I have firm political views, which boil down to some simple fundamentals, based on all the good stuff - equality, respect, compassion, yada yada. I may not believe in sky fairies, but I'm not gonna have a cow about others doing so, as long as they don't use it as an excuse to avoid equality, respect, compassion etc. I'm also quite the pacifist; and would happily serve jail time rather than fight for some notional nation, religion or a barrel of black gold. Killing folk isn't right. Ever. So that's me.
As for the environment - well, I take a logical approach. Don't use so much you can't put back etc. But I'm not going to fret about how pretty a hillside is. Most hillsides in the UK are man-made landscapes anyway. And I kinda like looking at pearly white windmills.
When it comes to other animals, I guess I get a bit more pragmatic. I'm an enthusiastic omnivore, probably cos I was a fussy kid and I'm now making up for lost time. I'm sceptical of arbitrary notions of what is and isn't deemed edible. If it's poisonous or just tastes damn nasty, don't eat it. But I'm not going to complain about people eating dogs any more than I'd want folk to hate me for eating pigs. Both are intelligent. Both may well taste good. I can only speak for pork, so far. But I'm not done travelling yet.
Like I said, we're diverse, right? Get over it.
So what about other ways to use or abuse animals? I grew up on a farm till I was 11, and my maternal ancestors had been farm labourers for generations. My Grandad looked after a prize Jersey herd. My Grandma was a big influence, and she always treated her pets like, well, animals. Mick spent his daytimes chained to his kennel. Various cats came and went. They were all good companions, but never really fussed over. My cousins had a turkey farm, so I know what's it's like when killing time comes around. Deafening.
As adults, we've had a bunch of pets - Albert, Elsie, Steve, Derek. The latter two both met grisly ends on the main road. While they were kinda considered family members, it wasn't real. They amused us. But they were just living possessions. We don't mourn them like we would children. That would be insane.
So what about using animals for entertainment? It was the Grand National yesterday, and plenty of Brits get hung up about the poor horses. Can't say I do. It's an exciting event. I've eaten horse. Often. I like it a lot. Not much meat on a steeplechaser though.
Last Monday, I went to a bullfight in Arles, Southern France. Six bulls died, and were dragged bleeding from the grand Roman arena. Am I concerned? How does a pacifist deal with this? The answer is, frankly, that it all seems quite insignificant.
La Corrida was spectacular. Amazing horsemanship, fabulous entertainment, a high degree of skill and no little danger to the horses and riders if they put a foot (or hoof) wrong. But obviously the bulls were all taunted, angered, worn out and ultimately killed. Even the one that "won" was quickly put out of its misery. The rojoneador couldn't make a clean kill so dismounted sharply and did the "decent thing" with a swish of cold steel. It also meant that in that case, he didn't get to throw the ears into the baying crowd. Yes, they do that. It's a thing. He also had dodgy blonde hair and looked like Paul Nicholas. The final contender found her bull less keen, but made the best of it with some fancy speed-dressage skills and some nifty knife work.
When I consider the racks of pre-packed steaks in every supermarket and hypermarket across the land I think, well, 6 bulls is hardly huge in the scheme of things. Did they suffer in the Arena? Yes. But so did all those animals in the abattoirs and warehouses across Europe, however they were killed (don't start telling me one way is better than another - they all end up dead).
Should I at least care about the suffering of animals if I can't care about killing? To be honest, this isn't a priority for me. Maybe when we stop killing humans or making them suffer for where they were born or what they think, when we stop building drones, wandering through other people's neighbourhoods in khaki and jackboots, and making up separate rules for "them" and "us", then we can start thinking about how we treat other species. For now, I enjoyed the bullfight. So I'm not going to have a cow about it.
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