I believe

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog once again. I thought now would be a good time to share with you some of my closely held beliefs. I believe that a dozen affirmations will never outweigh the initial disdain, that's what therapy is for. I believe that time doesn't heal all wounds, it simply places the pain in cold storage until a more inconvenient time. I believe that SimCity is a gate way drug leading eventually to much harder substances, like World of Warcraft, think about it. I believe all we need is love...and food. I believe worse things happen at sea. I believe that meat is murder, tasty, tasty murder. I believe in magic and unicorns and fairies and whatever else makes my god daughter smile. I believe that experience is the best teacher but the courses are often too expensive. I believe there are people who genuinely don't want you to be happy, they work in banks. I believe my goldfish are the best pets in the world, they live outside and are almost completely self sufficient. I believe ma-ti was useless as a planeteer and panthro didn't have to be blue. I believe a society, such as ours, so steeped in celebrity and the pursuit thereof is bound to breed disillusionment and despair. I believe ken lee is an instant classic.

-peace-

originally posted on 'organised chaos' 3rd september 2008

on speciesism

Definition of Speciesism: Giving moral preference to the interests of members of one's own species, over identical interests of members of a different species, solely because it is a member of your species.

I really, really want to write something witty about this. I would like to know if Mr. Singer ever came across a sleuth of grizzlies debating over the social mores surrounding the tearing off of human faces. or, perhaps a pride of lions deliberating over whether or not their survival warranted their treatment of the slow antelope or wildebeest.

my point being that it is perfectly natural and acceptable to give preference to the interests of members of one's own species. it's called nature. I'm not saying cruelty to animals is justifiable, in fact, I am strongly against it. but I do believe that humane treatment of other species is a measure of our own humanity not a reflection on the value of the creature in question.

our power over the other sentient beings on this planet (by means of force and/or intellect) is without question. our power over ourselves, exhibited through compassion, kindness and self control....this is where the true battle lies.

for fox sake

fox hunting, contentious non-issue that it is, has raised it's ravaged and hotly debated head once more. so let's pretend, like anyone else caught up in this 'controversy', that there isn't a worldwide economic disaster in progress, that carbon emissions (and general environmental negligence) from both developing and developed nations alike isn't hastening a crisis the likes of which the future will forever be ill-equipped to deal with. we can even go so far as to put aside the increasing danger we all live under due to ever growing nuclear proliferation in nations better known for their belligerence and paranoia than anything else and not to mention the looming menace of a nation run by a police force without ethics, boundaries or conscience.

so let's talk about fox hunting. but first, let's not talk about tens of thousands of children dying for a chance to live. let's bypass the less than noble wars raging across the globe by less than noble men for less than noble reasons. let us opt to not acknowledge the poverty of spirit which breeds oppression, the poverty of mind bearing the fruit of ignorance and hatred, and the poverty of soul giving rise to murder, that plagues humanity.

fox hunting. that's what we should be talking about. fox hunting.