You know the one. The kind of feeling where you try to explain something to someone, but they turn a blind eye to it. Or, even worse, they tell you to stop making such a big deal out of it.

That feeling, the one that is probably lurking in the back of your throat right now due to recalling such incidents, is similar to the one so many people are feeling when the newest PETA campaign is laughed at or applauded.

Here at T.O.F.U., I drew the line in early February, and I’m standing behind it. I watched the ad and my immediate reaction was one of disgust. I’ve railed against PETA before, but this newest stunt upset me more than usual. It just seemed obvious why such a campaign was a bad idea. So, I waited to see what the reaction would be as other vegans tweeted, shared, and talked about it.

Sadly, most of the voices came from outside of the vegan camp.

Open Your Ears Before Your Mouth

Since our last issue attempted to push other areas of concern into the vegan discussion, I felt it appropriate to try and continue to promote this idea with this campaign in mind.

Fighting oppression shouldn’t stop at your kitchen table or down the street at the protest against the local factory farm. Deciding to fight against such a force should start within and follow in everything you do. The animals are not the only ones being oppressed, and any fight for them should be sensitive to this.

It’s one thing to choose to be the voice for those who are unable to represent themselves, but to choose to ignore or downplay the voice of those who can represent themselves is just placing you at the table of the oppressor. That table is full, trust me. They don’t need any more mouths.

Stepping Out of the Vegan Bubble

Vegans often joke about how great the world would be if everyone was vegan. We could eat wherever we please, and no one would critique anything on our plate. It seems like a dream.

However, in the real world, I don’t like the vegan bubble. The kind of mentality that puts the PETA campaigns up on a pedestal because they’re fighting for the animals is not something I can support. In many ways, it seems that you’re either with PETA or against them, and if you’re against them, then you’re against the animals.

I’m calling bullshit on that mentality, and I think it needs to change. In fact, I think a lot of things within the vegan bubble need to change.

Biting Off More than You can Chew

The sad truth is that being vegan is not the finish line. There is plenty more to fight for, but the good news is that there are plenty of people out there fighting. They believe in their cause(s) just as much as you do, and they’re willing to stand up for it against all odds. So, if you don’t understand why someone would be offended by the PETA campaign, or if you do but you don’t want to say anything against our big famous uncle, give those who are fighting it the attention you feel you deserve in regards to your own fight.

Step out of the vegan bubble, listen, and discuss:

Vegansaurus – PETA’s “Boyfriend Went Vegan” ad makes me want to hurl!

Stop Patriarchy – Making Sexual Violence Against Women “Cool” … This Time from PETA

Connect the Dots – One Plus Negative One Equals Zero: A Response to PETA’s Rapey Ad

Carol J. Adams – Sigh, the sexual politics of meat once again

Policymic – Why PETA Should Use Food Justice, Not Sexy Sexual Innuendo, to Attract More to Their Cause

Women 24 – Animals Deserve More Respect than Women

Women 24 – Respect ALL Women, nonhuman women too

“Then it was ratcheted up to last night where I was threatened. I had a call from the Prime Minister’s Office directly and I was told unless I withdrew this motion that the Prime Minister himself said that he would look upon it ‘very dimly indeed’. Well I have a message for the whips and for the Prime Minister of our country – and I didn’t pick a fight with the Prime Minister – I may just be a little council house lad from a very poor background but that background gave me a backbone. It gives me a thick skin and I’m not going to be cowed by the whips of the Prime Minister on an issue I feel passionately about and have conviction about.”

- Mark Pritchard, Conservative backbencher

We’re obviously not experts on politics in the UK, but it seems like something rather good has happened across the Pond recently. Despite pressure from people within the government to back a licensing structure for wild animals in circuses, MPs from all parties voted unanimously against the notion and pushed instead for a complete ban on wild animals in the circus.

Although I’m not 100% sure if this means the government will make it a law, or if they could ignore the suggestion, the idea that a large political body would recommend the removal of wild animals in circuses is a great stride forward. So, kudos to organizations such as Animal Defenders International and the Royal SPCA, as well as Mark Pritchard, who have no doubt been fighting for such a thing for some time now.

“…the We Animals project is my life’s work and I don’t foresee ever stopping, though I do imagine it growing from an archive of photos into a really powerful humane education program. Whatever happens, I want my future and my career to be entwined with the changing of hearts and minds about our treatment of animals around the globe.”
- Jo-Anne McArthur, T.O.F.U. #5

For over ten years now, Jo-Anne has been working to connect people with the animals who share the planet with us. Jo-Anne has documented both abuse and love between humans and other animals around the world, and with her lens she is helping to change things for the better. Although the T.O.F.U. Grant comes with no specifications on how the money should be spent, we are confident that Jo-Anne will put it to good use, and we are proud to be a part of any challenge she takes on.

Current projects (Warning: graphic images)

Puppy Mills (photo)
There are more puppy mills in Quebec, Canada than anywhere in the world, second only to China. They are largely unregulated and lax animal welfare laws make it next to impossible to regulate these operations. The Humane Society and Montreal SPCA are working to close these operations and raise awareness about them and about what you are really supporting when you buy a cute little puppy from a pet store. I look forward to continued work with them, in order to help their campaign and to also raise awareness about puppy mills through the We Animals project.

In this photograph, a male poodle mix has been rescued and brought to the SPCA shelter. He hasn’t yet been groomed and a lot of his mouth and jaw have rotted away due to bad food and lack of hygiene and vet care. He was given medical care, a foster home and eventually a forever home.

Slaughter (photo)
In this photograph, and about the “slaughter” story in general….

After shooting at many places and situations where animals are killed, I’m piecing together a small project within We Animals that looks at animals at the moment of death, as well as the moments leading up to their death. The purpose is to show that no matter what country, no matter by blade or gassing or electrocution, no matter if they were raised in a factory farm or pasture-fed as “humane meat”, each animal must face an involuntary and painful death. We, as consumers, should be aware of this when making our food choices.

Aquariums (photo)
Mammals, birds and fish of all kinds are overlooked in aquariums which, like zoos, only offer their captive animals cramped space and limited enrichment. I’ve recently shot at SeaWorld in Florida and will be shooting at more aquariums in Canada and the USA throughout this year in order to raise more awareness about this type of captivity.

In this photo, a young boy looks at a sting ray in a tank, and the ray looks back, or more specifically looks for food. The rays are turned into beggars as they swim in circles all day in their cramped space and people buy other fish to feed them for entertainment. Sting ray tanks are increasingly popular at zoos, even though it is only beneficial to the humans who are amused by them. Sting rays live short lives in tanks. At Canada’s Calgary Zoo, all of the string rays “mysteriously” died within a few days of one another after the sting ray exhibit was opened.

For more information, please see We Animals.

To support Jo-Anne and the We Animals project, please consider making a donation.

Photo credit: Karol Orzechowski

Reality TV Reaches the Battery Cage (anonymous.org.il)

So, whether or not you were aware of the horrible conditions in factory farms, this is a reality show everyone should see for at least a few minutes. The lack of edits and half naked people alone makes it more realistic than the majority of “reality” television these days, and it might even make it a little more effective than a lot of AR campaigns as well.

As of yet, it seems T.O.F.U. has avoided jumping into some of the darker areas associated with veganism. Sure, we’ve touched on some of the divides within, and some of the misunderstandings people may have because of them, but many of the darker subjects have been avoided.

One of these dark sides, in my opinion, is judging those who are not vegan. It’s probably evident by now that I’m not an aggressive vegan, and for the most part I seem to have surrounded myself by a lot of folks who are like-minded. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that I’m surrounded by more omnivores than I am herbivores in my daily life. Of course, a part of this is more my surroundings than my own choosing.

It is within these surroundings that I sometimes feel more of a connection to those who may not share my view on food, but understand me on so many other levels. Here in my small hometown of around 5000, where people still sit together to eat supper around 5pm, and where they long for the weekend so they can disappear into the wilderness, I write these words. Sure, Wal-Mart has its stranglehold on local commerce, and fast food litters the streets like so many other communities, but here you can still find a warm smile and an open door for a weary traveler when needed. Yes, the winters can be cold, and the summers far too short. Sure, the land may seem ragged and harsh to some, but to many of us now scattered around the world, this is home. We crowd airports every Christmas to return, and many of us spend our lives working terrible jobs just to have enough to buy a piece of this ragged, windswept land to call our own. To this day, in both the literary and the film version, when I hear of the Shire, I think of here. This is Newfoundland, Canada.

Of course, for many veg* folk, Newfoundland has a much different image. Filled with savagery and blood lust, it is the home to those who kill for fun and have no consideration for the world they live in. In short, it is home to the annual seal hunt. For decades now this hunt has been the focus of much media attention, and the majority of it has been negative.

Like so many issues involving animals and people, this one is complex. However, and this is where the dark part comes in, to some it seems incredibly simple. Those who kill or harm animals are horrible, and possibly even worthless, creatures. Based on the singular idea that animal cruelty is inexcusable, judgement has been passed by those who seem to live their lives avoiding such cruelty.

However, at the end of the day, we all have blood on our hands for some reason or another. Whether it be from the cattle an immigrant worker slaughters to keep his family fed in their new homeland, or through the death of numerous woodland creatures by an organic farmer who doesn’t believe the rabbits and the birds have any right to the carrots he is growing, the blood is there. To pretend that we, as vegans, are innocent from this is ignorant. The best most of us can do is choose to limit this bloodshed as much as possible.

So, is it fair to judge others using our choice as a guideline? Should we expect the hunters, the cattle farmers, the fisherman, and so many others to follow our lead and give up their ways? For me, I guess it all depends on what it is that I think allows me to choose to be vegan. There are so many factors that I feel are necessary to properly live as a vegan, and after spending the winter here I feel lucky to have those present in my life. Although my restaurant options have been minimized, and I can’t find tempeh anywhere on the Island, I still have choices at the local grocery store. Luckily, I also have the money to purchase these items, which are certainly not as cheap as most of the other things on the shelves. However, I also happen to live in one of the major service centres for the area.

The point is, before one makes judgement of someone else based on your own personal lifestyle choices, you should know where the other person is coming from. Going vegan in a small community is not as easy as the city. Choosing to eliminate animal products from your diet in an area where you already live mainly off the land is not so easy when your main agricultural products will most likely be potatoes and carrots. So, what makes your choice the best one?

How is judging these people based on their livelihood or diet any different than judging someone based on their religion or other personal choices? We tread a thin line the moment we start to feel that our decisions are the intelligent, superior ones to those around us, especially those separated from us by culture, language, gender, heritage, etc… History is littered with examples of those who strived to enforce their ideas and choices on those around them as far as they could reach, and the effects of such efforts are still felt today.

I touched on this idea with both Todd from Propagandhi and Zach from Rise Against a few years ago, and it’s a tough one. I’ve been battling with how to even write this for a few weeks now because I know that it is bound to upset a few folks. However, between reading a few articles that were hellbent on making life a living hell for everyone on the east coast of Canada to try and stop the seal hunt to then hearing about the horrible attitude some folks are developing towards China based solely on their treatment of animals, I thought I had to put my two cents in. I’m not saying the death or mistreatment of animals should be thought of as acceptable or negligible in any case, but I am saying that the threatened death or mistreatment of a fellow human being should be given just as much weight if we are to ever keep this world from falling apart. Those who can choose to avoid harming animals ideally should do so whenever they can, but for those of us who already do so, we should remember to consider the whole person before we lay judgement upon them.

If we are to change the way the world views everything around it, I think we should be fighting for animal equality, not animal superiority. To judge the life of an animal to be worth more than the life of a human to me is not a step forward, especially when that judgement is based on whether or not that fellow human is as good as you. As a vegan we are constantly provided with examples of famous, historical figures who were vegetarian or vegan. How about all of those who were not? Is the work of Martin Luther King Jr. or Abraham Lincoln any less meaningful because they may have celebrated with a steak instead of a stuffed Portobello mushroom at their dining room table? These men were intelligent, amazing individuals who chose to live their lives working to improve the world in one way or another. Just because it was not in the same manner as the way we choose, did they have any less of a right to be respected or treated equally?

With that in mind, do these sound like the words of a savage hellbent on blood and pleasure?

Garry Troake’s Speech