VEGANGELICA

Hi MBers.

Today while listening to Amanda Palmer's song in support of women keeping their pubic hair, I felt frustrated that all the women in her video appeared to shave their legs. This reminded me of a mostly autobiographical song called "Revolting" that I wrote in 2009 in which I describe being criticized for having all my body hair, for protecting my child from genital cutting, and for breastfeeding him in public.

Then I was listening to "A Man Named Sue," about a man who becomes stronger after being picked on for having a woman's name (as if being like a woman were bad). This song *also* reminded me of "Revolting," because I feel it *is* true that being shunned by society can make you stronger...or turn you into a misanthrope. One or the other. Or both.

So, I decided it was a good time for me to post my lyrics for "Revolting."

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"REVOLTING" by Erica

I was jogging with my boyfriend around a track
when a college woman watching me faked a heart attack,
looked me up and down from leg hair to toe,
and in a loud, scornful voice, so I was sure to know,
said, “Poor guy. What you put him through!
You are revolting. I’ve never seen someone like you.”
And I replied, I wish you wouldn’t be mean, but it’s true,
I am revolting and I hope you’ll be revolting, too, because...

I’m revolting. I’m revolting against
you critics of a woman’s body
who say there’s something wrong with a healthy part of me.
I’m revolting. I’m revolting against
your culture of discrimination.
I stand for human liberation.

You can take your shallow love
where others tell you who to be,
but I accept and love myself
and found someone who loves all of me.

We were holding our baby, enjoying the fact
he was healthy and whole and would be staying intact
with all the parts inherited through evolution,
when a relative called to tell us what should be done.
She said, “For shame! You should circumcise.
It is revolting not to, so just ignore his cries.”
And I replied, I wish you wouldn’t be mean, but it’s true,
I am revolting and I hope you’ll be revolting, too, because...

I’m revolting. I’m revolting against
critics of the human body
who say there’s something wrong with my healthy baby and me.
I’m revolting. I’m revolting against
genital mutilation.
I stand for human liberation.

You can take your fragile love
from those who don’t like what they see,
but I respect and I’ll protect
what nature gave to you and me.

And it’s a funny irony
that by living naturally
and doing nothing at all
you’ll be revolutionary.

I was sitting on a park bench quietly reading,
while our child, now a toddler, was breastfeeding,
when I man walking by saw us resting there
and in a loud, cold voice, to ensure I was aware,
said, “Good God, you should stay out of view.
You are revolting. I’ve never seen the likes of you.”
And I replied, I wish you wouldn’t be mean, but it’s true,
I am revolting and I hope you’ll be revolting, too, because...

I’m revolting. I’m revolting against
you critics of the human body
who say there’s something wrong with my healthy child and me.
I’m revolting. I’m revolting against
cruelty and denigration.
I stand for human liberation.

You can take your false love
from those who bend you to their will.
They say they care for you and share with you,
but their intent is just to kill.

And it’s a funny irony
that by living naturally
and hurting no one at all
you’ll be revolutionary.

So when they try to define you
and call you second rate,
hoping to break your spine,
go ahead and stand up straight,
because you know you’re fine
as you are.

I was looking in vain for a role model,
a woman unafraid of being natural
who embraces her body and earth’s children, too,
and tells them all I love all of you.
But I found no teacher or movie star,
no leader who loves herself and others as they truly are,
so I saw I was going to have to stand up alone.
If I want a role model I’ll need to be my own, so...

I’m revolting. I’m revolting
against critics of our human body
who say there’s something wrong with my healthy child and me.
I’m revolting. I’m revolting
against callousness and domination.
I stand for love and liberation.

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Mr November

Some good stuff.

Sljslj

For sure. Erica's very good at what she does.

Keep it up, Erica. You've been writing some incredible stuff lately.

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Geetarguy

digging the last post you made. really feel it! keep it up!

VEGANGELICA

Thank you, Ian, Slj, and Geetarguy, for stopping by and for your encouragement.

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Zaqarbal

Thank you very much for your warm welcome. It's a pleasure to be here. And yes, regarding cinema and TV I'm a kind of Remington Steele. I can't help it. It's like a "mnemonic spring". I always think of a movie, a series, a character or a scene which fits in with certain issues, situations, ideas, dilemmas, people, thoughts, etc.

I guess you refer to Come and See (don't worry about the mistake ). The shooter is a young Soviet soldier who has seen how the nazis have commited terrible atrocities to his people (the Bielorussian civilians). That's why he's full of anger and hate, so he flies into a rage and starts shooting that Hitler's portrait at the puddle. But, as we have seen, at the end of that regressive visual sequence, he suddenly becomes shocked before that (mental) image showing Hitler as a little boy, and then starts to cry (in a bigger screen his tears are dramatically visible).

Yes, and if we think about it, that's terrifying. I mean, to think that there could be a demon inside every (apparently) common person like any of us. As Matt Dillon's character in Crash says: "You think you know who you are? You have no idea."

True. And a movie has come to mind (as always ): Stalingrad. Main characters are a group of soldiers; the higher ranks order them to kill prisoners and civilians, but they refuse to do it.

I know what you mean. When I was a child, I used to watch a popular documentary-series about Iberian fauna. The chapter on the Iberian Wolf was titled The Innocent Killers (title says it all). I've found an excerpt from it. That blood on the snow is shocking. Wolves are so implacable....

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Sljslj

No problem. You've given me plenty of advice over the past year, so much so that I can't possibly throw enough encouragement your way.

Erica, would you mind checking out my newest lyric? I really like it and I'm curious of what you might have to say about it.

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VEGANGELICA

Finding relationships among memorable things is a great way to remember them, Zaqarbal, Garfield-like cat-lover!

I also like thinking about how movies and art are a reflection of life and are also part of life, shaping our perceptions of it.

Yes, that's the movie. I read the wiki information. That looks like a good movie. I'll try to find it.

The movie sounds very sad, such as when it shows so accurately the very realistic situation in which Nazi soldiers laugh and enjoy the spectacle as they lock people in a church and burn them: "Grenades are thrown into the church, which is then set on fire and shot at; Florya watches the inferno of burning Byelorussian peasants while the Nazis stand and applaud, taking photographs and laughing, and listening to music. The woman who escaped the church is put into a moving truck with a group of soldiers and repeatedly raped."

I am similarly disturbed when I see the joy and excitement of hunters who make a kill, and when I read about hog confinement personnel in Iowa shoving things up pigs' vaginas and beating them.

Are people who feel no remorse at killing others "innocent killers" like the wolves are said to be in your first video's title? Is a remorseless murderer of humans an innocent killer? If a person cannot feel empathy for a victim, under what circumstances do we blame the killer for her or his lack of empathy?

I think the root cause of people's desire to hurt others, whether human or pig, is the same. This is one reason I am scared when people hurt animals: if they are choosing to treat a weaker being unkindly and cruelly, how can I trust them to treat me well, especially when I am someday weaker myself?

I remember that line. That's a good line and very true, I feel. Every apparently common person *could* probably be like a demon in the right (or wrong) circumstances.

Even wolves (as shown in your second video) appear to like to shnuffle flowers or enjoy the flowers moving around them. They are affectionate toward each other, too, with all that mouth-licking going on! I didn't know wolves got so intimate with their mouths. They make human kissing seem quite tame!

That video is distressing for me to watch because it shows how desperately that deer is fleeing for her or his life...scared enough to fall over a cliff, wounded and stunned by the fall (leaving blood on the snow), yet lunging onward as the wolves close in, trying as hard as possible to escape. If I were being chased, I'd be doing the same thing.

Zaqarbal, have you ever noticed how people almost always overdub music onto nature videos, as if the natural sounds weren't sufficient and must be dramatically altered for the viewers' pleasure?

I always find the addition of music to such scenes of brutal and horrifying death (for the deer) and excitement (from the wolves' perspective) rather odd.

Why do people feel they have to alter viewers' emotional responses by using music to accentuate drama or horror or whatever else is going on? Is it wrong to turn someone's death into a dramatic spectacle? If those were wolves chasing after a human, would the cinematographers of the documentary find "appropriate music" to match that person's end? I doubt it.

Done!

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VEGANGELICA

Hello again, fearless MB People,

Zaqarbal's and my discussion about how humans and wolves treat their prey and about how each of us has the capacity to act like a "demon" has inspired me to post the lyrics for my song, "Cloven," about mulesing.

Mulesing (Mulesing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) is a practice in which people slice off strips of wrinkly skin from the bottoms of lambs (without anesthetic) to prevent flystrike (Myiasis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Flystrike is a problem in hot, wet areas such as Australia because people have bred the sheep to be wrinkly to maximize the wool obtained per sheep, despite the fact that the wrinkles around the moist bottoms of lambs attract the flies. And flies will lay their eggs. And eggs hatch into larvae that then start to eat the lambs alive.

I only learned about mulesing 14 years ago when I, as an ovo-lacto vegetarian, was investigating veganism, with one issue being why to avoid purchasing wool. Around 10 years ago I was also able to discuss mulesing with an Australian sheep farmer, a family friend who told me that after mulesing of lambs they no longer frisk about like they did before. She was a lovely woman, kind and gentle...just not to sheep.

I vent some of my bitterness about the practice of mulesing in this song, which explains one reason I don't buy wool or support the wool industry. The other reason is that the wool industry is cloven hoof in cloven hoof with the mutton/lamb industry.

One cheery note is that lambs intended for slaughter aren't subjected to mulesing since they won't live long enough to "benefit" from having their skin chopped off.

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"CLOVEN" by Erica

So you think you are peaceful and gentle and loving.
So you think you are thoughtful, empathic and kind.

Well pull the wool from your eyes!
Face the festering lies
like the skin people slice
from the asses of lambs
to save money and time.

When they want someone’s hair,
the more skin the better,
though they know that maggots
will feed on the slack,
so count this trying to sleep –
they cleave skin from the sheep
so the flies will have less to attack.

So you think flocks are grazing in fields idyllic
and are shepherded happily under bright skies.

Well pull the wool from your eyes!
Face the pestering flies
laying eggs in the folds
of the skin of the lambs
people bred wrinkles in
to save money and time.

Profits speak louder than conscience.
Conscience conceives no remorse
for the torture condoned
when victims are owned
and treated as if they’re a resource.

Victims are cut by their captors.
Captors make victims your feast
and the clothes on your back
so I have to ask
who is the lamb and who is the beast?

So you think you are helpful, aware, and big-hearted.
So you think you are merciful, decent and wise.

Well pull the wool from your eyes!
Face the terrified cries
of the lambs being bound on their backs
and flung onto racks
where shepherds cut chunks
off their bottoms so flies
can’t lay eggs in the skin
breeders bred wrinkles in

for they don’t give a damn
since I man’s not a lamb.

So as you wear your wool,
stop playing the fool.
Did you buy someone’s cry
just so you
could save money and time?

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Mulesing:

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VEGANGELICA

Hello Humans,

Recently I learned about a comic strip called "Lola Lollipop" whose author often uses irony and sarcasm to discuss vegetarianism and specifically veganism, in which people try to reduce the suffering of sentient beings by avoiding all animal products.

Apparently quite a few non-vegetarians like this comic strip because the wry humor helps them consider the points being made without feeling terribly affronted by them. Many vegetarians can also relate well to the situations in which the character Lola finds herself.

I especially related to these comics:

143. Pet Cow - Lola Lollipop Comic Strip
145. Animals in the Meat Industry Don't Suffer
http://lolalollipop.com/139-christmas-ham/
http://lolalollipop.com/136-moral-codes-killing/

I like how the author includes thoughtful quotes after each strip, such as this one that I hadn't heard before but feel is very true:

"Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity." -- George Bernard Shaw

Reading and appreciating the irony in the Lola Lollipop comic strip inspired me to write the song, "Our Kind," because I realized I haven't used much sarcasm and irony in my lyrics and maybe humor is an effective technique for breaking through to some meat-eaters.

This song is based on my experiences as a vegan living among mostly meat-eaters. I use the song to describe not only them, but also something I've never felt comfortable with, which is myself trying to "keep the peace" in situations in which I confront what I view as an atrocity, such as the tradition of people killing the Christmas pig and putting her or him on the table to celebrate "love" and "kindness" and "peace on earth."

This phrase "keeping the peace" also relates to meat-eaters who refuse to acknowledge the pain of animals to which their eating habits contribute. Sometimes all the "peace" in these animal-eating orgies makes me sick.

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"Our Kind" by Erica

Oh you’re so kind.
You never mind when people
make your meal that used to feel.
You don’t care on whom you’ve dined.

Oh you’re so good.
You always do as you should.
You base your decisions on traditions,
whether or not they’re understood

because you know
you make the world a better place.
It doesn’t matter if your food had a face.
Nothing you do could make you fall from grace

for you want to be merciful though you’ve never tried,
but it’s the thought that counts and you’ve got love inside.
You’re not a liar so of course you’ve never lied.
In your mind you’re kind.

You always thank the cook in kitchen
for shoving roasts and hams in the oven,
and when the meal is done
you ask the hostess, “May I be excused?”
But what about for all the animals you’ve used?!

Oh you’re so sweet.
You overlook whom you eat.
You’re just so thankful your plate is full
of legs and ribs, a tasty treat.

You’re so polite.
You keep the slaughter out of sight.
You say, “Please pass the meat”
and use a knife to be neat
for you’ve been brought up right

because you know
what matters is the superficial.
La de da, life is wonderful.
You keep the peace though it’s artificial

because you know nobody should ever complain
about someone else’s suffering and pain.
Killing is fine but don’t take god’s name in vain
because you’re kind.

You have such lovely table manners.
You’re so intent not to offend.
As blood is pooling on your plate
you just ignore the souls you ate
for they’re the means and you’re the end,
always justified.

Oh you’re so kind,
you never mind when people
make your meal that used to squeal.
You don’t care on whom you’ve dined.
You don’t care that they’re confined

because your kind,
you’re so kind,
so good and kind,
so sweet and kind,
oh your kind.

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