IM: WHUSDJ
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Word and Music
Well hello there!
This week on The Politics of Singing, I’m talking about animal rights. I happen to be vegetarian, but I don’t expect everyone else to be. However, I would like to provide some facts about animal cruelty so that you carnivores can think about your consumption choices (perhaps switch to free-range and organic meat and dairy products?). I’ll be playing folk, rock, and punk songs about animal cruelty on the show, and I’ll also play a few songs that poke fun at vegetarians, just to prove I don’t take myself too seriously and I don’t hate meat-eaters.
Let me begin by providing some facts about health issues:
- a 1961 article in The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a vegetarian diet could prevent 90’97% of heart disease cases
- studies reveal 59% less cancer among people who occasionally eat small amounts of meat, compared to average meat-eaters
- the kidneys of a meat-eater must work three times harder than the kidneys of a vegetarian
- studies show that vegetarians are stronger, more agile, have greater endurance, and recover from fatigue faster than meat-eaters
exhibit A: vegan congressman and Keebler elf look-alike Dennis Kucinich with his “hot” younger wife (it must be the veganism, ‘cause he sure ain’t rich)
Why do those crazy vegans always say “meat is murder and dairy is rape”?
“Cows raised for their milk are repeatedly impregnated. Their babies are taken away so that humans can drink the milk intended for the calves. When their exhausted bodies can no longer provide enough milk, they are sent to slaughter and ground up for hamburgers. Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do: to nourish their babies. In order to force the animals to continue giving milk, factory farmers impregnate them using artificial insemination every year. Calves are generally taken from their mothers within a day of being born—males are destined for veal crates, and females are sentenced to the same fate as their mothers.”
Read the full article here.
Facts about animal cruelty:
Factory farms give chickens less than half a square foot of space each, the chickens are kept in confinement and have their beaks cut off, without anaesthesia, so that they cannot kill each other due to the stress of being packed into warehouses.
In slaughterhouses, fully conscious chickens are hung from their feet from shackles, moving on a rail. Their heads are submerged in a tank of electrified water, which immobilizes but does not kill them. Their throats are then slashed by a mechanical blade, which ends up missing some birds (millions per year). They are then boiled alive.
Factory farms brand young cattle with hot irons, rip their testicles out of their scrotums, and cut of burn their horns off. They are then packed onto vast acres of mud and fed grains that their bodies were not meant to consume. I used to live in California, where you can drive down the I-5 in the southern part of the state and see acres upon acres of cattle with barely any room to move, standing in their own feces.
(Read about how smart cows are here)
11 more facts about animal cruelty
Investigation into suppliers for KFC
Ever snapped into a slim jim? Ever read the ingredients? This is what “mechanically separated” chicken is.
One of the many environmental costs of the meat industry.
Fact: animals feel pain and have emotions. ‘nuff said.
Recommended films on the subject: Food Inc., Fast Food Nation, Forks Over Knives
Recommended books on the subject: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, The Food Revolution by John Robbins, Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Erik Marcus, Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry by Gail Eisintz, Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs by Karen Davis
A few of my favorite quotes about vegetarianism:
“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.” -Leo Tolstoy
“Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.” -Leonardo da Vinci
“We all love animals. Why do we call some ‘pets’ and others ‘dinner’?”– k.d. lang
"If slaughter houses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian" - Sir Paul McCartney
“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.” -Albert Schweitzer
Lyrics to a great song by All or Nothing HC, called All or Nothing!
Talk about human rights
It’s all or nothing for me
Talk about peace
It’s all or nothing for me
Talk about women’s rights
It’s all or nothing for me
Talk about animal rights
It’s all or nothing for me
There are many times
You’ll be called to stand up
For what you really believe
You’ll need some backbone to go against the grain
Being different isn’t always easy
Talk about human rights
It’s all or nothing for me
Talk about peace
It’s all or nothing for me
What have we done today, to match our walk to our talk?
Will we practice what we preach?
Will we live on our feet or die on our knees?
Talk about human rights
It’s all or nothing for me
Talk about peace
It’s all or nothing for me
Talk about women’s rights
It’s all or nothing for me
Talk about animal rights
It’s all or nothing for me
If every enlightened person
Does one thing each day to stand up to injustice…
We can change the earth
We can change lives
We can change the future!!!