Dear Sam,
So according to you, Greenpeace, chai
drinkers and PETA are the only ones able to render assistance when an animal is
in need…
Reading back more
than four years later, the frustration
in my words is palpable.
…Shame on those who stand idly by and
criticise organisations that do not have the capacity to be in five million
places simultaneously (by the way, the groups you mentioned aren’t even the
relevant ones in this case)…
I was
seething. The target of my anger was a tiny op-ed by Fairfax journalist Sam de
Brito:
“Recently there were bazillions of bluebottles
washed up on my local beach. But there was not one Greenpeace activist or
chai-drinker trying to roll the stingers back into the ocean so they could be
saved from death baking in the sun and popping like bubble wrap. Where’s PETA
when you need them?”
Another
journo mocking animal advocates. Nothing really surprising there! But despite
the tongue-in-cheek tone, I nonetheless found it annoying enough to dedicate my
second
ever blog post to the topic, and promptly sent my response to Sam via
email.
Animal rights
advocates and vegans are accustomed to being mocked and stereotyped: in the media, by
acquaintances, by colleagues, and by the general populace. It becomes mundane, and
predictable, but not a whole lot less irritating over time.
Fast forward
more than three years, and I was devouring the same journalist’s words in his implausibly
titled piece, Confessions
of a vegan.
It began: “Aside
from militant cyclists, racists, bullies and Roosters fans, the people who used
to shit me most profoundly were vegans. Self-righteous, hectoring, humourless,
spoilsports - I'd have crossed a crowded dinner table to avoid them, until the
fateful day I became one myself.”
Sam had turned. (And no one was more surprised than me!)
Sam had turned. (And no one was more surprised than me!)
He even
expressed shame for his past looking down upon vegans, admitting that he had merely dismissed their arguments and now realised he'd been the "bully" he had once despised.
He was now
privy to the horrors of a system that he found too detestable to support with
his dollars for one more second. No longer content to live in ignorance, he
decided to live his values, and to educate through his position in the media.
He equated
the farming of animals with slavery. He slammed
the attempts to introduce ag-gag style laws to NSW (laws which can result
in the prosecution of those unearthing animal abuse in farms). And he
challenged the ethics
of animal testing.
To say that
Sam’s “reinvention” provoked a backlash would be putting it lightly. (Just read
the comments under any of his articles about animal rights!)
He had
denounced the stereotype of the meat-eating, macho Aussie man. He had challenged
the status quo.
However, on
the other side of the coin, he had instantaneously amassed a new wave of
followers who could identify with his words.
Fans from the
animal rights movement vigorously defended him in the lengthy debates under his
articles. They also cheered when he was announced as the runner-up of the 2014 Voiceless Media Prize for “Confessions of a vegan”.
The piece
resonated with many of us.
“Once the light
goes on and you realise the food you so blithely eat actually causes
massive, life-long, completely avoidable suffering to billions of animals, it’s
not an easy epiphany to un-think,” Sam wrote.
He is right:
many vegans speak of not being able to “un-see” the horrors of animal abuse,
once they first become actively aware of it. I definitely feel this way: from the
time I first picked up Peter Singer’s book Animal Liberation as a teenager, and
learnt about factory farming - practically transforming into a vegetarian
overnight.
(Once the “light
goes on”, it can colour your entire view of the world. I know that when I first
pored over the pages of Animal Liberation, the overwhelming reaction I had was
one of betrayal. Why had no one ever told me about this? How could a
16-year-old who professed to want to protect animals, and who had adored them
from childhood, not known how they were treated in the process of becoming our
food?!)
Sam became a voice
for animals in the mainstream media – an outlet that is notoriously
reluctant to publish “risky” pieces about the realities of animals in the
farming industry. They often don’t take the gamble; editors don’t want to scare
off their advertisers, or turn off their readership.
Animal
advocates know only too well that “ignorance is bliss” for many people. The
truth is unsavoury; confronting it is all too raw. Turning away is all too
easy.
But, we like
to ask, easy for whom? Not for those who suffer behind closed doors, who have
no voice, who become objects and commodities for sale.
I commend Sam
for shining a torch into these dark places. For revealing the horrors and the hypocrisy.
For exposing the unpalatable truth, even when it drew ridicule from readers.
Thank you Sam
for your courageous and incisive articles. You will be missed by so many who
embraced your voice and who could relate to your journey.
RIP Sam.
**News of Sam's death, at the age of 46, appeared in the media this morning**
This piece subsequently appeared in Discordia Zine.
Links to some
of Sam’s articles:
Confessions
of a vegan: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/confessions-of-a-vegan-20140726-zx84p.html
We are all Nazis
when it comes to animal rights: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/we-are-all-nazis-when-it-comes-to-animal-rights-20140422-zqy0b.html
Put the
cameras in farms, not outside: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/put-the-cameras-in-farms-not-outside-20150825-gj75uy.html
Cochlear's
silence on animal testing is deafening: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/cochlears-silence-on-animal-testing-is-deafening-20150726-gikmxx.html
(Image of Sam via: http://i.dmarge.com/2015/10/3263212-3x2-460x307.jpg)
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