by Jason on March 22, 2010
Sir Fartsalot sent me a CNN piece on vegan activism, and I’ve got mixed emotions. In years past, part of me would have gotten excited about seeing the V word discussed in just about any context, but the online news world has gotten to a point where the Beast Must Be Fed on a minute-by-minute basis and reporting doesn’t necessarily mean that something’s newsworthy; just that it’s something that someone managed to string a few hundred words together on.
(And yes, all you haters from CNN reading this, and I know your opinion of me because I’m not mentioned in your article, I’m aware that I’m doing the exact same thing right now. I can get away with saying I’m being ironic because neither of us really knows what that means anymore.)
Anyway, it wasn’t a total loss. I found out about the Vegan Avengers, who seem to have only made one appearance so far, but that might not be a bad thing:
I submit this as proof that the Big Book of Activism Ideas is not full, though the internet might be: Google is showing 223,000 results for how to make fake testicles. Going on a “if people are writing, people must be searching” basis (please don’t burst my blogger’s bubble by suggesting nobody is actually reading,) what if we could convert just 5% of the fake testicle searchers over to activism? What if?
And just to prove I am the grandfather of vegan testicular activism, because my business cards that say such things are on back order, I submit to you my post from November 2001. Cutting edge journalism at the time, but now probably on the home page of CNN.
Question of the day: what would you do (or, for some of you, what wouldn’t you do) with an oversized pair of fake testicles?
OK, cutting the rambly 5 paragraph rant I just wrote to bring you these histroical tidbits: here’s JackieD‘s submission about chemical residues in beef that we don’t really know a lot about, because the USDA had some kind of pre-mad cow “don’t ask, don’t tell; it’s really expensive to look for this stuff” policy back in the day. Yes, I said pre-mad cow; the article was from 1983. I thought it was fascinating until I saw the date, then I put it back on the shelf. The next day, Kirk sent in an amusing piece about poopy poultry products. This one was also fascinating, but from 5 years ago. Then I got to thinking.
The news covered two different topics (residue versus feces, beef versus poultry), but if somehow I were to focus on even one subject and graph it out over time, I suspect I’d be like the kid in class making sailboats on the multiple choice checkboxes, except mine would look like sad faces. The main takeaway isn’t one of bleakness and despair, but more of acknowledgement: most people (Americans, in this case) don’t really care what they’re eating and what it’s doing to their bodies, and the longer this goes on, the stronger the “people have been doing this forever” argument gets. Is the “health argument” dead, or is it still effective as a conversation starter?
by Jason on April 24, 2007
While I enjoy The Colbert Report when I see it, it’s not something I typically go out of my way to watch. That said, when Ange sent me a link to this piece about bovine growth hormone, it occurred to me that instead of merely watching the show, I should study it as part of an official curriculum in activism and marketing. How is it that the AR side, with a few exceptions, is still basically showing the same slideshow of slaughterhouse footage while a show like The Colbert Report can make something like this just to get a few laughs for 3 minutes and then it’s never to be seen again (interweb notwithstanding)?
by Jason on February 26, 2007
This might be of interest to some of you: Google’s finance section is including blog posts in the company reports. It’s rotated off of this page already, but a VP post from last week about union troubles was listed on Saturday. Could this be a way to reach a new audience?
by Jason on January 9, 2007
New Yorkers take note – LOHV NYC has posted their 2006 City Council Humane Scorecard which ranks the 51 members of the NYC City Council on their initiatives to protect animals. While several councillors did OK with an average score of 38 out of 50, Speaker Christine Quinn got a big fat zero, despite claiming to be “a staunch advocate for animal rights” in a recent newsletter to constituents. Toronto’s pretty cool and all, but I can’t imagine something like this getting any traction here – possibly due to the fact that our federal animal protection laws are from the 1800s. How could something like this apply in your city? Link.
by Jason on November 30, 2006
Some time ago, we heard about the Primate Freedom Project’s efforts to establish an animal cruelty museum where the interaction of humans and animals could be explored, but the coolest part of the concept was the location: right between two primate research centres. So, if you’re a university who owns two primate labs and you’re about to be confronted by an actual building instead of the occasional group of protesters, what do you do? Why, try to steal the building out from under them, of course! As veganicat reports, the Primate Freedom Project had to go to court to defend its contract with the current owner of the building after the University of Wisconsin-Madison offered a much higher price to secure their neighbourhood. The school had several chances to buy the building in the past, but never liked the price, until, of course, an AR group put in a bid, at which point the university was willing to offer $325,000 more than the current offer. The law actually came up on the side of AR this time, and the PFP’s offer still stands. I can’t wait to see what the PFP gets as a housewarming present… Link.
by Jason on November 17, 2006
kunsjoi sent in word of a new vegan restaurant in Arkansas. Normally I don’t post reports of individual restaurants, because there are more and more showing up every day (although it’s always so cute how the press reacts to them), but this one’s worth noting – not only is it possibly the only vegan restaurant in the whole state of Arkansas, but it’s also in the town of Decatur, population 1,300. Of those 1,300 potential customers, about 1,000 of the residents are employed by the local chicken processor. Who says vegans don’t enjoy a challenge? Link.
by Jason on November 9, 2006
The Fast Food Nation people have teamed up with the Meatrix people and now they’ve had a baby! Backwards Hamburger is the latest video to join the awareness through animation revolution, and it’s pretty good, in that it doesn’t suggest that some animal products are more OK than others and they’ve got a dog pooping in reverse, which is something that was sorely lacking online. Er, maybe that last thought was just me. The Fast Food Nation movie comes out November 17, and I’m waiting for information on where it’s playing in Toronto so I can arrange some kind of meet up. This movie has the potential to be “Babe for grown ups,” and while it might not turn everyone into vegans, it might make a dent in the bottom lines of fast food companies. Link.
by Jason on October 31, 2006
Horror writer David Agranoff has a new book of short stories out that deal with themes of environmental destruction. As David says, “in the last couple years I started to take seriously the talent I had for crafting stories. Most important I realized that it was a way to take the message to people who might not look at a Why Vegan or watch Meat Your Meat.” Plus hooking omnis with promises of porn has already been done. The book’s vrey affordable, and proceeds will benefit California animal sanctuary Animal Acres. You can read more about Screams From a Dying World here: Link.
by Jason on October 30, 2006
Since Animals Australia wasn’t able to get several Australian magazines to run their clever ad against the pork industry, I’m repeating the main copy here, which ran in the form of a recipe: “After birth, ensure piglet’s only contact with mother is through metal bars. Within the first week of its life, surgically mutilate piglet. Snip off tail and cut eye teeth without administering pain relief. Ignore screams. Forcibly remove from mother after 3 to 4 weeks and stuff into crowded pen. Marinate indoors for entire life. Serves 4.” Kudos to mags like Woman’s Day and the Australian Women’s Weekly for having the courage to get paid to inform their readers about food production. Link.
