Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Horses Are People, Too

Hey, if anybody in NYC wants to go to this (courtesy PETA), say hi to Nellie McKay for me (Chan, this means you):

"Yet another carriage horse has died, this time following something that would sound familiar to any New Yorker: the beating of a street performer's drum. A carriage horse named Smoothie bolted in fear last Friday evening after allegedly becoming spooked by drumming sounds, slammed into a tree, and died. According to news sources, Smoothie's panic caused a second horse to dart into traffic and collide with a car. Loud noises, including street musicians, are a regular part of New York City, as is heavy traffic. If the drumming had not scared Smoothie, some other downtown noise might have. The simple fact remains that horses do not belong on the streets of New York City and that horse-drawn carriages should be banned.

Please join singer and actor Nellie McKay and the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages at a vigil for Smoothie, the other New York City carriage horses who have died, and those who continue to suffer.

What: Vigil to ban horse-drawn carriages
When: Thursday, September 20, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where: North end of Grand Army Plaza. This is equivalent to 60th St. and 5th Avenue - north of the statue - right at Central Park in Manhattan"

Comments:
I don't think I can make this thing, but thought I'd chip in that I just discovered Nellie McKay last week. Was, ahem, sampling some songs from around the internet and found a few advance tracks from her new album. Damnation, I love a spunky lass with a piano.
 
"The simple fact remains that horses do not belong on the streets of New York City and that horse-drawn carriages should be banned."

I don't think this is a simple fact. Actually, I think it's highly debatable.
 
jeremiah--If you like, check my archives for past descriptions of McKay shows I've been to. She's playing around the northeast in the coming weeks. Definitely fun to see live.

Peter: While they look nice, those horses live horrible lives. If animals are capable of making "sad" faces, you'll see them if you ever walk by a row of horses on Central Park South.
 
Well, either way, I'd never support PETA, which is basically a terrorist organization.
 
It's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Peter. What could posibly be wrong with that?

If you really think they're terrorists, I hope you're at least equally against the torturous treatment that the cows, chickens, etc., have to endure so that people can have a tasty treat.
 
They can call themselves all they want, if you're aware of their history and many of their tactics, "terrorist organization" might be a little too kind.

There's nothing wrong with killing animals for food. So no, I'm not against that.

Preachiness in any form is lame, Jere.
 
I'm proud to preach about being kind to animals. Humans and otherwise.
 
Please note the LOCATION CHANGE for the NYC carriage horse vigil on Thursday, September 20:

The vigil for the carriage horses will now be at the north end of Grand Army Plaza. This is equivalent to 60th St. and 5th Avenue - north of the statue - right at Central Park in Manhattan. Same time - 5:30-7:30 on Thursday, September 20th.

Hope to see you there!
 
Thanks, Jill. I've updated it in the post. Somehow I don't think Peter will attend. I can't be there as I'm in Boston. I hope some people who saw this here will go.
 
I will probably be at KFC that evening, actually.

Here's just one of the wonderful propoganda campaigns by PETA, from wikipedia:

Graphic pamphlets

The organization has been criticized for distributing graphic pamphlets to children. According to PETA's website,[127] the pamphlets are geared toward making parents aware of how their actions affect their children. One pamphlet, "Your Daddy Kills Animals!"[128] showed a cartoon father gutting a fish, and stated: "Since your daddy is teaching you the wrong lessons about right and wrong, you should teach him fishing is killing. Until your daddy learns it's not fun to kill, keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals, they could be next." Another pamphlet, addressing the wearing of fur, was headlined "Your Mommy Kills Animals"[129], and featured a cartoon of a mother slicing a knife into a rabbit's stomach. This comic was the inspiration for the naming of a 2007 documentary film about PETA entitled Your Mommy Kills Animals.

This is wrong and unacceptable!
 
So you're saying it's wrong and unacceptable to make a horror-comic style, spoof pamphlet for adults who can choose to do what they want with it.

But it's right and acceptable to take a living creature and shove it into a truck full of others, tear its body apart while it's still alive, chop its head off, boil it up and eat it just because it tastes good?

You're supporting doing horrible things to animals, and I'm supporting the rights of all animals. Your cat, your mom, you...all animals who should be allowed to live without someone saying it's okay to torture and kill them because they're hungry for a tasty treat.
 
The pamphlets were given to the small children of fisherman parents. There is nothing wrong with making your living as a fisherman, and those kids that got that propoganda were terrorized because of some pathetic agenda!

Human beings eat meat and always have. No one cares if you want to be a vegetarian, Jere.
 
"There is nothing wrong with making your living as a fisherman,"

Tell that to the fish!

Humans have always eaten meat. We also used to keep black people as slaves. We also didn't let women vote. Should I go on?

Nice English in that doc's trailer, by the way: "There's two sides to every argument."
 
So you're actually putting meat consumption on the same level as slavery and women's suffrage?

That's just not right.
 
Humans can survive without eating animals--that includes cannibalism, eating fluffy cats and bunnies, etc--just like we can survive with women and black people actually being considered equals to white men.
 
Well, the latest comment by a "fake Peter" (guess who it really was?) has been rejected, but this is still a good argument to have.

His point was that we're at the top of the food chain, that I'm probably against animals eating other animals, etc.

Why do people say "it's only natural"? Why can't I say that it's only natural that my brain was made in a way that I can come up with a way to live without killing other creatures? Sharks gang-rape other sharks. Animals kill each other. It's all instinct. But humans' brains have developed. We can think. We can realize it's not okay to kill, other animals can't. We have a civilized society. I'm sure a murderer would say it feels good to kill, a rapist would say it feels good to rape. But are those things accepted in society?
 

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