The problem is as follows:
We don't see ourselves from the viewpoint of animals. If we could see what we look like, what we are, what we do, from the vantage point of the other creatures with whom we share this world, what would we see? If a monkey, or a giraffe, or a chicken, or a cow, suddenly - by some quirk of biology, became sentient, what would it see when it viewed us? Would it see what we see when we view ourselves? I doubt it. We have an all too lofty opinion of ourselves. With our art and language and science and our philosophy. We think ourselves pseudo-angels, semi-divine, rational, intelligent, smart, clever, and imaginative creatures. We are all these great things, but we are also so much less.
To see ourselves in high definition (HD) and not mere DVD - we must imagine, what we look like, to animals. We look like an upright ape that has, by way of its intellect, managed to utterly control and subordinate animals. A chicken (by way of example) is a biological entity that nature has fashioned with her claws of 'red in tooth' - and now we, yes we mankind, now fashion the chicken. We are God as far as the chicken is concerned. The chicken you eat no longer resembles the chicken of the wild. We now control every aspect of its life. It is ours. When young we give it 4 hours of darkness in every 24. This way the chicken's internally calibrated (evolved over millions of years) biological clock is tricked into thinking it is spring, and thus it eats, and eats, and eats, readying itself for summer and thence babies. And we feed it grain, high energy grain - for the chicken must eat, for it thinks (well not 'thinks' but you know what I mean) that spring is nigh, and a chicken must prepare itself for babies and motherhood. And when it is fat, so fat it can barely stand on its own two legs (and in pain too), and when it has been pumped full of antibiotics to stop the spread of infection from its unnatural existence, we kill it, and then we eat it. We eat it in the environs of a fashionable but dimly lit restaurant where classical music is piped through the airwaves and you can hear the clink of knife and fork on china plates. We eat it braised in a delicious red wine gravy sauce with side dishes of cholrophyl rich spinach and baby potatoes. It is soft and tender when you cut it with the knife, and as we eat it, as we cut away through its fibrous tendons, we sip a glass of wine, and with our dinner guests think ourselves such lofty high brow creatures. And over this delicious chicken we discuss Schopenhauer, and Mozart and contemporary linguistics theory. So intelligent. So superior. So not like animals. Yet - We Eat Animals.
We Eat Animals
We Eat Animals
We Eat Animals
We Eat Animals
We Eat Animals
We Eat Animals
When you say that a few times. It finally hits you. It hits you hard:
We Eat Animals
Because...
We Are Animals.
We Eat Animals
Cos...
We Are Animals.
We Are All of us...Animals.
We go about our lives thinking ourselves so lofty, so aloof, so noble and high-born. So Moral. So Kind. So Good.
[I laugh]
[And then I smile]
And then I see..that I have canine teeth, incisors, for tearing flesh and I sometimes fart and when I look at certain types of women (the one's I fancy) I get the urge to fuck them. Being human is so hard. There's always a conflict between our animal natures and our so called nobility and reverence. A storm constantly raging.
And as for sex! Sex is all animal. Fuck - Fuck - Fuck. We love to Fuck. We try out different positions of Fucking, and sucking, and licking and tasting, and squirting. And my gosh! How we love to Fuck! And exchange bodily fluids - no wonder the Catholic Church hates sex - No wonder all religions fear sex - for in the mirror of sex the true face of Man is revealed - in all it's shame! In all its wildness. If ever you doubt your animal truth, think about sex - think about how animalistic it is. How so inappropriate for such a lofty being!
And the worst, perhaps the most shameful word describing a quality of Man is a German word: Schadenfreude. The very worst thing in Man. Schadenfreude: taking sweet pleasure from other peoples misfortunes. Not because the unfortunate are our enemies or people we hate. Oh no! but because, to feel good about one self, to win a competition, to come first, to get a job, to be promoted, to pass an exam, to win a girl, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER WHO LOOSES...by definition. Remember that. Our fortune, our good luck, our happiness, is always, at the expense, of another not so fortunate person. It evens out in the end. There is no sum increase in happiness - just changes in distribution of happiness. The sum total of happiness has always been the same throughout history. It's the distribution that counts. So next time, you are staring into the opalescent eyes of the girl (or guy - for I also have female readers) whom you love. This sealed individual sitting opposite you in a restaurant over a meal. This person who shines a light in the dark corners of your life...just remember, that moment was brought with the pain and suffering, of that chicken, you are about to tuck in to.
Bon Apetite!
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