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Originally Posted by xishi
ok..there are a number of valid points you make...heirloom pearls cherished for their sentimental value...i can tell faux fur from real..did not know pearls could be harvested without killing oyster..wonder if that is what is actually done...where i was coming from is going into the gap or other such stores and seeing items triimmed with real fur and people blithely wearing them because they are the newest in things...i said it disturbs me...i did not tell anyone to stop...i also do not watch or own a television but do not try to convince anyone to give up theirs...ghandi said you can tell the level of evolvement of a culture from the way they treat animals...animals are horribly abused in many ways...it hurts my heart...and i agree it was a fine post
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What, though, does the way a culture treats human beings say about it?
I mean, it's easy to pinpoint the suffering involved in the production of leather or meat or other animal products. But what about the economic suffering involved in the production of a loaf of bread* or a paperclip produced by Chinese prison labor? Which is greater? Which has more impact? Is it crueller to kill an animal for its hide or to exploit third-world peasants, allowing wealthy international capitalists to control their access to education, clean air, potable water, even their basic freedom? I mean, is it crueller to wear a jacket made from cowhide produced in an OSHA-compliant facility in the US, or to wear a cotton jacket produced in some third-world sweatshop, where the native populations are jailed, even killed, by militia actions prescribed by bizarre secretive loan agreements that dictate violent police action in response to civilian protest?
Ghandi lived in a simpler time.
I'm just saying that we're all culpable. We're all cruel. We're all vain. Society is a big stinking death machine, and you cannot avoid participating. All you can do is limit your impact in some ways. But we're all probably hypocrites at some point. We all contribute to shit we don't want to contribute to. Anyone who can manage to live their lives wholly and completely in adherence to their principles at all times probably doesn't have enough principles.
* There is a very large, and very secretive grain cartel that largely controls the prices, production, and distribution of grain products the world over. Bizarre sidenote: One of the major players in said grain cartel is LuisDreyfus, to which the actor Julia Luis-Dreyfus is an heir. Massive fortune there, all profiting from the misery of probably millions. And Elaine from Seinfeld will probably control a great deal of it when Daddy dies. I don't have a point in mentioning that, except it's kind of freaky.