16 Comments

Thanks for your advocacy for animals, Wayne, and I agree that democracy is under attack in so many ways.

I became vegan many years ago after seeing a film. It changed me and my friends to the core. How do we sensitize people, I wonder. Eating meat is so habituated for many, and they don't realize how gruesome the reality is.

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It's remarkable how much it changes us, right? And beyond even our diets.

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Definitely. A completely different sensibility emerged for me.

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I always look forward to your writings, Wayne. You're an encouragement for those of us interested in doing all we can to end the violence against animals. We all appreciate your hard work and dedication to our gentle sentient beings.

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Very well said, Wayne. I love that you continue to drive the point that caring about the welfare of animals, perhaps contrary to popular belief, is one of the most nonpartisan issues out there. I believe that the leaders who will bring about a more just (and less polarized) world will be those who can speak to these kinds of fundamental, shared beliefs. Keep up the great work.

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Thanks, Wayne. You’ve opened my eyes once again. Best of luck with Ridgland Farms.

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Thank you my friend!

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I want every state to have the ability to get measures on the ballot. We need media on board which has been helpful a bit lately. I always elevate to media and lawmakers relentlessly. We have climate crisis on our side but we need to shutdown the green washing strategy animal AG is employing. I want climate and animal activists to unite for more people power. Thank you Wayne for standing up for justice as always!

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Thanks so much for caring for all creatures.

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Great job. You're going from strength to strength...

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Whether or not our leaders care about us, they certainly seem to act upon knowledge we don't possess, because act they do, don't they? We ourselves got here, apparently by our best lights, or else we would have stayed somewhere safe, where we could act to save and help ourselves and those around us, maybe even without champions and demagogues. I don't see that I'm helping me much, neither am I needed for a lot. So I wish there were knowledge of what within my capabilities I could do to be effective in a good way.

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Just being part of the conversation is important, James. We can't say what our leaders are acting in the public's interest. But we can be guaranteed that they are not if we don't pay attention. Thank you for being part of the solution!

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Thanks for all you do for animals Wayne!

You're definitely on to something in pointing out how the govt. too often supports the rich and powerful - probably shouldn't be too surprising given how much campaign donations and lobbyists are used to influence legislators, and how not too many high rollers are inclined to bankroll those critiquing the existing power structures.

At the same time, we have a real quandary when it comes to veganism and "the people." Yes, we are conditioned to live blindly, unquestioningly within the strictures of the meat matrix. At the same time, most people take great offense when their "food" choices are called into question, and animosity toward vegans runs high, especially if they're deemed to be of the "preachy" variety; i.e., advocating for animals. 50 years ago, youthful optimism and the power of vegetarianism's compelling and compassionate message prompted me to think that, if only people knew the bloody truth about the animal products on their plates, then surely they would change their ways. But alas, I've found that while the vast majority of people may cheer for the occasional cow or pig who somehow gets free from the slaughterhouse-bound truck, there's no way they're going to connect the discomforting dots and take meat off their plates. If we could figure out why that is, perhaps the vegan movement could make greater progress.

The whole situation brings to mind a quote from the late Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. He was reflecting upon the situation in his life and career with regards to his risking everything to expose vicious truths about the unconscionable war being waged against Vietnam, but I feel the sentiments can be readily applied to the vegan movement as all. The relevant quote is:

"I gave up my job, my career, my clearance, and I staked my freedom on a gamble: If the American people knew the truth about how they had been lied to, about the myths that had led them to endorse this butchery of 25 years, that they would choose against it. And the risk that you take when you do that, is that you’ll learn something ultimately about your fellow citizens that you won’t like to hear, and that is that they hear it, they learn from it, they understand it, and they proceed to ignore it.”

My only quibble would be that I'm not entirely sure how much people actually learn from and understand the difficult truths they hear - most folks, burdened with their entrenched egos and calcified thinking, seem much more inclined to take offense against anything that challenges their sense of morality, and they fight tooth and nail against both the message and the messenger. Which I think is why it is so gratifying when we someone from the meat matrix actually "getting it" - it just doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.

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Here's an idea (and a warning) - Meat eating is bone-head religion and will be ended by AI. ☠

If there is one thing we can predict about superior AI - it is that it will NOT be anthropocentric. It will likely be sentientist, and it likely won't tolerate those who aren't. You heard it here first. You've been warned...

Become a sentientist (which means becoming vegan) before it's too late...

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How ridiculously prescient to callout the work of Acemoglu and weave it into the larger argument -- literally three days before that professor was awarded a Nobel prize! Chapeau!

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I think democracy is robust when a deciding audience has a chance to hear someone (like you) speak of democracy's potential, and that audience acts on a decision in favor of the potential of democracy. I don't think it reasonable to expect numerous past traditions of democracy to uphold animal rights without efficient advocacy pointing to an amplified democracy. To me amplified democracy reaches all the way to the full recognition of the personhood of each animal, each river, each tree and their "right to exist", to put it modestly. This is based on the fact that Earth is a center of gravity constituting a basis where cosmic processes and materials interact closely resulting in Life. This roughly defines the word 'Nature'. As far as Nature is the basis on which humans and others better their harmonization with Nature, Nature is right and should be viewed as Right. Nature supports many individual personal lives, thus is a Background or Meta-Person and should be viewed as having enough Personhood-Right to Exist. In speaking for animal rights, we are speaking for a farewell to longstanding human habits of predation. The takeaway good in this is self-cultivation on our own part: learning intensively about other living things and about ourselves in order to live around and with them without harming them. This is a celebration of Life and is its own reward . . .

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