The Surefire Way to Make an Industry Change

On #farm365, there's quite a bit of fighting. What is it worth? There are differing opinions, that's obvious from the start, but what is the point of fighting?

The two vocal sides on #farm365:
   - farmers
   - animal rights advocates

You've got the agricultural industry who is silently paying attention, supporting their farmers and "agvocates", training them, holding seminars, teaching and coaching them with their billion dollar industry and multitude of resources. These are the "big guys" standing behind the good old fashioned "farmers" with every freedom in life, promoting the happy family farm life that has nothing to do with the animals who never know freedom . . . Freedom from pain. Freedom from suffering. Freedom to love and raise their own children. Freedom to chose whether or not to have children in the first place. Freedom to roam free. Freedom to love. The freedom to just live . . . Talk about a marketing ploy. Backed by money, driven by money, corrupted by money. That's all it is is profits at the expense of the lives of others. The more they cut corners, the more money they make, the more they have to hide. Farmers don't work for themselves anymore, the whole agricultural industry in what they call "vertically integrated". They're all linked, they all depend on each other. In a nutshell, it's a monopoly with very, very rich people at the top. These are the "big guys".

Then you have the "little guys". The animal rights advocates. The people who used to be a part of this and have learned of their own accord what the truth really is. Once you know, you can't be a part of that anymore. You realize you're being used to use animals to put billions of dollars into the pockets of giant corporate CEO's who don't care about anyone or anything. They care about money. Well, this "little guy" cares about her health, about animals, about the environment. I always claimed I did, but that was just wishful thinking. I was blindly committing the worst crimes against all three of those values. I was so misinformed, so blind, so ignorant. Money matters less than ever. Truth matters.

Aside from these parties, you have the silent listeners and watchers: most people. I'll come back to this in a moment. Let me summarize something else quickly:

The food industry, the business of food, is at an all-time low. Quality food and the variety of food available is at an all-time high. (We're talking in North America, mostly, where our way of life infects the rest of the world unfortunately). Our ability to make choices about what we eat, how we eat and what our money supports is at an all-time high. We're buying the world we want to live in. Nearly all of us have no idea where our food comes from. We blindly hand over our money and unknowingly consume misery and death and to our own detriment. Our health, overall, is at an all-time low. Diet-related diseases: heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis . . . are our number one causes of death. Our treatment of our fellow earthlings is at an all-time low. Over 95% of all "food animals" are housed in factory farms or CAFO's (concentrated animal feeding operations). Free-range only means that they're not confined (even literally caged to the floor, unable to move at all), not that they're running around a grassy pasture with their friends, happy as can be. There is no happiness in what we call "farming" these days. It's pure misery, agony, suffering and unrelenting psychological and physical pain and devastation. Seeing is believing, and they hide 99% of it from us and then promote the 1% that they keep around for promotional purposes. No matter what type of "humane" operatio they claim it is, there are inhumane practices that are completely legal and standardized across the board. You don't know, but you should. This is what your money buys. This is your world. These are the results of your choices. This is what you eat. You are . . . what you eat.

And you can, it's all out there to be known. More and more, the truth is coming to light. The dark confines of the inside of "barns", "farms" and slaughterhouses are being brought to light. The animals who suffer in these dark, dismal hellholes are being brought into the light again, into the sun, the creator of all life and all energy, for the first time in their existence . . . Something most of them never see.

So, these silent listeners I mentioned before--they matter most. Here is where the title of this blog comes into play: The Surefire way to Make an Industry Change. Industry is all about money, that's ultimately all the businesspeople (farmers included) care about, unless some regulations hurt their bottom line in some way and make them care (they're notorious for skirting the law though--it's not trouble unless you get caught, right?). If you want to change an industry, you change demand, not the supply. As long as there's a demand, someone is going to profit off of it and someone is going to suffer. It's time to change the consumer, and that's what's happening. I experienced that change less than a year ago myself and it was absolutely huge! The way I saw the world and my association with it changed massively, my actions therefore changed, and once choice at a time, I changed into someone I respected more and more.

Back to that question of, where does the fighting get us? Fighting with farmers is pointless, unless it draws attention just by the fact that it is controversial. But that has a habit of turning away the rational and just people who are there with good intentions. Farmers aren't the audience, they're marketing themselves to make more money, that's all. Animal rights and vegan advocates have no motives other than helping others. There's no monetary benefit and no personal gain. So, who are you going to trust?

Industry has been manipulating their consumer to create demand for decades. Thanks, mass media. Who needs non-biased information and freedom of thought? (I was suckered into that most of my life too). The age of information and the explosion of social media is changing the world at a really rapid pace. It no longer takes money to access information. Industry is in a panic, thankfully. Truth matters, and now we're all entitled to it. Sadly, now we're all afraid of it.

We've been restricted from the non-biased truth for so long that we've built our comfortable little lives around lies. We're so afraid of change and challenges to our way of life, and the truth threatens that. No matter how easy or beneficial the change, it is rejected. Panic ensues and dissociation, even opposition, anger, resentment. People reject the truth they fear. It's not going away though. It just needs to be persistent and loud and everywhere. That's happening. The people who genuinely care about life in all its forms, and not money, are making that happen. Thank you social media!

Here comes the truth, like a positive parade raining down on industry's parade ("charade"). You can try to hide from it, but it's coming for you! So many people are afraid, but it's alright. Change takes time. Comfort will come with time. The consumer base will change gradually with the bold making giant leaps first, then the cautious, and then the fearful. Without fail though, change will come. Change is inevitable. And as long as the truth continues to creep out of the shadows and into the light, and as long as we still believe that knowledge is power, the more we're realize the inevitability of what is being said: industry will change. Everything the animal agricultural industry is built upon is quickly reaching it's unsustainable climax. They, driven by their consumer's "demand" have raped the oceans, culled most of our forests, they've been a primary driving force for global warming, pollution, ocean death, heart disease, diabets, cancer, obesity, diabetes, animal cruelty and senseless death in the incomprehensible bilions . . . and on and on . . . Hello, truth. Consumers are changing, the market is changing, the industry will have to change.


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