Anti Hunting and Trapping Education Workshop
To be an animal rights activist
At the grocery store we see all kinds of plastic wrapped meat. Beef, poultry, pork, fish all abound for us to choose from. Several generations of shoppers that have been removed from the "where does it come from "reality"". Years ago butchering animals was a daily and essential thing to do by the family or members of the family and all the members knowing exactly what was done to procure the meat they were eating. Today we have just a select few workers that do this for us. This has removed most of us from the slaughtering process. "Slaughtering" a simple word that means butchering an animal that has negative meaning for a large portion of our society. This has happened because through the print and video media of news that have used a secondary meaning of the word. Like for instance "the slaughtering of people in xxx country". The primary definition of slaughtering involves killing, skinning, debowling, cutting up, deboneing an animal in preparation for eating.
What has happened is that we have large population centers (about half the population) that don't have to deal with it and even though they eat meat, they find discussing butchering it detestable. They have forced themselves from the reality of it. What has happened is that we now have a large voting share of "city dwellers" that can be controlled by confronting them with shock tactics by some well intended animal rights groups. One such group this past Christmas was in San Francisco protesting trapping of furbearers. One held up a sign with the skinned carcass of an animal. This is what happens to animals harvested for this purpose but most people don't think about it. The shock value to uneducated (uneducated in "reality" that is) people is effective. "That's terrible, poor little creature killed and skinned for the fur." Is it? "That's terrible, poor little creature killed, skinned, cut up and wrapped in plastic at the supermarket." Is it? "But the poor thing was caught in a trap then killed by shooting it in the head and skinned so some one could wear it." Yes it was. "But the poor thing was prodded and herded down a path way filled with urine, feces, and muck to the killing room then hung up washed, skinned and then butchered so someone can eat it." Yes it was. It is sad to see that many want to close the eyes and mind to the death around us rather than to open the eyes and mind in respect of death and to those animals that die.
Why has a lot of the population lost the respect of death, closed the eyes to it, and lost the respect of the animals that die to feed them? Is it because we have learned to fear death rather than to embrace it as a part of our lives? The movies have taught us to run from death. Man's fear of dying and meeting the unknown when in reality we are nothing more than another animal that will die and return to the earth as a part of it. What is wrong or what is to fear in that? When the hawk dives from the sky at the rabbit there is a brief struggle and it is all over. The hawk dines and the rabbit returns to the earth. Many humans push the struggle to live to excess creating tumoil in the inner being. Fear is born and fueled by fear around them. Fear pushes them from reality. Reality is that humans are predator and eat meat. Being removed from the reality induces more fear when they are confronted with it. They in turn will become intolerant of those that are in touch with reality. Intolerance breeds hate and violence. Those in touch with reality become hated by those out of touch. Its all fear. To fight fear takes education and persuasion. They need to be educated then persuaded to use that education. It is like the little boy that will not go in the dark closet. First you need to educate him that there is not anything in there that will hurt him then you need to persuade him to use what he has learned to go into the closet without fear.
Part of our reality is that we are an integral part of the animal kingdom. We are an integral part of maintaining its balance. We came to be part of it from our appearance on the earth years ago. We came from catching wild prey by hand to using tools to using our modern tools today. We have learned to farm our prey also. The farm animals we see in the grocery store are prey also. It matters not that we raised them in captivity. There is no difference in killing an animal in the wild by hunting or trapping it than killing an animal by farming it, holding it in a pen(trap) and killing it. Both are processed for food and clothing. If you eat a burger or fish and chips or pizza with pepperoni it is no different from another person that is eating a venison steak or muskrat pie. If you happen to be a vegetarian that is your choice just as it is a choice of the meat eater. If you want to wear only synthetics that come from nonrenewable sources like petroleum that is your choice. It still pollutes like other industries (leather manufacture). If you want to wear only natural fiber products there is still pollution from the herbicides and pesticides of farming it and from the power usage to manufacture it. All this pollution causes animals to suffer and die.
So if you want to join an animal rights group and protest against those that are hunting and trapping there are certain things you must give up so as not to be a hypocrit. Give up owning and driving a car, give up wearing clothes, quit eating(unless you grow everything naturally and buy no commercial seeds,even those organic for they are packaged using paper that is processed and trucked), No toilet paper, no toilets, television, music, anything and everything that was manufactured. But don't we need those things? No we don't. They are not necessary for us to have life except the eating of food. Everything that we are involved in causes pain, suffering, and death to animals.
There is not any person alive that can be free of the guilt. You can free yourself of the guilt by acceptance and doing positive things to co-exist properly within our world and with one another.
So what is to be done?
Page 2 Killing
For a Look at Reasons Why it is so very important to accept mans role as a conscientious predator. Read Reasons Why
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