Ignorance

Another Pointless Debate

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Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook

Chris Delforce from Aussie Farms has stamped his foot like a spoilt toddler, and demanded that Katrina Hodgkinson, New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries, and Steve Coleman, RSPCA NSW CEO, face off against him in a public debate.
Would a debate, public or otherwise, advance the cause for equal consideration for other animals, obtain some sort of justice for pigs/other animals in general, or allow the challenger to increase his unwarranted 15 minutes of fame?
Cameron Blewett thinks it is the latter, and that he is still doing more harm than good, and explains why.

Carrying On Like A Spoilt Child

There is no denying that what was exposed at Wally’s Piggery was atrocious, and the maturity of the movement can be measured by the way that it responds to this set back. A movement that has a matured understands that there will be ups and downs with progress towards equal consideration for other animals.

Except that hasn’t happened in this case. Instead, the movement, and those who want to be leaders of it, are stomping their feet carrying on like spoilt little children. The protests and theatrics of the past weekend are indicative of this.

I’m not really sure if this behaviour is because they were told no, or that the pride and ego of some has been damaged by the dropping of the charges or a combination of both.

One thing is for sure, that these people have now made it about them, rather than what has happened.

Biosecurity Misunderstanding

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Hunters Are Bloodthirsty Barbaric Cowards

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Hunters Are Bloodthirsty Barbaric Cowards

Hunters Are Bloodthirsty Barbaric CowardsThese are the words spoken by self proclaimed animal liberationist Felicity Anderson when she appeared on a recent episode of SBS’ Living With The Enemy. These words have also been echoed by a number of other vegans claiming that hunters will never go vegan.

I wonder if any of those people have stopped to consider how close to the truth are those comments really are?

If the comments are just sweeping generalisations, is any consideration paid to the damage both to the movement and to other activists that they may be causing?

Are Hunters Bloodthirsty?

Having been a hunter for a number of years before and after turning vegan, I can tell you that the majority of people who hunt actually aren’t bloodthirsty monsters.

Sure there may be a few who enjoy and participate in hunting because they view it as a blood sport, though in my experience they are in the minority.

This would be the same as saying that all vegans are left winged misanthropic hippies who are out of touch with reality.

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“Ag-Gag”: Scaremongering or Legitimate Concerns

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Ag-gag. Scaremongering or legitimate concern
Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A little over two months ago I wrote a piece saying that as far as I was concerned, I believed that so-called ‘ag-gag’ laws would be the best thing that could happen to the animal advocacy movement as it would change the focus from treatment to use of other animals.

Since then, more and more ‘animal advocates’ have started to fly the anti ‘ag-gag’ flag.

Even though they are starting to sound like chicken little with their endless preaching of doom and gloom the reality of things is more then a little different to what we are being told.

Sure the media and politicians are branding talk of draft bills as ag-gag, though that hardly means that they are. We all know that sensationalism is what the media thrives on, and politicians only respond to that which will get them votes and time in the media.

That being said, and understanding that both sides will say whatever will get them the most publicity, it is time to sort out fact from fiction

Activists Are Not A Law Unto Themselves.

First and foremost, we need to realise that those new laws have come about because ‘activists’ are ignoring the laws that we currently have.

Despite whatever altruistic reasons are being given for breaking the law, the law is still broken.

If these people are willing to break the law with trespass and property damage to get incriminating evidence, where will they draw the line?

On the other side of the coin, seeing as digital piracy is another issue that is gaining attention, I am sure that these activists wouldn’t mind if a farmer broke in a placed a camera above the area where they use their computer to ensure that have purchased the correct licenses for the software they are using.

After all, fair is fair.

Disregard For Animal Safety

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Animals On Show

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Please indulge me with this hypothetical for a moment.

Let’s say that the time is 50,60 or even 100 years ago.

The female human is thought of as an object that the males of the species can do with as he wants.

Females are readily kept in cages, denied access to education, socialisation and forced to perform tasks against they wouldn’t normally do through behaviour modification.

Let’s also say that there is a growing movement that wants females to be treated and considered as equals.

How would they go about achieving this?

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The Speciesist Nature Of Animal Advocacy

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3345Have you noticed how it is becoming more and more popular and acceptable to ‘advocate’ for a particular animal at the expense of another?

We see it most weekends at our local supermarkets/hardware store where a Save The ‘X’ group is having a sausage sizzle to raise funds for their designated animal.

Unfortunately for the animals, these types of campaigns aren’t only reserved for those ‘small’ groups that don’t know any better.

Animals Australia does it with their Make It Possible campaign, and their continual focus on land based food animals who are kept in factory farms, show total disregard for those animals raised for research or aquatic animals raised in aquaculture.

The Animal Liberation franchise does it in nearly everything that they do.

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Following The ‘Fruit Bat’ Sh*T Crazy

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With a number of vegans being concerned about the ‘damage’ that former vegan foodies are doing to the cause, very little attention is paid to those current ‘personalities’ who are possibly doing it even more harm.

A number of these vegans come to mind (and I do use the term vegan loosely as I think they are more focused on a plant based diet) unfortunately the worst by far happen to be Australian.

That’s right folks, I am talking about Leanne Bell(?) Ratcliffe and Harley Johnstone otherwise known as Freelee and Durian Rider.

Are they really vegan?

While it is easy for someone to throw on a t-shirt with a catchy slogan and talk about plant based foods, does that really make them a vegan?

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Once Again Sam, You’ve Got It Wrong

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Cameron, author of AusVegan.com.au with Holly from Farm Animal Rescue
Cameron, author of AusVegan.com.au with Holly from Farm Animal Rescue

I never thought I would see the day where I actually agreed with something that Sam Trethewey says when he is bagging out animal ‘activists’ and vegans, though that is exactly what has happened with his latest article, Pulped fiction hurts farmers.

Just like Mr Trethewey, I too find it sad when people make decisions about what to eat or not to eat based on assumptions or skewed information about agricultural production. And, It’s hard for people to determine the difference between information that is universally true and that which confirms their bias or values – but even with that in mind, it must take a brain devoid of inquisitiveness to shift ingrained behaviour like eating habits to suit a belief based on misinformation and no personal experience.

Though that is about all where I can agree with him.

In his scathing attack on Sam de Brito’s, Confessions of a vegan, Trethewey is just guilty of the exact same level of self righteousness and ignorance that he has levelled at de Brito.

As much as Mr Trethewey would like to deny it, ALL animal ‘farming’ in Australia is factory farming. It is just that some is more ‘intensive’ than others.

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