The Honour Is Entirely Mine

Me with my Grandfather

Back in October of 2008, my Grandmother, sadly, passed away, after a rather nasty, not to mention, lengthy fight with Alzheimer’s Disease. And, in response to that loss, I wrote a piece, titled The World Has One Less Hero. And as much as it pains me to write this, this has to be done. The world is, now, two down. This past Sunday night my Grandfather passed.

First, speaking of my Grandmother, what struck me as so remarkable about her service, in particular, was, following the proceedings, I was approached by a few members of my extended family, with comments on how amazed they were I addressed her being Deaf. For they never considered that fact much. And while, at first, I wasn’t quite sure where those comments sat with me, upon further analysis, it was so true. They were a part of our family first. Everything else was just second, if not, third nature. Or, better still, how they happened to differ wasn’t anything our family spent time thinking about. Signing was as natural as talking. The world should be so lucky…

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‘THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it’

Earlier this week, Professor Francione, outlined an intriguing premise on his website: Our Virtual Billboard: “THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it.” Which reads, in part;

“In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a billboard placed in Times Square. It read: “WAR IS OVER! If you want it. Happy Christmas from John and Yoko.” I propose the following: That we flood the world with a message; that we create a virtual billboard: THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it…”

War would be over, if we wanted it. And the world would be vegan, if we wanted it. We hold the power to change. So the question is, quite simply, will we change?

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‘Use Is Abuse’

Karol Orzechowski of Animal Voices just posted an extremely valuable short film, via Vimeo, titled Field Trip. It’s a relatively benign — and don’t let my characterization mislead you, I think it’s very powerful, too — look into The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, specifically, and the animal user industry, as a whole, in general.

I’m not sure what you’ll get out of it, its effect is wholly dependant on your interpretation, but I was left saddened. For the animals, obviously, but the children, as well. They have no idea they’re being misled, not to mention, severely indoctrinated, through a first hand look into some horribly problematic practices, sure, but the information they’re receiving isn’t exactly the entire truth.

Mary Martin said it all;

“… [T]here are no graphic images of suffering similar to those in, say, Earthlings. However, for me, the images are in a way just as powerful because they demonstrate that use is abuse…” ((via her blog post @Animal Person))

And, just to “reiterate” something else Mary said — in that same post — “The site for the film is here, and [it] includes thought-provoking photos, as well…”