You have to put yourself in an animal’s perspective

Since my major is Animal Biology, one of my mandatory courses this semester was Animal Welfare.  Very interesting course with lots of reasons to have different opinions.  It’s had me thinking about my own thoughts on animal welfare and rights.

One thing I specifically wanted to talk about was the tendency of AR people to go, “Well, how would you like it if you were raised to be killed?” and my very interesting musing I had on what it would actually be like to be in that perspective.

First of all, I would be born in a facility and raised, not knowing much about the outside world.  I would have consistent supplies of food and water, shelter treatment when ill, and social interaction (Provided this is a responsible establishment, which is more common than people seem to think).  Even if I was in an outside paddock and could see that there was a world on the other side of the fence, I can’t imagine being interested in it at all.  Putting myself in that mindset, I would think that the outside would be very scary as it would appear much more chaotic and unpredictable next to my predictable, safe, and consistently satisfying lifestyle.

When slaughter comes, it would be quick and painless and then I would be dead and therefore unable to be bothered by the fact that I was killed for food.

I find it funny when I hear people ask “Well, how would you like to be raised and slaughtered for food?” because it’s such a narrow-minded and presumptuous question.  It just assumes that we would carry with us, our current mentality and schemas, into this new situation when the fact is; we would have a whole different perspective and outlook on the world if we were actually in the same position as food animals.

-Daine

It’s been a while

Well, it’s been a while since my last post and I don’t have a specific topic to muse on but I’d like to replace the last post with a new one.

I finished my exams and my marks are generally a lot higher than they were for first semester.  They’re still not up to my standards but they show huge improvement which I am glad for.  Unfortunately, my parents don’t necessarily see improvement and will still be disappointed with my marks, which is why I’ve only told my mom; she’s not as harsh about it.  I’ll eventually have to tell my dad but I’m biding my time.

I haven’t talked at all about my sister on here.  My parents treat her much differently from me and I don’t really know why.  One thing is when they tell her something, they don’t follow through with it whereas if they tell me something, they follow through with it.  Example;  when we got blackberries due to a contest that was won, my parents said that we wouldn’t be getting another one if ours were lost or damaged so we had to be super careful with them.  My sister, being my sister and not really valuing anything, left her blackberry in the rain and it of course died.  What does my dad do?  He gives her another one.  Albeit, it was his old one but he still gave her another one nonetheless.  I don’t know what happened to that one, if it was damaged or my sister just decided it wasn’t good enough for her but she’s getting another one.

You see, if mine got damaged or was lost, I know that I wouldn’t get another one unless I paid for it out of my own pocket.  I know, it kinda makes you go ‘what the hell?’

Anyways, my mom came in with groceries and expects me to drop everything and help her so I gotta go.

-Daine

Quickie

I haven’t posted here in a while because I’m focusing so much on studying for my exam tonight but I thought I’d just make a quick post with two fan-made videos I love that have to do with Harry Potter.

First, the hilarious Harry Potter rap;

And now a parody trailer made with Harry Potter clips.  It’s a very cute Harry/Hermione video in a  weird, sort of twisted way lol.

And now another quote from “How to be a Canadian” It’s talking about the average 8.5 hours of sleep is spent by a Canadian.  It is particularly applicable to me;

“From our own estimates, this includes 5 hours and 10 minutes of actual sleep, 15 minutes of pillow adjustment, 10 minutes of lying still with your eyes closed while you wait to fall asleep, 25 minutes of tossing and turning, 30 minutes of longing for sleep, 40 minutes of thinking you will never get to sleep again, 55 minutes spent staring at the ceiling contemplating your own mortality and 15 minutes (broken up into three convenient 5-minute periods) of fitful sleep squeezed in between repeated bashings of your clock when the snooze alarm goes off, waking you up to face another day of being alive.  Hoo-ray.”

Introductions

Okay, seeing as I have just created this blog, introductions are in order.  Although I admit it’s not my actual name, you can all know me as Daine.  Perhaps in time I will decide to give my real name but at the moment, I will let it remain private.

What I will tell you is that if all goes as planned, I will be graduating from the University of Guelph in 2013 with a bachelor of science, most likely majoring in animal biology.  As for what I’m going to do after that, I have no clue, but I’ll let you know when I found out.  Perhaps I’ll lay out my ideas for you but that’s a post for another time.

I gave this blog the title and tagline that I did because I expect that I will be commenting on anything and everything that crosses my path.  I want you to be forewarned that there will be absolutely no structure in my blogging and that the only theme present is the background of this webpage.

I am exhausted at the moment so I’ll leave you (‘you’ being a term used loosely seeing as I doubt anybody’s going to see this particular post.  Feel free to surprise me though!  I love surprises!) with this citation from an immensely funny book I’m reading (expect a lot of funny citations) called ‘How to be a Canadian’.  This particular paragraph is describing the style of driving native to Vancouver, referred to as ‘The Vancouver Slalom’.

‘There are no roads in British Columbia.  There are only corners joined together.  And nowhere is this more true than in Vancouver.  In this city, pedestrians, even those within clearly marked crosswalks–especially those within clearly marked crosswalks–are viewed not as nuisances to be avoided but as obstacles to be overcome.  Rising to the challenge, Vancouver drivers will attempt to weave through these pedestrians without knocking any over and, here’s the fun part, without ever applying the breaks.  Swoosh, swoosh: downtown slalom.  Pedestrians, in turn, try to keep things interesting by crisscrossing the streets at random, like neutrons in a particle accelerator.  They cross the street like this because, being from Vancouver, they naturally have a sense of entitlement.  Either that or they’re stoned.’