Loving animals is a privilege. To see the richness and beauty of their lives. It's in every cat sitting on a windowsill. It's every dog that people are walking. It's also the flies that lose their way in my apartment. It's the spiders that used to scare me. It's the hope-you're-safe I sent towards the rat I saw crossing the road. It's happy cows and pigs and chickens. It's all the animals that I know I'll never see, but that do exist in all their splendidness. All these individuals, all these lives, all these minds.
Loving animals is also hard. It's seeing their dead bodies plastered on billboards. On people's plates. In the butcher's window just around the corner. It's 90% of the grocery store I refuse to buy. It's knowing there is a street in my town where in one building they're saving animals deemed worth saving, and in the one next door their throats get slit. It's animal abuse that only counts when it's an animal we think is cute. It's fish not even getting the respect of being count as individuals. Loving animals means living in a world full of murder. A reality so inescapable the only safe space is my own house. And the people I love are all complicit.
imagine being stuck in a cramped plane seat for your entire life, on a plane packed with people. or picture living day in, day out, in the same house, staring at the same four walls, seeing the same four faces every single day. the stress, the discomfort, the sheer boredom – most people would find this horrific, regardless of age, education or intelligence. it would be torture.
But somehow, we're supposed to believe that the pigs in those tight farrowing crates are just fine with it, right? And that elephant cooped up in the same enclosure day after day – must be living the dream. the fish swimming laps in its aquarium, showing all the signs of zoochosis– but hey, it's not like it's smart enough to feel, right?
its all fine, because it has to be, right? impossible to know if the animals in these situations are suffering, they can't talk after all
[video description: a video by thegentlebarn. it starts with a clip of people grooming a cow's snout with the caption, "5 signs a cow is truly ✨ happy ✨." each of the captions describing the signs is accompanied by clips of cows exhibiting them. they are:
"1. they expose their belly for tummy rubs as a sign that they trust you 2. they initiate gentle physical contact like licking or hugging you 3. they're chewing cud - this means they feel safe & their digestive system is doing its thing 👍 4. zoomies! just like with dogs, this is most often a playful, happy behavior 5. they make a 'purring' sound - cows do this when they're extremely relaxed and content. it's like a big exhale"
in the background is peaceful instrumental music.]
anyone who calls all individual actions like thrifting, going vegan or using public transport bad or useless, and instead encourages people to just wait for some kind of big revolution to happen before even considering making any change in their own lives is not actually that interested in things getting better