Three and a half years ago my life was tumultuous. A friend suggested yoga for health and peace of mind. Since the guy-to-girl ratio was in my favour, I immediately signed up.
Being obsessive-compulsive, I started looking into the philosophy behind it and adopted portions of it.
One of the ethical dictates is harmonious living, applying the non-aggression principle to animals implies not causing them pain. In short, I became a vegan (less than 30 seconds into you reading the article, I managed to get that in there).
About a year later, the obnoxious guy from The Apprentice rode down an escalator. He campaigned on banning Muslims, deficit spending, killing civilians in the Middle East, diminishing free trade, and he called Mexicans crossing the border criminals, rapists, and drug dealers.
Not being one to stay silent, I began blogging about what a lunatic this guy is, which ultimately led me to Being Libertarian.
All of this is to say that, as a vegan and prolific anti-Trump blogger, I am comfortable saying that the majority of individuals upset about lifting the elephant-trophy ban are engaging in vacuous nonsense. It’s the height of virtue signaling to post a picture of one’s lunch – a bacon wrapped steak – only to go on and post a link to Trump’s animal cruelty.
It’s the leftists who demand more resources for the poor; while an analysis of their tax returns indicates a pronounced lack of charity on their part. They’re perfectly generous with everyone’s money except their own.
These same people will demand others stop animal cruelty but not lift a finger to end their own.
I understand a reasonable omnivore diet and why people don’t have empathy for animals. I understand why people do have empathy for animals and have a vegetarian or vegan diet. What I fail to understand are people who complain about animal cruelty but feel perfectly justified in the most horrific treatment of animals because tofu and chickpeas aren’t good enough (which implies a serious lack of culinary creativity).
The most appropriate word that comes to mind is velleity – a desire for a thing unaccompanied by any meaningful effort to obtain it.
It’s akin to an obese person who “Photoshops” their photos rather than going to the gym, or the person posting about helping Syrian refugees but not doing anything to help them.
It’s claiming to love science but not bothering with reading Newton, Darwin, or Einstein. These people want the look, the aura, the veneer of kindness to animals, but there is nothing behind that beyond erecting an image of it, the substance is lacking.
I’ve been writing for several months on a societal drift toward nothingness. Our money, the thing we devote ⅓ of our lives to pursue, is predicated upon nothing. Journalism fills our minds with non-information or false information; our minds are being filled with what amounts to nothing in terms of positive content. Justice is replaced with upvotes and downvotes – objective morality is replaced with mob rule. Ethical reasoning is replaced with late-night comedians and groupthink.
This literally nothing attempt at animal rights is merely the latest symptom in the abolition of humanity, or at least, all things that make us human.
It is symptomatic of the left’s inert lethargy of wanting change but not being the change.
Libertarians offer a different view: The view that personal responsibility comes before social advocacy.
Substance comes before image. Truth comes before news story, not narrative before news story. Consent comes before charity. Love replaces entitlement in welfare – an active force replaces a passive force, something replaces nothing.
Liberty is the great reactionary force against the gravitational pull toward nothing.
Brandon Kirby
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