They're Just Animals, Make Good Edibles, Fester Filth And Disease, Check The Bible, Son, We Got Dominion, We Can Do As We Please

--"Columbia Is Bleeding", Nellie McKay

Back when I used to work at the bookstore we used to play a game of "would you rather?" There may have been a book of the same name, but, if there was, we asked all the questions in there within a short span. One of the questions I always remember is "if you were in a fire and could only save a person you didn't know or save a dog you didn't know, which would you save?"

Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly, as the case may be), my answer was to save the dog. For me it boiled down to the fact that I would expect a human to do their best to save himself or herself, but there are some situations where the dog would be helpless, including fire. I mean--it'd be different if it were a baby that needed rescuing or an invalid, but, yeah, I have a bigger streak of altruism when it comes to dogs than humans. A lot of people have let me down over the years, whereas I've yet to meet a dog who went out of their way to betray me or sought to destroy me. That brings me to my other point, I don't think there's any other animal I would try to save. I'm all for stopping animal cruelty, but I'm afraid my tendency to follow what can be only described as a policy of non-interference in other creatures' lives (cf: "The Prime Directive") also extends to animals. I have no more interest in saving a strange creatures life as much as ending it.

There was a phase in high school where I went all gung-ho about animal rights. I wrote to PETA to get all this information. I gave up eating red meat for two years. I was actively doing my best to refrain from using as many animal products as possible. I was trying to be somewhat responsible for my life and how it affected those lower on the food chain.

I wish I could say this stemmed from an overwhelming sense of morality or that I felt a sharp pang of guilt for my part in the global subjugation of other species. The truth was it was just the same old pattern I have when it comes to new interests or hobbies. It started with a girl. In this case that girl was Jenny Lewis (otherwise known as "that redhead," Just Dumb Life, or Rilo Kiley frontwoman). I had read that she was a vegetarian and, once again, that was good enough to make me want to become one as well. I've written two or three posts on how I think that a lot of people fall into this routine, attempting to like something that someone they're interested in likes. I don't know if it's to impress them or the simple need to have a subject to converse about. In the case of animal rights and vegetarianism it was just a simple desire to see what the appeal was for her. Maybe I was just trying to better understand her or maybe I thought somewhere down the road, should I have ran into her, it would give us something to talk about. I don't know.

What I do know is that it didn't stick.

That's how it goes sometimes with things we fall into rather than discover ourselves. Sometimes they don't have the fortitude to be a lifelong pursuit for the simple reason that often times we never fully adopt them as are own. That's how it was for vegetarianism. It never felt like something I was doing for myself. It always felt like something I was doing for Miss Jenny. Thus, when my enamoration for her fell away, so did my sudden interest in saving all the creatures of the world on my own. As Breanne likes to say, sometimes the best part of garage sales is getting rid of the stuff we liked once rather than the stuff we always hated. We all do it. We all take inventory of the stuff that truly matters to us and discover that many of the things we thought we cherished were never really real. My CD case is full of albums by artists I could have sworn to you I liked, only to realize that the main impetus for buying them was a girlfriend or friend told me they were good. My movie watching resume is chock full of films I would have gladly given a thumbs-up on, only to realize it was more because of who I was with when I was watching them rather than what I was actually watching.

Sadly, animal rights was one of these casualties. I wish I was more informed and passionate about the subject because, whenever I do see a story relating to it, my ears always perk up. It will always be a topic that is interesting to me, but it will never be interesting enough to actively pursue.

However, like anything that touches your life, some remnants do linger on. I still don't order or eat veal or pate because of reading I did on how these two delicacies involve the active torture of the animals involved. I still boycott circuses and places where animals are not adequately housed or taken care of. And I still applaud all those who are taking a stand on animal rights issues (like Nellie McKay). Even when the hobby dies, a little bit of the knowledge stays with you--that's what I chalk that up to.

And, of course, I'd still go out of my way to save that hypothetical dog from the fire.

Now if it were a cat... I'd say let that motherfucker burn.

Cats are evil. LOL

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers