(I got a little heated when writing this post and used some expletive language to emphasise my points)
Many anarchists understand that politicians and agents of the state have no legitimate right to impose their will on others and enact man-made 'laws' into legislation, but how did those anarchists reach such conclusions?
In my view, after having been a member of the freedom community for the past 6-7 years, many of the so-called freedom activists of today arrived at their conclusions through logic, rationale and a sound understanding of economics.
That's all well and good; as logic, rationale and other left-brained faculties are, of course, necessary to understand the basic tenets of individual freedom and self-ownership. But how many anarchists, in their quest for freedom, cultivated the spiritual virtues of empathy and compassion when probing into the many deceptive layers of authoritarianism and statism?
I can only speak for myself in this post, but my understanding of freedom and self-ownership stemmed from a deep hunger and yearning to understand why so many people in the world were suffering unnecessarily. Why were so many bombs being dropped on innocent civilians? Why were blatantly obvious liars, crooks and psychopaths continuously elected into positions of power and trusted with fixing the world's problems, when all they did was make matters worse (and did so with a smarmy fucking smile on their faces)? The tipping point for me was when I discovered that taxes were used to fund the wholesale murder of children -- FUCKING CHILDREN -- in faraway lands in the Middle East. This was not the fairytale I had been promised as a child; this was a fucking abomination.
It was my empathy and compassion for others, especially those innocent civilians who had been blown to pieces with my country's homemade bombs and weapons of mass destruction, that led me to the philosophy of anarchism.
"Aha!" I said to myself, "I've got the Golden ticket".
The belief in coercive authority is the leading cause of the world's problems. People have relinquished their power to politicians and surrendered their sovereignty to tyrants, forgetting that within the heart of each individual lies the key to their own salvation or damnation. WE are the ones with the power to create real, positive change in the world; not the politicians.
"The only power tyrants have, is the power relinquished to them by their victims". - Étienne de la Boétie
Taxation is theft. End the Fed. Government is a monopoly on force. Abolish the state. There's no government like no government. I reeled off the catchphrases like a true, freedom loving anarchist until I was rocked with yet another moral dilemma:
"What the fuck am I eating?"
It suddenly dawned on me, after twenty four years of eating McDonald's, KFC, Burger King and other processed, fast food GARBAGE, that I was eating the dead corpses of animals. Animals, those creatures who I had shared a sacred bond with since my earliest days of childhood.
"I love animals", I said to myself. "Why am I eating them and, in the process, funding their enslavement and slaughter? Why am I causing so much unnecessary pain to my non-human brothers and sisters?" This sudden epiphany, the realisation that I had been complicit in widespread violence against animals, was the biggest turning point in my life. Bigger than my transition to anarchism. This was something I was contributing to EVERY SINGLE DAY; my free will choice to eat animal products was facilitating mass-murder on a scale that was almost too overwhelming for me to fully comprehend.
I had pierced through the final veil of illusion, the last snare of deception and come to the understanding that my free will choice to enslave animals was the primary driving force behind all the suffering in the world.
And I did so through EMPATHY.
The logic, philosophy and rationale came a little bit later, but it was my spiritual connection to the animals and the deep love I had for these sentient beings that had initiated my transition to a plant-based, vegan lifestyle.
"Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened." - Anatole France
Many anarchists, however, approach freedom in an entirely intellectual and mechanical fashion and, in doing so, forget to see the wood through the trees and sever themselves from Cosmic Intelligence, the architect of the uni(one)verse. They fail to see the interconnectedness of all creatures, asking intellectually dumb questions (intellect is not true intelligence) like, "but if animals can't reciprocate rights, why should we even consider extending the non-aggression principle to them, and "animals kill and massacre each other in the wild, so why shouldn't we treat them the same"? These questions, of course, can be rebutted with logic and rationale but it is much easier -- and quicker -- to cultivate empathy and compassion to immediately see the insanity of even asking such questions in the first place.
Put yourself in the position of the farmed animal en-route to the slaughterhouse. Do you really think, or feel within your heart, that any cow, pig or chicken would want to endure such horror? Would you want to endure the same horror?
Imagine a technologically and intellectually advanced race landed on Earth. Imagine this 'superior' race of beings decided to enslave and capture humans for food. Not for survival, but for their own pleasure and amusement. Let us imagine that human meat was the most prized and sought after meat in the galaxy and only the most advanced alien race could sink their teeth into it. Imagine this race routinely tortured and abused you and your family -- a common practice in slaughterhouses and dairy farms -- and, despite your best efforts, had no way of escape due to their advanced technology. After enduring months and years of systematic abuse and degradation, you are murdered (or in the Alien's terms, 'slaughtered'), and then consumed by this advanced race. How would you feel?
How do the animals feel?
Thanks for reading, 'In Lakech
me for more content to come!
A plant based diet is our intended diet. Our delicate systems aren’t made to digest meats and dairy. My husband and I talk about it more and more how we are all under seige. From so many different aspects: medicines we are prescribed, food we eat, mass incarceration, etc etc. It’s grossly obvious and yet many of us seem unaware; a life of reality tv, trendy fashion and walking around overly medicated will do that to you I suppose. Anyway, I digress, animals can teach us all so much. We just need to stop and listen to what they and our planet are telling us. Thanks for sharing ✌️
Amen! That was another very awesome post!
Make sure to use meaningful file name for the pictures you upload. The reason is simple. If your file name is, "mckeever steem steemit vegan empathy 2018" google picture will find them whenever someone google these words. Soon when someone will google your nickname they will see all your post's pictures when looking at google pictures.
Thanks @teamsteem, I will be sure to do that in future posts!
Whoa, this thought never registered...many thanks @teamsteem !!! Very cool.
anarchy is only partially right because money itself is a tool for coercion... voluntaryism thriving for utopia is the only way out, even if perfection does not exist.. I blog a lot about it :)
to fix any problem, we must first understand that "following the money" can only lead to dystopia, what we now have.
Money and the ego are bed fellows
I will check out your posts. I interchange anarchy with voluntaryism; I believe a gift-based economy is the future.
that makes of you an real "earth custodian" :)
This,
"I love animals", I said to myself. "Why am I eating them and, in the process, funding their enslavement and slaughter? Why am I causing so much unnecessary pain to my non-human brothers and sisters?" This sudden epiphany, the realisation that I had been complicit in widespread violence against animals, was the biggest turning point in my life. Bigger than my transition to anarchism. This was something I was contributing to EVERY SINGLE DAY; my free will choice to eat animal products was facilitating mass-murder on a scale that was almost too overwhelming for me to fully comprehend."
This is real light switch stuff. Having sat in the same position for many years I can tell you that once you are aware there is really no other choice but to just leave them the fuck alone. I think you must be a damaged individual to actually want to pay for the pain and suffering of multiple species on this shared planet.
Great post man. Again, I wish I had a double vote for this.
although I really enjoy reading the intellectual side of the anarchy argument, the process of employing empathy is much closer to my journey as well. I happened to go vegetarian then vegan at an early age, then later extended that empathy to not violating others rights through state violence and corporately by dropping bombs, etc. I appreciate hearing that others value empathy as important as the philosophical side of anarchy.
We're on the same page :-)
Great writing. when i first became vegan there where not so many of us, but the last 5 years i´ve seen such a massive explosion in the mainstream that i wonder how anarchists or progressives have not yet seen the social and eviromental impact it has on comunitys where the forest is been cut down and used for meat production.
Animals consume one-third of the global cereal grain supply. thats not including the water for the crops and then the animals that consume these grains.
man why cant people see the connection. world hungar,war , restriction of fair food distrabution and capitalism that controls it all.
Thank you @nephta. Veganism is definitely becoming more mainstream.
I strongly feel that there is little to no chance of getting most of the people to treat their farm animals differently.
What we all can do right now at this very moment is to send our deepest Love and Blessings to all those Sentient Beings suffering. Easing their pain and taking away their FEAR will help tremendously.
Farm Animals and also the animals that are hunted for fun suffer so much and until there is a change we can all help them energetically.
I can see when Libertarianism is more widespread, and Ted Nugent takes the plunge, we'll have a 4th party.....................
You do not follow me; why do you comment on all of my recent posts with passive aggressive bullshit?
How is bringing up a point which might make someone consider something quite realistic now considered "passive aggressive bullshit" amongst libertarians? And I commented on your post because somehow it came into my "feed". If you rather not discuss what I am bringing forth, no problem buddy. Save all the drama for the ladies. Ok?
It shouldn't come into your feed if you're not following me. It's clear, from your tone in previous comments, that you're looking to troll, and I have no interest in intellectual discourse with trolls.
How in hell would I hear of your blog if it didn't come in my feed? But who cares? I have so many interesting people with whom to have good quality conversations, and help with activism centered around Adam Kokesh's campaign for noPresident 2020, why would anyone care about getting your little soft cotton panties all in a bunch? Just mute me, as I shall do with you. wow.
I can kill one cow and eat it for two years. The pesticides + harvesting of one ear of corn kills thousands of animals including reptiles, insects, worms, and rodents.
The claim that veganism is compassionate is absurd.
http://www.morehouse.edu/facstaff/nnobis/papers/Davis-LeastHarm.htm
I'm sure if an advanced alien race decided to kill you with the same logic you're using, you'd have a pretty big problem with it, no? "I can kill one human and eat it for two years". Also, do you kill the cows yourself, or do you pay for someone else to do it for you? Also, do you eat dog, cat and other animals. If not, why?
You could also make the claim that eating 1-3 large humans a year would provide you with food for a number of years; that doesn't justify the act of taking another human's life.
Veganism isn't actually about 'the greatest amount of good' or 'reducing the overall amount of suffering' (those are socialist concepts). If that was the case, we would stop lions from eating zebras in the wild, seeing as though lions cause great suffering to other animals.
Veganism is about humans allowing other animals to live in freedom. It is about all sentient beings being free from slavery. There is nothing compassionate about taking the life of a cow, when you don't need to eat said cow.
The Golden Rule applies; if you would't want an advanced alien race to butcher you, don't butcher animals.
Edit: I just saw the video you posted where you eat cow brains in public, and threaten to call the police for assault. It's clear you have some mental issues, bro. You're not well.
Its clear you have mental delusion and instilled dogma when I give you direct undeniable evidence that the "experts" who brainwashed you deliberately lied yet you refuse to look at it.
Until you build up the free will to take 10 minutes out of your day to look at some evidence then you are not worth talking to.
if there is no compassion in taking the life of a cow for 600 meals then there is definitly no compassion in taking the life of thousands of smaller animals for 10 meals at most.
I didn't listen to any 'experts' when making the transition to veganism. I made the decision through my own philosophical understanding of self-ownership and freedom, something you clearly have no understanding of given your threat to 'call the police' and cry for state-protection the moment someone laid a finger on you.
You're not going to last very long here, @milkjar.
Funny how you missed the part where the vegans called the cops on me by lying and telling them I had a knife.
As someone so concerned with self ownership and freedom, you dont seem too concerned with the fact I had my property destroyed, and had people aggressively lay their hands on me. Simply for holding a sign and eating my lunch.
You arent concerned with freedom, you are concerned with pushing your toxic lies on the world. If freedom doesnt include the right to eat your lunch and hold a sign in public then I dont know what freedom is.
Enjoy your soy, one plant of which kills thousands of animals. Make sure to have a nice side of moral superiority along with it, thats the most delicious part.
Oh yeah, almost forgot
soyboy
https://dustinsview.com/all/beyond-vegetarian-one-mans-journey-from-tofu-to-tallow-in-search-of-the-moral-meal-interview/
Do you consider your life to be of the same worth as a cow, or a chicken? or your children's lives, if you have any?
@milkjar is raising a very valid point here that I think you need to take more time to consider.
Animals have coexisted with humans for thousands of years. You do not have to eat their flesh, for instance eggs are an extraordinary source of A,D,E, K2 and healthy brain fats. Butter from grass fed cows is an amazing source of nutrients that you cannot get from plant foods.
Most vegans rely on store bought produce, maybe you grow all f your own food somehow without the help of nutrients that animals provide to soils, but most vegans buy from giant farms that are destroying the planet faster than any animal industry. I don't agree with mono culture of any species, but small scale traditional farms are what has fed the world throughout history, and people are bringing back these techniques to combat mono culture corporate farms.
If you respond without even considering the above article by a former vegan, much like myself, I will not engage any further and leave you to your own devises. The whole point of posting articles is to engage in healthy discussion, it is obvious that from previous comments you are too sensitive to keep discussions healthy and meaningful.
I have no problem with freegans or people who eat road kill; the issue is whether you, as an individual, violated the life of another animal - not the meat eating itself.
"Most vegans buy from giant farms that are destroying the planet faster than any animal industry." Growing plant-based foods is not destroying the planet faster than any animal industry. Not only are hundreds of billions of animals reared and executed in the animal agriculture industry, but those animals are fed plants and grains. To breed, rear, feed and execute animals (hundreds of billions each year) is not as destructive as solely growing plants, for obvious reasons.
I have no problem with humans and animals living in symbiosis; in fact that's what I advocate. Some farmers in India live side by side with their cows and treat them with the utmost compassion. I have no problem with anyone drinking milk so long as the animal is treated with compassion and his consent is not being violated.
The author of that article now executes animals (unnecessary), when he could survive and thrive eating locally grown plant-based foods. To claim that you can 'love' an animal and then go on to take that animal's life against his will is a contradiction. There is no compassionate way to take the life of another animal that wants to live.
I'm no expert in farming, but there are a growing numbers of sustainable alternatives that don't involve the needless slaughter of animals. https://www.viva.org.uk/what-we-do/vegan-farming
The argument that 'one cow can feed me for years' is morally inconsistent with the golden rule. I ask you: If an advanced race of beings decided to rear human beings for food, with the same argument you just presented to me, would you be OK with it, or would you fight for your life? What if you were just the 'one human' the aliens wanted to kill. Would you offer yourself as a sacrifice?
The golden rule is the one consistent moral rule: Do not do to others what you would not want to be done to you. The cows that that man executed wanted to live. He killed them unnecessarily.
I will not be responding to milkjar because he is a notorious troll and thinks it's amusing to eat raw cow brains at vegan demonstrations. Fuck him.
Edit: Many of the points in that article were centred on personal health, and it's clear the author originally adopted a vegetarian diet for health reasons. If you want to put poison into your body, that's your choice. I have no real interest in the health side of things.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lqkBX2oGWOw
Do you protest wolves for eating their prey. Have you ever witnessed animal sacrifices in nature? I assure you our animals are very unconscious instantly they feel no pain, much less horrific than what a pack of wolves will do to a cow.
I've visited ecovillages around the country and for the most part, these villages are adopting aquaponics(fish agriculture), raising chickens, goats etc. As a means to survive, these communities have to incorporate some sort of animal husbandry to keep their plants growing, and to be sustainable. I've taken a permaculture course through regenerative.com..I love permies, and there are a lot of vegans in that community, but they are moving further and further away from veganism as a means of being more sustainable. There is insurmountable input associated with farming and harvesting perennial vegetable crops, and the labour it would take to feed a community would not be productive enough to feed that community. Coupled with the tooth decay, infertility, brain fog, anxiety, depression, etc etc etc that are associated with vegan and vegetarian diets.
I agree milkjar is a troll, I only visited her page for a moment, saw she is feminist, that's all I need to know LOL! Good luck with your veganism...ill be over here eating raw egg yolk raw milk kefir smoothies and raw butter on the daily to keep my higher functioning brain fed :) yes I believe I'm a higher functioning being than a cow, chicken, goat, etc. You haven't spent any time dealing with animals if you see yourself as equal to a chicken
Did you read the article? I already addressed the "but animals massacre and kill each other in the wild, why can't we do the same" argument. If you haven't read the article in full, why should I bother responding to your comments?
Human beings have moral agency and therefore it is incumbent upon us to live to a higher standard of ethics.
You kill animals unnecessarily, falsely assume I equate human life to animal life, and make unfounded claims about vegans and mental health and how you need to drink milk for brain health.
If you wouldn't want a higher race of beings to slaughter you for food, do not do it to the animals.