End all oppression must be the first step
End all oppression must be the first step
On Jan. 27, the world will observe the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date marks 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Hitler’s largest death camp.
A key question facing historians is how could an enlightened society that produced our civilization’s greatest philosophers, poets, and composers also produce its most notorious mass murderers? How could it get millions of ordinary citizens to go along? Was the Holocaust a peculiarly German phenomenon, or are other enlightened societies capable? Why are we Americans willing to subsidize unspeakable atrocities in our own factory farms and slaughterhouses?
Jewish Nobel laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, concluded that: “To the animals, all people are Nazis.” His message was that we are all capable of oppressing the more vulnerable sentient beings in our midst, frequently without giving it a second thought.
Indeed, our own enlightened society has translated the arbitrary Nazi dictum “the Christian lives, the Jew dies” into an equally arbitrary “the dog lives, the pig dies.” Only the victims’ names have been changed. The blissful ignorance of death camps and slaughterhouses in our midst remains.
On the long road to end all oppression our very first step must be to drop animals from our menus.
Leo Gushiken, Lihue
More importantly…we must STOP putting children in cages! That is much more important, sir.
As I get older and more reflective, I’m leaning in your direction. I believe slowly, and that’s the key word, humans will transition to plant based foods as substitutes for meat. It may take many generations but I believe it will happen. I still eat meat on occasion but not as much as when I was younger. We now eat Beyond Burgers patties from Costco when we barbecue and we really can’t tell much of a difference between them and a meat hamburger. As science progresses, and they focus on human taste, they will eventually be able to replicate most meat flavors almost exactly. If we don’t have to kill animals to survive or keep them from starving to death in the wild, why should we? The trend is already happening. The companies who own Beyond Meat and Impossible foods are currently 2 of the the hottest stocks in the stock market because the money people see the trend and the financial writing on the wall. I think a vast majority of people would chose plant based substitutes over real meats IF, and only IF, the taste and price are the same, or maybe I’m being naive. One can hope.
” I think a vast majority of people would chose plant based substitutes over real meats…”
Speak for yourself. I hope you enjoy your chemical meat substitute and a life devoid of real protein, fats and the vital amino acids. See you in the T2 diabetes line.
RG DeSoto
There will always be some who chose not to evolve. I embrace science rather than condemn it. Eating animals has it’s share of health problems as well. Go ahead and clog those arteries and live a happy life. Each to their own, as I always say.
Vegan advocates like Leo of Lihue MIGHT be more believable if they didn’t plagiarize a form letter. (Do a search on “On the long road to end all oppression” to see over 250 results.) HOW can dozens of people, across the country compose the same,exact “letter” to the editor? How can a RESPONSIBLE news media not notice this?