The Animal Person Minute: On Internet Debates

Disclaimer: I haven’t been to a McDonald’s in years.

Today’s photo is of my husband Dave, on the left, and his brother Joth getting french fries at the McDonald’s in Asheville across from the Biltmore. At about 11 pm, after 6 hours at our family wedding and not eating anything (it wasn’t exactly a vegan friendly affair), and after having dropped off 40 people at their hotel, it was Dave, Joth and I in our very own tour bus with our very own, very accommodating tour guide/bus driver. Mickey Dees was closed, so Dave and Joth walked in the back door into the kitchen and promptly asked for three orders of large fries.

Upon being told they had to use the drive through, which was impossible with the behemoth tour bus, they walked through the drive through and here they are paying.

Those fries were the best I’ve had in years and if they were fried in greyhound oil I don’t want to know.

Today’s topic is two interesting discussions that have nothing to do with me that you might want to join. I’ve already mentioned the one at Grist regarding Alicia Silverstone’s PETA ad, and Ellie and Ruxandra have been conversing with Bruce Friedrich and some others and, man or woman, you should chime in if you think you’ve got something to add. I will forever be astonished that there is even a debate about this and some people do not see some of PETA’s ads as objectifying women, or sexist, or at the very least downright insulting, but that’s me. While you’re at the Grist site, by all means check out the discussion around, and the link to, anti-feminist bingo, which is AWESOME!

The other discussion is at a new social networking site called Rethos, which seems something like Zaadz, but a bit less spiritual maybe? I’m not sure yet. I have a Zaadz account and I must say that my experience on the site hasn’t been great. The moment I signed up I received dozens of e-mails from people who wanted me to buy their books, go to their seminars, or otherwise be involved in their thing. There’s a huge Ken Wilbur and Integral contingent, which you may or may not like. Just know it’s there. And of course, John Mackey, illustrious CEO of Whole Foods and his Flow Project are ubiquitous. Again, maybe you care, maybe you don’t.

I signed up at Rethos after Terry at Sled Dog Watch Dog told me about it, and the first thing that caught my eye was a debate called The Meat Industry and the Environment, which introduces last year’s Long Shadow study for discussion. Please note that some of the people involved in the discussion aren’t convinced that vegetarianism (let alone veganism) is the way to go and they aren’t aware of the many reasons that it might in fact be the only way to go if they believe in nonviolence. As always, be kind while you’re being informative, and keep the language simple. We are so accustomed to the lingo of our "movement" and often behave as if the entire world knows what we’re talking about or attributes the same meaning to words as we do. That is alienating to others and doesn’t help us (or the animals!). I did already inject Gary Francione into the conversation (someone recommended Peter Singer, so that tells you something about where people are coming from), but I’m sure the readership, however big or small, could use more encouragement, facts, and reasoning regarding veganism and abolition.