We now have an Official Blog Song

As a counterpoint to the generally serious topics covered in this blog, I have decided that it is time to come into line with such august institutions as football clubs and declare an official blog song.

The obvious choice is Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan.

And, yes I know that the lyrics of this song really have absolutely nothing to do with this blog's contents, but the song's name is just so perfect a fit that I couldn't resist.

Toss a few more Snags on the Barbie

As you probably already know, we wombats are herbivorous. Our diet mainly consists of a variety of grasses, herbs, roots, fungi and barks.

I make mention of this here only because a few days ago an old friend dropped into the 'Burrow' for a chat. You know how it is when old friends get together: some of your favourite beverage, a lot of talk and maybe something to eat.

Now, you've got to understand that this bloke (let's call him Fred) likes nothing better for a meal than a few beers, some barbecued sausages with a liberal helping of tomato sauce (US: ketchup), and a plate of chips (US: fries).

Having to cope with the smell of meat cooking is not something your average herbivore wants anything to do with. While I am by nature a vegetarian, it is also something I strongly support on moral grounds. I'm not vegan myself, but can clearly see, from an ethical point of view, what attracts people to that lifestyle.

I told Fred that we would have to go out to eat later on, because I did not have anything available at home to feed him that he would enjoy. He, of course, knew this but it's sort of like a ritual we go through when he visits. Maybe he thinks that one day I will decide to eat meat - yeah, when hell freezes over! The things we put up with for the sake of an old friend. ;-)

Having worked out our mealtime arrangements, we started to discuss various unimportant topics. However, a bit later on we started talking about the moral issues associated with using any products that come from an animal source. The following is a record of our discussion.

The Sausagic Dialogue

Bruce:
Towards the end of the first post here, A Blogging Wombat, I introduced the concept of all creatures being treated with respect and being valued for their own sakes.

a view of a world where all people, and indeed all creatures, are treated with respect and valued for their own sakes. Not merely as some economic pawn or tool to be pushed about, used or manipulated by whatever powers exist without any real concern as to their welfare, both materially and spiritually

I want to continue from that point and expand on some of the ideas implied by that statement. Since your beloved sausages were the starting point for this conversation, let's just look at the case of animals raised primarily for their meat to be used for human consumption. How does that strike you?

Fred:
That seems very reasonable. Hopefully this 'limitation' will make our discussion here more focused. Ok, over to you.

Bruce:
I obviously don't eat meat, so I am in the morally easier position of not having to deal with issues of raising animals for eventual slaughter. You, however, old friend, are now in the hotseat! I'd like you to explain how you can justify, what in my mind is the brutal treatment of animals, since they can obviously see what is happening to others of their kind. They can see that young animals disappear not long after weaning and that older animals disappear from the farm on a regular basis too. I mean, the whole idea of a cow giving birth, feeding the calf, then that calf being taken off for slaughter is in no way natural for cattle. The cow, if free to do what she wished would feed the calf for a while, naturally wean it, teach it some basic skills and then let it go off to do whatever young cattle do naturally. At some stage this process obviously involves the production of more calves, and the cycle goes on. So basically I have a problem with the whole concept of raising animals for their meat.

Fred:
You're not making my job easy are you? I strongly believe that food animals need to be looked after humanely by the farmer. Apart from any other welfare issues this means that the animals must be adequately defended against both disease and attack by predators. The quality of their 'housing' needs should also be of major importance. I will not even try to defend the practice of battery farming where too many animals are kept in enclosures that are too small for them to move about in and stretch.

OK, my basic position is that I want to have meat available for me to eat. However I believe that there are moral limits on how this meat can be justifiably produced. These relate primarily to how well the farmer cares for the animals being raised and also that slaughtering processes should be such that the animal is as untraumatised as possible.

I believe that you would regard these concerns as mere window dressing, and that the whole enterprise of meat production is extremely undesirable from a moral point of view.

Bruce:
I agree with your assessment of the state of play. As you say, I believe that it is morally impossible to justify the whole process of human beings eating meat from domestic animals. The hunting of wild creatures for food is another totally different topic from a moral viewpoint, at least for hunter-gatherer societies. It is the deliberate breeding of animals specifically for their meat production that is what concerns me most.

Fred:
I have thought about this issue before and have come to the conclusion that the central difference between us is that stated in Genesis 1:26

God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

To me this sort of mindset creates a hierarchy with humankind at the top and other creatures below this. This hierarchy has previously been used to justify cruel exploitation and even the extinction of many species - I strongly reject this behaviour. I believe that with this superior position comes the responsibility to look after and ensure the long term healthiness of the world in which we all live.

This hierarchical arrangement is a very ancient part of human existence and is not going to go away. I think the trick here is to respect, within reason, that different people look at the world in different ways and that all people need to accept that this is the way things are.

Bruce:
I see what you're getting at, but can't agree with your interpretation. You believe that to have dominion over all creatures means that humankind is entitled to exploit the resouces they represent. You do however state that with this power comes responsibility for looking after the welfare of these creatures. I'm sure that they would really appreciate that distinction, given that you still want to kill some of them :-|

So it seems that it all really comes down to a difference in fundamental beliefs, not bridgeable by pure logic.

Fred:
Given this reality, those of us who do consume products which require the death of other creatures owe an obligation to them. We must ensure that all these creatures, bred to give us products derived from their dead bodies, are treated with dignity in life and slaughtered in ways that minimise the trauma they suffer.

Down in the Burrow

Disclaimer: The author of this post is NOT a health professional

Have you ever felt that getting out of bed in the morning was one of the most difficult tasks possible? Not because it was cold, but rather that you could not face the idea of dealing with the world outside! That being in your bed was sort of womb-like and you were safe there?

If you can relate to that, then you most likely have experienced being in a depressed state of mind.

The reason that I said 'most likely' is that I'm not a health professional, just a fellow sufferer of depression.

The most important thing is to talk to someone like a friend, priest or health professional and get your feelings out in the open and where you can look at them more objectively. You really don't have to accept the well-meant advice of "get over it" or "snap out of it"! These comments may be well meant but for me, most of the time, they have been among the most unhelpful bits of advice I've ever been given. How can you snap out of a state when you don't even know what brought it on or if you do, you feel as though you have no control over the situation? Being depressed can feel like being wrapped up in a thick, unpleasant dark cloud, a sense of some combination of helplessness, fear and hopelessness.

These days I find coping with life generally easier, but the sense of fear and anxiety can easily descend given the 'right' circumstances. Each person has their own triggers that can take them into a sort of private hell, or at least some level of purgatory.

In my case, medication has helped give me some space to deal with my feelings and reactions to the outside world. Sometimes I worry that I'm going to be on them for the rest of my life, and this is something I really want to avoid. Worrying doesn't help, but being an obsessive 'worry wart' is one of the challenges I have to deal with :-} Some people find meditation and exercise help lift at least some of the dark cloud from their shoulders. Or a mixture of different approaches.

If you can, go and see a sympathetic health professional to at least get advice on your options of how to defeat those evil, incredibly negative feelings which can drag you down. Just talking to someone can often lighten your load considerably.

Try to treat yourself with respect, not to abuse your body, mind or spirit! You don't have to be perfect - being good enough is fine, and accepting help does not mean that you've lost something or are weak. Sometimes we just can't carry our loads all by ourselves.

The first steps towards a healthier mental state include admitting that there are problems in how well or badly you are coping with your life and the world around you. Having taken that first step you will hopefully eventually find that there are lots of blue skies and white fluffy clouds to see on the continuing journey that is life. And friendly, helpful people with whom to share your experiences.

If you find depression is an ongoing part of your life, take that first step forward into the sunshine, out of those dark clouds! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

War! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!

On the 25th of April each year we in Australia and New Zealand commemorate ANZAC Day to honour those men and women who have served their countries in conflicts overseas, and to remember the sacrifice of those who died in the course of those conflicts.

Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the fife lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered ye down?
Did the bugles sing "The Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play the "Floors O' The Forest"?

from Eric Bogle's song No Man's Land

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

from Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen

From the veldt of South Africa, to Gallipoli, to the deserts of North Africa and the Middle-East, to the trenches in Flanders' fields, to the jungles of New Guinea and South-East Asia.

There may have been good reason for the mainly young men who went (and still go) to those foreign places and fight, but with hindsight I wonder how often their sacrifices really made any difference in the long term. This is said not to denigrate their bravery and sacrifice, but rather to question the political processes that lead to various nations and peoples going to war, whether declared or not!

Sure, World War II makes lots of sense with Hitler's Germany set to overrun all of Europe and enslave its diverse peoples. Likewise for Japan in the Asia/Pacific area.

Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam? The Yellow Peril and the Domino Theory!

World War I? Tired old empires, soon to disappear or disintegrate, flexing their aging muscles to increase their power both within Europe and abroad!

Who other than students of history and those old enough to have heard old diggers' stories or who lived through those times in either military or civilian roles, really remembers the passions engendered by the issues of those days!

For me, those times were the late 1960s and early 1970s. The main political issues were the war in Vietnam, conscription to serve overseas, the Domino Theory and the Vietnam Moratorium marches in our major cities.

Certainly many of us who opposed the Australian presence in Vietnam were naive in our attitude to the Vietnamese communists, but the South Vietnamese leadership seemed to almost uniformly be a bunch of brutal thugs. Did we really want to help support that type of government?

And now 30 or so years on, Vietnam is an important trading partner in our region and many of our citizens travel there for enjoyable and cheap holidays. Some of these travellers are former service personnel who served there, but many more are too young to have any personal memories of that time of conflict. I wonder whether these young ones understand or even care about the sacrifices those service men and women made on behalf of their country at that time.

For whichever conflict you can think of there is so much death, so much suffering! All the issues sound so important when the time comes to go to war, but years later who knows or even cares about them?

And so far I've only mentioned the military personnel, but in every conflict there will always be many civilians injured or killed. Often young children or women, maybe the victims of rape or of discarded land mines. At some time in the future this cycle of war then peace, then more war which has continued from time immemorial must be broken. Human beings are not stupid, but seem frequently to miss opportunities to change these and other ancient, but destructive patterns of behaviour.

It is becoming apparent to me that we have to find how to make war a distant memory sooner rather than later, or all humankind will have to face the reality of the destruction of our modern ways of life. War is but one factor, environmental degradation another. All nations and peoples will need to work together to ensure that our world remains fit for habitation, for every type of creature. Cooperation, not belligerence will need to be our catch-cry.

As it is written:

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

from Isaiah 2:4

Amen! Thus endeth the lesson...

All Colours of the Rainbow

I decided to learn how to add colour to the headings of some of my blog posts. Once I had got my head around the necessary HTML I ran into a far more difficult issue...

What colours should I use and what, if any anything, would they add to the blog, other than just their actual colour?

So I looked at various colours which I might use:

• White: Purity. Also symbolises death in some cultures.
• Red: Communist or socialist politics.
• Blue: Conservative politics.
• Green: Islamic issues or environmental politics.
• Orange: Ukrainian or Israeli political movements.
• Pink: Gay, lesbian and transgendered issues.
• Black: An absence of colour and a symbol of death in many cultures.
• Purple: Hang on, I'm male... I can't use this one :-|
• Yellow: Forget that. It hurts my eyes!

At that point I realised that this was a pointless exercise. OK, I'll use whatever colours I want to and bugger any additional symbolic baggage they may carry. Oh hell!, I'm starting to sound frighteningly post-modernist :-)     (is there a cure?)

The only restriction is that I probably won't use any colours which hurt my eyes when I'm sitting in front of my monitor at 3 o'clock in the morning!

Hang on! Black-on-Black is really hard to work with!!

;-b

A Blogging Wombat?

Why a Blog?

Using a blog seems to me to be a great way for a person to reach the world and for others to give feedback and indeed contribute to ongoing discussions.

I want to use this blog to explore political and ethical ideas as reflected in the world in which we live.

I live in Australia and much of the focus of this blog will be on local issues. However, I am firmly of the opinion that most ethical and political ideas do not grow in isolation, so there will always be global parallels and consequences for local actions. Also, global issues will obviously have an impact on the local scene.

Why a Wombat?

Well, I am a wombat after all, so what else would you expect?

As I wrote in the 'About Me' sidebar, being what I am allows me to experience the world quite differently to how you day-walkers see it.

My aim with this blog is to:

• See how the world looks from different points of view to those which are frequently seen.
  
• Examine the roots of problems, not just the surface manifestations.
• Look at the whys and wherefores of that sometimes overwhelming need for many of us to escape from the realities of the world into a womb-like, safe place. To hide our heads in the sand and not confront what is going on around us. The feeling of stop the world, I want to get off!.
• Research the politics of inclusion and exclusion.
• Consider how best, on both the personal and societal levels, to deal with what happens when (not if) the processes in the world finally catch up with us and grab us, if we're lucky, by the scruffs of our necks to face the day's dragons armed, maybe, with a butter knife. The optimist would say that one should grab life by the balls, not to let it happen the other way round. (For any woman reading this, I'm sure you understand what I'm getting at, despite the obvious anatomical differences)

Why Publish Now?

I believe that our planet is in, or rapidly approaching, a major state of crisis in both the moral and environmental senses. This dire situation is at least partly reflected in the worldwide political mess we are in at present. I don't pretend to have any overwhelming answers, but I have many ideas I'd like to share with you here, which perhaps could make a difference.

When I talk about ethical or moral stances I mean these to be understood in the broadest terms. Not for me the narrow view of the conservative Christian Right, but rather a view of a world where all people, and indeed all creatures, are treated with respect and valued for their own sakes. Not merely as some economic pawn or tool to be pushed about, used or manipulated by whatever powers exist without any real concern as to their welfare, both materially and spiritually. (however that is defined)

With these ideas in mind I will begin, and hopefully continue, this ongoing quest for knowledge and understanding on how to encourage a better world for all life on this small blue-green planet of ours!