Seriously

Daily email conversation- it seems like I have a lot of serious ones...

My buddy forwarded me the following email, with a the following comment added:

I too did not want to watch this film. I would like to support any efforts that bring a voice to those who cannot speak or defend themselves. I would like, one day, to see the same rights extended to unborn baby humans as well. Perhaps one of them may grow up, and like you become a freedom fighter for animal/human rights as well!

This in response to the original well-intentioned citizen who writes:

I'M PASSING THIS ON AND HOPE THAT IT WILL DO SOME GOOD. I WATCHED THE VIDEO & CAN'T IMAGINE HOW THEY CAN GET A MORE PERFECT CUT THE WAY THE ANIMAL IS SQUIRMING TO GET AWAY OR IN PAIN I'M NOT SURE. IT'S JUST BAD!!
I pray that petitions like this will succeed, because if they don't, what hope is there for mankind. Oh yes, please don't forget to sign when you forward, like I did !

If you want to act, press 'forward', add your name to the bottom and send on to as many as you like;

To: all
Please sign, don't watch video its just too painful but we have to try and stop this brutality. It's about animal rights. But if you must,watch there is a link below.

I explain the process below:

With a hidden camera, animals were filmed being SKINNED ALIVE. They say it's done to get a more perfect ''cut''. Afterwards the carcasses are tossed into a pile, still alive, and for up to 10 minutes you can see their hearts still beating, in agony, their eyes still blinking, and the puppies littlepaws still shaking.

There was one pup that still lifted his head and gazed at the camera with bloodied eyes .
If you don't care to see the video, please sign and forward to your friends. This monstrosity has to be stopped, we have to act!!

Please scroll down and add your signature to the petition and send to everyone in your address book.

Do not click on the link, you have been warned - it's just too gruesome to watch.

Something needs to be done to stop it. Thanks for your support.

There is no need to see the video, but if you must, be aware, it's full of excruciating violence. Its painful silence affects us all deeply.

If we don't protect animals from this type of brutality, we become accomplices.
PETA's "Chinese Fur Farm" Webpage

When the list reaches 500 names, please forward to:
PETA2@peta.org Thank you.

I reply:

Sorry (Buddy),

You know I love you man, and I hear you about the unborn baby issue, but....

Before forwarding emails with these kinds of subjects, I would ask everyone to consider a few things:

1. How likely is is that this is real? The video is lacking context, and is possibly even an outright fabrication (as in, somebody suggested or paid for footage that is outright cruel, as opposed to normal operating procedure. I grant that it probably has some element of truth as far as animal cruelty goes, but I personally would not take ANY propaganda from PETA at face value. That organization has thrown away any credibility they may have had, and are bordering on being a terrorist organization.

If you don't believe me, do some quick google research. PETA claims to be an animal lover's organization, but it euthanizes more dogs and cats every year than all other animal control organizations combined. PETA members and the organization itself are regularly found guilty of inhumane euthanization and improper disposal of animal carcasses.

PETA encourages criminal acts on the part of extremists who damage property and harm people- it's only a matter of time until an event large enough to legitimately classify PETA as a terrorist organization impinges on the public awareness.

And anyone who has ever butchered an animal, much less skinned one, knows you don't do it while the animal is alive "to get perfect cuts": that is effing stupid. There are a few cultures in the world with remnant superstitions about (what we in the West would call) pain endorphins tenderizing and flavouring meat, especially from dogs, in my experience. Koreans and Filipinos of older generations, that I am personally aware of. This attitude is changing as cultures become more aware of prevailing attitudes towards animal cruelty in the West.

2. What is this "petition" likely to accomplish? Who are you "petitioning"? If something is wrong in the world and you perceive a duty to act, how is adding your name to an email floating around the Internet going to change the real, actual circumstance in the world?

We Americans have the right to petition for redress with our government. We have no such right with the Chinese government: hell, not even the Chinese people have that right, in practical terms. This email will bounce around the Internet until people lose interest and end up in a few thousand people's "junk mail" folder until it is deleted. There is no central person or group responsible for taking the "final" petition and presenting it to anyone. (I suppose PETA is the nominally responsible party; they want you to donate on their website. However, the Iron Law of Bureaucracy says that the goal of any organization will eventually become the survival of that organization over any notional purpose it originally had.) There is no standing for any of us to petition anyone, and it's not even sure beyond doubt that there is even an issue.

Even if it is true, do you think it will make any difference to petition the Chinese government? Aren't they likely to say "go piss up a rope" much like we do when foreigners get all holier than thou and try to tell us what to do?

If you want to make a difference in the world, the way to do it is with your time and your money. Poverty and the attendant barbaric lifestyles in the third world won't go away until they have a better alternative. Personally, I participate in a micro-loan program: http://www.kiva.org. A couple hundred bucks is not that much to me, but it's a year's income to some people, and you can open a business on it.

Civilization is a lot thinner veneer than most of you realize. I didn't until I spent significant time overseas. Don't judge people too harshly until you have seen them struggle just to get enough daily calories to keep breathing.

If the goal is just to raise awareness, I guess I can understand that, but then strip away the excess and get to the meat of the matter. If one's goal is simply to feel better about yourself as an enlightened person, then don't bother.

Feel free to forward this rant to everyone in your address book. Consider it a public service announcement, a call to direct action against spam. :)

He replies:

Hey man ur dead on! I get these dang things even though I constantly ask peole not to send them. I hate them! Especially the religious ones. The originators are simply trying to get a list of functional email accounts and who knows what else.

I am totally aware of PETA's euthanization of animals because it drains their coffers of their true purpose for propaganda. It just struck a nerve I guess.I find it all hypocritical. We seem to have placed so much more value and sanctity on animals and nature (Pantheism) than on humans, which to me is a good barometer of us as a people! As a Christian, no claims of being perfect, but as such, I struggle and contend to view the world from the prism of God's word, which through personal experiences and much study,have come to accept as holy.

In doing so, I see why man is in many of the predicaments we find ourselves in. I am not trying to proselytize you, only explaining my position. We are dysfuctional from birth. The problems we face were never God's intentions but man has chosen his own course and receives his proper earned wages as the fruits of his labors.
I know you have many rebuttals to this and truthfully I have always liked that about you Larry, you are not a yes man and I think God desires that quality in people most!

John 3:3(Amplified bible)
Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.

(O.K.,now i'm prostylitizing.):D

Me again:

I'm with you buddy. The perfectability of man is a communist doctrine, it's the underlying assumption that allows them to make decisions for you even when you disagree.

Your Christian ethos of original sin doesn't match up exactly with mine: I don't say that we are born flawed in the sense of being broken, but I don't believe in perfection; perfection would require an unchanging circumstance, as perfection in one situation is by definition imperfect in other situations. I would also say we are not born dysfunctional- (that's a judgement that we are functioning improperly) but that we are born incomplete, and we grow and develop into our final selves through the choices we make.