I signed all the petitions and wrote to my MP, as so many people did, and still the government decided to start the badger cull.
Well, I reckon as a British minion, oops I meant citizen, I have only a few powers in the greater scheme of things.
- The first power is my vote, this I shall, in future, use as a statement; voting from the heart. The two main parties seem to only care about kowtowing to other governments, the wealthy or corporations, such as the energy companies. They seem to have forgotten that voters (and PAYE tax payers) have to live with their decisions. In future I will vote for the party that reflects how I feel, whether it be, Green for the environment or UKIP because of Europe issues, or some other party, I will decide later. (If everyone did that, the political tree would be well shaken and there would be a better balanced government, I believe).
- The second power is my ability to make a noise, the voice. Like most people, my voice and the voice of most minion voters and PAYE tax payers are not considered important until the election, then the two main parties make a load of crowd pleasing promises and expect their sheep to knock at the polling station door, sadly they do.
- The third power is the collective voice, the petition signer, the writer to MPs on mass about certain issues - this option may seem pointless to some but it has David Cameron and his cronies rattled enough to try to stop campaigns; so arrogant be this government that they think they know what's best for the average minion without considering the ideas and feelings of the voter. We must remember that the government consists of MPs - people who are so arrogant, that they consider themselves above the average bod (voter and PAYE tax payer) and who consider the same average bods to be uneducated with a short memory - after all these MPs, or their predecessors are the very same people who set up (or sabotaged - whichever way you look at it) the education system.
- The fourth and perhaps the most effective power is consumer power. The corporations and super wealthy are there because they make money out of consumer spending, if people do not buy their products they lose profit and power. Boycotting foods and food stuffs, thought to be unhealthy, unethical or environmentally unsound, has such an effect that companies will change ingredients and products to suit the consumers. New products appear on the shelf as alternatives to out of favour products. Take cows' milk as an example: there was a time when cows' milk was unquestionably the milk, there were no alternatives. Then, because of health intolerance or ethical concerns, people sought alternatives: goats milk became easily available, sheep's milk and soy or soya milk soon came onto the market too. Then soy or soya products became a problem to some people because of allergies and intolerance and the recognition of much soy product is GMO (a genetically modified substance) and a health and environmental risk, so other alternatives sprang onto the market, some of these will be reviewed later. Another example is the Organic Market, these foods are available because other foods are deemed environmentally unacceptable to many consumers.
I didn't think it would be easy to give up milk and butter, I love a cup of tea and buttered toast, but knowing how uncaring the dairy industry has become and thinking that on top of cows' suffering, badgers are being hunted with terriers or shot, is just too horrible for someone like me. I care about animals and know that they suffer physical, mental and emotional pain just like we do. The difference is, we rationalise it more easily than they do, but we, human mammals, still do not like feeling mental, emotional or physical pain and seek to escape it when we do. Sadly, a lot of humans seem to have no conscience, when it comes to causing such pain to other mammals.
Mammals have a nervous system, just like we do, they use their nervous system to be aware of their surroundings, by feeling, seeing and hearing their environment. Yes, there are some mammals whose various senses are stronger or weaker than ours, for instance, bats' sight is non existent but their other senses are heightened. The important thing here is that if a mammal feels pain, they, like us, use that signal of discomfort to move away from the source of pain, it is a key survival instinct. Similarly, if a mammal hears a noise, they decipher the noise and act on it, if their understanding is that the noise is from a predator, they get away as fast as possible. However, if the sound is from a young mammal crying, the mother of that young mammal is moved to feed it, or deal with whatever distress it is in. Most mammals care for their young lovingly, they communicate with them, feed them and protect them, willingly putting their own life in danger to do so sometimes.
Mammals have a limbic system, like we do, they feel emotion; if you know dogs, you know how cheerful they can be, but a beaten dog shows its distress with its head down, whimpering and slinking away from its abuser. On a mental level they have a good memory too, they remember their abusers and will slink away when the abuser comes near them, even if that person hasn't been near the dog for a while. We had a rescue dog, Sam, who on seeing his abuser, a year after rescue, whimpered and tried to hide, poor Sam was so distressed, he didn't know where to put himself. My dad, who had rescued Sam, was very angry with the abuser but he managed to disguise this with a joke, telling the fella he would come back as a lamp post in his next life. I could see how angry my dad really was, but as an amateur boxer at the time, he couldn't let his anger get the better of him.
People with horses will soon tell you about their horse's memory when they have been spooked somewhere on the road or the like; they will be nervous at the same spot for years after the event. Horses who have been beaten or harmed around the head can remain fearful of touch around that area, head-shyness is the term for it and it is simply caused by the memory of pain; it can last for years.
Remembering pain is part of the survival system, if you put your hand in hot water, the memory of the pain stops you doing it again and other mammals build up a reservoir of survival memories too. Emotional pain is the same, we don't like going back to emotional suffering either but those memories can be much harder to file away.
Cows are loving mothers, but, so that we humans can drink cows' milk, the calves are removed at an early age and the cows are milked for human consumption. The cows cry and call for their babies for days. The babies are usually kept in pens, sometimes the pens are dark to make the meat better tasting. Then the calves are taken to slaughter, their meat to be sold as veal; they cry for their mothers, too. In one of James Herriot's vets books, he talks about a cow trying to hide her calf so it wasn't taken away. This shows the cow remembered the emotional pain of losing her earlier calves and that she could think enough to make a plan and try to protect the current calf. James Herriot's books were based on his true experiences, as a vet.
Badgers are being slaughtered because cows suffer with TB. Some people (scientists and the like) blame the badgers, believing they carry TB, this stance is hotly disputed by some other scientists and the like - it is NOT a proven theory.
On an holistic level, TB is a sickness of the heart chakra, and cows' heart chakras will be weakened by the calf loss experience, leaving them open to illness. They are mothers whose babies have been taken. Stress weakens mammals' immune systems and if TB becomes apparent not long after the calves have been removed, it is probably because the cows' heart chakras are completely unbalanced, weak and open to sickness and on top of this, their stress levels, whilst calling for, crying for and mourning their young, will be at a high, leaving their immune systems' weakened and open to problems.
Because of all this, I chose to give up milk and butter. I didn't want any more cows and badgers to suffer for my consumer needs, at least. Cheese has also had to come off my menu, sadly, because I love a bit of cheddar. I still have eggs because I have my own rescue chickens, and cute they are too.
Leaving cheese aside, giving up milk has been easier than I thought, an enjoyable adventure. I found my normal (Yorkshire) tea too strong, without milk, so I decided to explore the green tea range at the local Asda and found shelves full of different flavoured teas, another example of consumer power, I believe, this maybe a reaction to the knowledge that caffeine is unhealthy as. There is also a move towards vegan-ism, in light of the knowledge about dairy industry distress. I don't use unfermented soya or soy products because of health and environmental concerns. There are other milk alternatives on the market and they have the necessary calcium included in them.
I have tried a number of teas and milk alternatives and am intent on reviewing them here, to share the info and for my own memory, of course; because, remember, I'm a voter, so I have a short memory, according to the government, so I will need to keep a record.
