CAPTAIN'S PHLOG                                    2020.04.11
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Marusu's Phlog:
I stumbled upon this Sundog's writing and quite enjoyed it. 
There is some teen angst there, such is that age, but their 
style is vibrant & enjoyable. They have a lot they need to 
say and they say it very well. I hope they keep practicing 
their craft.
[ gopher://republic.circumlunar.space/1/%7emarusu/phlog ]

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"...on the Che Guevara Highway filling up on gasoline, Fidel 
Castro's brother spies a rich lady who is crying over 
luxury's disappointments so he walks over and he's trying to 
sympathize with her but he feels that he should warn her 
that the Third World is just around the corner."

In my About.txt I mention that I'm a vegan but I'm not a 
duche about it. But as that "new month smell" starts to wear 
off April 2020, a caveat is called for.

A teacher of mine once said "there's nothing worse than a 
reformed smoker" and a similar thing can be said about 
Vegans in that reformed omnivores are infufferable. It was a 
little over a year ago that I finally turned my back on 
industrial animal slavery. Let's back up. Modern places that 
house cows for milk production arn't farms. Farms have only 
as many head as a family can tend without a staff and 
equipment budget costing more than a waterfront home in the 
Hamptons. Not only does a farm have a small herd but each 
cow lives a life of at least some quality. It is not unusual 
that they will be born on the farm and raised with their 
mothers. Most importantly, they will have a social life. 
This sounds odd I know but a farm cow will spend most of 
it's day pasturing under the sky with a herd, social and 
well adjusted. I live in farm country, yet would need to 
drive many miles to find only a handful of such places. Most 
of those are Amish. Authentic.

Contrast this with Western Agribusiness. There was an 
industry I drove past on a regular basis. Through the open 
door, I would see cows standing shoulder to shoulder like 
the extras in that Star Trek episode with the mock-up 
Enterprise on that overpopulated planet. They //LIVE// like 
that. Stunted. No room to move around or recline without 
jostling others. A constant state of tension. Hormonally 
energised bags of milk with bio-support systems attached. 
Imprisoned. Tortured.

But the fact is these cows are only prisoners of the first 
world, like the woman who assembled this keyboard, or the 
child who picked my cabbage. I hate the agribusinessman who 
lives in the large house UPWIND of the 'free-stall' and some 
day when enough folks wake up we will neuter him - his land 
appropriated to cultivate food that feeds people. Think of 
it. The nutrition that goes into each of those enslaved 
bivids redirected to HUMANS!

Though, were I a local or visitor in some removed place 
where goat herds were tended by families on the commons I 
wouldn't be compelled to eschew meat or dairy. Those 
lifeways are authentic and I would be the worst sort of 
'Murican to suggest my values are relivant to that world or 
to refuse their hospitality when they offered it.

Perhaps the world where I share my neighbor's goat is just 
around the corner?

Stay Well. Stay Safe. Share Love.