago, in preparation for the forthcoming release of our first album, pastpresentfuture. Gil is an amazing photographer who shoots and develops real film. This image was taken on the rooftop of our DIY music space, The Yolk.
(via swisserswatter)
I just like to see kids crying.
“When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity.” — George Bernard Shaw, writer and Nobel laureate (1856–1950) (via jennymarmalade)
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Several weeks ago we posted about how a delusional group of creationist right-wing lunatics have been exerting out-sized influence on public school textbook standards nationwide from their perches on the Texas State Board of Education.
Well, good news: Don McLeroy, their fundamentalist dentist ringleader, has just been fired by Texas voters in favor of a much saner candidate. What’s more, he was ousted — albeit narrowly — by Republican voters in the Republican primary.
Thank you, Texas Republicans, for seeing some light.
josephinemarch: rainaelizabeth: annahinks:queen-of-everything : twrex : hauntedghost : 9773 : taargustaargus : pizzapuke : joeylusterman
Serwal had some “fucking stupid” points to make in response to the bat cartoon post. His/her comments are in italics and addressed in full and in chronological order, though they have been segmented in order to make our responses clearer.
This is fucking stupid. Not that being a vegetarian, vegan, or anything related is stupid. The reasoning and list used completely ignores the fact that we’re arbitrarily omnivores, no matter what anyone says. Inherent free choice, multi-purpose teeth, and the biggest contributor to our survival and evolution: the ability to adapt to new foods and the widest variety of food.
Where to start?
You say we’re “arbitrarily omnivores no matter what anyone says.” How about what anyone does? After all, I’m a vegan, not an omnivore. And do you know what “arbitrarily” means? If so, can you explain what it is supposed to add to your already problematic thought?
“Inherent free choice, multi-purpose teeth, and the biggest contributor to our survival and evolution: the ability to adapt to new foods and the widest variety of food.” Inherent free choice? This is a joke, a spoke on the wheel of human reflexive mythology. Free will is unequivocally impossible (beware, this will require heavy reading). Really, you’re just making shit up. Multi-purpose teeth? Herbivores can have multi-purpose teeth too — rabbits have incisors, for example. “The ability to adapt to new foods and the widest variety of food.” This is nothing more than a “might makes right” rationale, which is fallacious and not, I easily imagine, something you support when it comes to your own well-being.
Again, being Vegetarian, Vegan, or anything else related is NOT stupid, the picture and “supporting” list of “reasons” is fucking stupid. This example of reasoning is par to that of a Creationist, Intelligent Design, or both.
Hey, I’m glad you don’t think veganism is stupid. But we are not here resting the case for veganism upon anatomy or ancestry (i.e. the list of herbivorous anatomical features present in humanity). As one can see from our post, such arguments have been recognized as fallacious. Still, it is appropriate to answer those who would make factually incorrect arguments in favor of needlessly killing other animals by pointing out, in addition to the bad reasoning, that humans don’t actually have the apparatus of meat-eaters. Also, “the picture” is not an argument in favor of veganism. The item we posted reacted against the picture. And I don’t know where you’re going with the Creationism and Intelligent Design parallel.
Eat what you want, because of your own convictions. Do your research and then decide. Oh, and activists are stupid.
Ah, the moral indignation of moral relativists. Priceless. It’s also fun when moral relativists unknowingly but inevitably stake out universal moral positions, thus imploding their own system. “Eat what you want” just barely qualifies as a universal moral assertion, since it is based on nothing but your personal convenience, but nevertheless it is a moral position that is meant to apply to all. Speaking of which, I suppose you would be cool with a human coming by and chomping you to bits? After all, it would be a human doing the eating, eh? Of course, you wouldn’t be okay with that, and with good reason. The next step is to think beyond yourself and realize that no other creature, human or otherwise, deserves such a fate in the face of alternatives.
As for research, yes, I’m all for it. Decent research on relevant topics would reveal, for example, that the animals forced to endure hell for human taste buds suffer just as much as humans would. Since we obviously would have a problem with needlessly torturing and slaughtering other humans, we cannot deny other animals this same consideration. For another example, decent research would reveal that animal agriculture is by far the #1 source of global warming pollution. It would be nice if, as relativists implicitly posit, this suffering and these catastrophic environmental effects were no more real than our willingness to believe as much. But they are indeed belief-independent, and it truly puts one in the league of the anti-evolutionists to assert otherwise. There is truth, and there are moral propositions that respect the truth. “Eat what you want” is not one of them.
As for activists, I wonder how many people would be able to do research without activists, especially when it comes to animal welfare? Because of corporatist laws and a complete lack of corporate transparency, people must go undercover to see what actually goes on in factory farms and vivisection labs. But no, just because you shot from the hip and felt like saying so, activists are “stupid,” even though they make it possible for discerning people like you to click a button and watch a video and come to an obvious conclusion.
By the way, without activists, you wouldn’t have clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, clean food to eat. Your African American neighbors would be slaves. You wouldn’t even have unlimited Internet access for a low monthly fee.
Edit - Also, what the fuck is this based off of? Just a generalization of animals? Or just the rough average? If so, this isn’t even worth reading. As it further disregards the individual differences between every animal, herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore alike.
The source I have for this information is: A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970). I don’t have a link for you, but maybe you can find it in a readable format somewhere online. To be clear, though, this is not meant to convey a “rough average.” And to reiterate, this is not the argument for veganism. It is simply a list of facts that is useful in rejecting an anatomy-based pro-meat-eating argument that is often made, which is both fallacious and factually incorrect.
(via theuntalentedmrripley)
Hey, humans: You don’t have fangs. We ran a post back in October about anatomy-focused arguments that seek to tie dietary morality to biological ancestry. E.g. “We have ‘canine’ teeth and therefore are meant to eat meat.” Not only is this fallacious, it gets the anatomy all wrong. Here’s the summary from that post:
Via SuperVegan, California legislators are set to begin weighing a bill that would create the nation’s first animal abuse registry modeled on widespread sex offender registries. The bill is being spearheaded by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and was introduced by State Senate majority leader Dean Florez.
The idea is simple and familiar: anybody convicted of felony abuse would be listed in a public database accessible to anyone with internet access. Animal shelter operators could check up on prospective pet owners, current pet owners could be aware of potential neighborhood threats, and some potential abusers would be deterred for fear of being shamed on a public list. Since non-human animal abusers are far more likely to commit violent crimes in general, the registry could also help law enforcement officials solve human abuse cases.
Bottom line: Without such a database, animal abusers essentially have free reign to abuse again and again. With it, many fewer animals will be brutalized.
Funding would come from a proposed two to three cent tax on pet food purchases, which would likely be considered a small and worthy trade by most responsible pet owners. Of course, pet food companies — despite all those commercials expressing a desire to keep your pet healthy and happy — are lining up against the bill for this reason.
If you live in California, find your state representatives here to call in your support. Otherwise, you can sign this petition urging your state lawmakers to enact similar legislation.
lbabeh (via fieldmanual)
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odiumnostrum: Rick Fansler
Beautiful.