veganarky

Over the last few years, a ‘trend’ has emerged amongst animal activists. It seems that to be considered a ‘real’ activist, the words one uses — even the names one drops — are more important than anything else. Visible are the emergences of aspects of a boys club, a clique, even a cliché in circles of people/activists. Irrespective of whether one acts (and it seems many talking the talk do not), it is how one can express themselves in these terms that is seemingly more important. Activist cred is based on the words used, not the actions and involvement in seeking outcomes for animals. Sadly, as…

The cynicism that has to a degree quashed most of the optimism I try to have has many roots. I have been looking for hope, a reason and a means to move beyond hope. This seems a perpetual task. Sometimes it is fruitful, often it is not (perhaps caught up in my recurrent cynicism. I do so good things, though these ‘good’ things often embody some of the same old shit that the ‘bad’ is predicated on. With the Copenhagen talks going to shit — as they should given the stance of the rich (they are not ‘developed‘ — I will explain why), alongside the political shambles surrounding the proposed Emissi…

I have a utopian ideal. I am pretty certain I am not alone in this. Mine is couched, sometimes overridden, sometimes decimated, by my cynicism. I have been referred to as both cynical and jaded. I sometimes describe myself as an optimist with a health dose of cynicism. I wish there was reason to be otherwise — perhaps this is the basis for my utopianism. More times that I would like to recount in recent weeks, any utopian outlooks I have have been quashed. The current politicking about refugees is beyond description. I literally fled from Australian in the wake of the Tampa situation in 2001. …

I have followed reactions to Ruby Roth’s That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals, seeking to both gage and reflect on underlying assumptions and rationales. Some of the more recent responses, the rationales on which they are based, piqued my interest. I think I have come up with an interesting basis on which to reflect. From the number of written responses, (mis)representations, and attempts at dismissing Ruby Roth’s, there appears a common rationale. This rationale is based on rationality both in the sense that masculine rationality is the dominant western approach to epistemology and ontology — how…