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What can I do? - From predator to human being in seven steps

A satirical text for beginners and advanced on the path to becoming human and to an ethical treatment of animals

The most savage and dangerous animal on planet earth is the predatory ape TE (Tyrannohomo erectus), an almost completely hairless and erect-walking mammal. Biologically seen, it belongs to the class of mammals and the order of primates. Within that order it counts among the family of hominidae, based on many morphological and genetic identities with some already extinct ancestors as well as with some still living kinds of apes, which are its closest relatives. Even Tyrannosaurus rex, which had given its contemporaries a hard and often short time of life during the Jurassic period, was a relatively harmless experimental product of the evolutionary process in comparison. Thanks to their increasing cognitive abilities, the predatory apes have in the course of evolution taken up top position as the domineering carnivores in the web of life. Although, unlike other predators, they were not dependent on meat as a means to survival because they were soon able to supply themselves with good-tasting vegetarian food, the majority of the species remained anchored in its archaic nutritional ways. Thus they have roamed this planted since 1.5 million years, driven by their urge for bloody prey and oral satisfaction. In order to fill their insatiable demand for bloody meals more efficiently, they began to breed their own prey. To satisfy their no lesser urge for reproduction they took over even the final untouched pieces of this earth and populated it with their own kind, meaning they either ate any innate food competitors or systematically extinguished any fellow beings who were in their way in order to make room for their own, domesticated beasts of prey. To expand their territories and provide advantages for their own pack, they did not shy away from killing members of their own species either. This has not changed to this day. I am speaking of the predatory ape Man.

Never before has the consumption of meat and other animal products reached equally high proportions as in this century. Never before has the satisfaction of interests of the human predator man caused so much suffering and death among a like number of other animals. Never before has the delicate ecological system of planet earth been under as much danger by one of its inhabitants as it is today.

"Predatory Ape-Man" ... an evolutionary error? Many factors would suggest this, for man is cutting off the branch that supports him.

Nintynine per cent of all animal species that were created by Mother Nature have disappeared again yet despite this we can state that, all in all, this has happened in some sort of an orderly manner since the disappearance of these species either had extra-terrestial causes or was brought about by global changes in a young and as yet unformed earth. But in the case of the predatory man-ape, the thought unfortunately arises that a major construction error has been made. When designing the synapses of the cerebral areas – with all respect to the evolutionary performance – a careless and disastrous mistake has occurred. A species was created whose primary urge consists in killing itself and other animals without due cause. Pathologically seen, this is very suspicious! Some 6 billion such defect beings are now living in an extremely sensitive biosphere and a factory recall is impossible. Is a grand tragedy unavoidable?

Not completely!

All we need do is take action ourselves in order to manipulate our predatory nature a little and, by installing a help program to counteract the defective devices, turn the predator into a human being. Some readers may now cry out "don’t mess with nature" but they forget that their own appendix could one day become inflamed and then they would be the first ones to run to hospital and interrupt the process of nature. If you are not willing to interfere with nature, then the end is near, especially when the appendix, having been left untreated, ends up bursting.

So do not hesitate and keep me company on the first steps toward your spiritual (r)evolution. I have managed to walk them, more or less with ease, and you can do it, too. I will be your advisor when it comes to reprogramming the defective areas and will accompany you a short way of the path from predator to man.

Let’s go.

The first step:

The sentence: "in the beginning was the word" also applies to your personal journey toward an ethical treatment of animals and toward becoming human. In other words: there can be no output without input. Therefore you first need to become familiar with the ethical principles of the animal rights movement. The more you learn about the pretentious claim of dominance by the predatory man-ape, the more you recognize the absurdity of anthropological ethics, the more you inform yourself about the misery and exploitation of animals, the more determined and courageous you will become on your future path. The books of Peter Singer, Tom Regan, Helmut Kaplan, Jean-Claude Wolf and some others are to be recommended. Further, the Websites of some animal rights organisations can be rather helpful. My recommendation: repetitive reading of these materials will have a prophylactic effect whenever you are in danger of recidivism during the process of changing your eating habits, which we are going to discuss in the third step.

The second step:

What you found out when reading about animal ethics and animal rights has surely not been very complimentary or uplifting for your understanding of the world and yourself so far. But now you are informed. You have decided to distance yourself from the exploitation of animals and the incredible injustice that happens to them and now you need to apply the fruits of your new-gained knowledge to your daily life. Of course it would be great if you could give up all animal-based products from one day to the next. But this only happens rarely: the resistance of your predatory ego is too strong. In other words: what spirit wants flesh opposes. Or, expressed differently: flesh is cheap and so spirit grows weak. Thus I recommend you change your eating habits gradually. In the early stages, you should minimize your meat consumption gradually but determinedly. Cheap meat is naturally going to be replaced with expensive organic products – this will additionally decrease your appetite for bloody meals. Your meatless days will soon teach you how tasty a plant-based diet can be and that you can very well exist without beef steak, fillet of salmon or chicken legs.

Set a fixed date for yourself after which you will cease eating meat altogether. Then you have passed the first milestone toward an ethical treatment of animals and toward really becoming human. Naturally, by now you have a problem with anything made of fur, leather or silk.

My recommendation: In case that you do not yet have a pet you should quickly go and rescue one at the local animal shelter. Take your new friend home and you will soon grow to love him. Should a piece of meat subsequently find its way on your plate once more, then vividly imagine that it stemmed from your pet. Would you enjoy eating cat tongue flambee or dachshound liver with roasted onions? If you do not feel any kind of aversion at this thought, then the defect in your limbic system – that is the part of your brain responsible for emotions – is an extreme one. Perhaps you should also go see your local GP or psychiatrist in that case.

The third step:

It is no longer enough for you to personally not cause animal suffering. You know that millions of animals are still suffering, right now. Your spiritual (r)evolution and your pack instinct now urge you toward joining an organised movement for the protection of animal rights and becoming active together with like-minded people. Your solidarity is no longer limited to pity, because pity by itself does not cause change. Your feeling of solidarity urges you to become personally involved in helping those who cannot defend themselves. You want to become active, finally show the enemy your predator’s teeth, and now you are looking for a suitable pack to join. Your protective instinct has been raised and now your need for targeted activity has no limits: reader’s letters, petitions, demonstrations, animal rescue operations, animal protection work and so much more. In organisations, workshops and the like you find others who make the change toward becoming human easier on you during this difficult development phase. You exchange experiences, make new friends and find out that you are not the only one who has turned his compassion for animals into positive action.

My recommendation: Beware of those dubious predatory-man-ape packs that outwardly propagate ethical animal treatment and animal love, yet are unwilling to forego the lust objects of their taste buds. Finding the right pack is crucial for your further success. Remain true to your principles – for the animals’ sake and for the sake of your own self-esteem. When searching for a suitable pack to join, you need to coincidently ask what was served at their last annual meeting since you do not want your membership fees to be used to subsidise a roast lamb rack.

The fourth step:

So, you have made it. You have become a vegetarian or rather, an ovo-lacto vegetarian. Your spiritual evolution shows tangible results – on your plate and also in your animal activism.

Congratulations!

In case you do not want to give up egg and milk products yet – being able to is not an issue, not with your kind of will power – then you need to at least make sure that you do not compensate for your lack of meat by increased consumption of eggs or cheese. Laying hens and milk-cattle are, after all, also living beings capable of emotions and they are condemned to leading a miserable life and eventually ending up in a slaughter house, only because you love your breakfast egg or cheese sandwich. Besides, these fat-loaded milk products make you fat and ugly and clog up your arteries with cholesterol. Heart attack, brain haemorrhage and the like – in the box you go, six feet under you land. Enjoy your meal!

If you still cannot sufficiently control yourself then I recommend organic cheese of the low-fat variety. It is healthier and animals being kept on organic farms at least lead a marginally better life. But you are beginning to increasingly questioning your consumption of milk products and eggs. I am sure that you are eventually going to solve this problem also. This has to happen because it is logical and you are a logical being!

It might take months, or even several years, but one day your conscience is going to surface and will confront you with the suffering and dying of the turbo cows, calves and the hybrid chickens. And then you are going to have to fess up. Since you have already come a long way on your path of becoming human, I am confident that you are going to reach this mark also. So you should decrease your use of egg and milk products gradually, week by week, by substituting these animal-torture products with tasty, low-calory soy and tofu products. Eat more rice, pasta, bread and grains, mixed with fibre-rich vegetables and a lot of fruit.Don’t hold back with strong spices; your tongue has a right to enjoy itself! You may also look at your scales now and again. The negative effects of the "stuff-yourself" culture are going to shrink proportionally with the growth of your success on the path toward ethical treatment of animals. Include some exercise, your nerves will be grateful for this also. They may have been affected by the animal suffering you have been confronted with so far. Exercise has a calming effect and it also helps your metabolism burn excessive weight even faster. Set a date for yourself when you are going to give up animal-abusive milk and egg products altogether. By the way: you should also forgo honey. That sticky stuff is something you can easily do without.

My recommendation: If you find it difficult to give up milk, cheese or eggs, just take a look at photographs of mass-kept chickens or calves raised away from their mothers. Autosuggestion can work wonders. You don’t believe the tale of happy chickens or permanently milk-giving cows anymore in any case. Did you know that a cow is only capable of giving milk after it has had a calf? You or your wife whichever the case may be, only have the milk bar opened during pregnancy, or not?

The fifth step:

Meanwhile you no longer eat animal products – hence you are vegan. This term is something that not all predatory-man-apes know. Recently, when mentioning in a restaurant that I am a vegan, I was asked what continent that country is on. So let us stay with the term "animal-product-free". You are well on your way toward an ethical treatment of animals and you have made an enormous step forward in your quest of becoming human. In the meantime, you activism for animal rights has become a fixture in your spare time.

I congratulate you! From now you, you are allowed to call yourself a true human.

We can now turn our attention to fine-tuning matters. You will get through this also, I am certain. You have already proven that you have a strong will. Your tongue no longer runs your life, your intellect does. Fantastic!

Now you need to distance yourself from such products that are easily identifiable as containing egg or milk or other animal products as their ingredients. Egg-noodles, creamed spinach, cream, milk chocolate, mayonnaise but also so-called vegetarian products with egg-whites or lactose need to gradually disappear from your shopping list. Of course you increasingly watch out for animal-product-free materials when you go shopping for clothes. But do not hesistate to keep wearing your old clothes – so long as they are not made of fur or leather – because even the manufacture and distributuion of non-animal-product clothing indirectly causes animals to suffer. You are just as careful now in your choice of cosmetics because you no longer tolerate pasting your skin with a cream that has been forcefully tested on rabbits numerous times in the laboratory first. It is going to take a while for you to get used to your new consumer habits. First, you need to learn which products contain animal ingredients and which ones don’t. But do not waste your time studying ingredients lists at the local supermarket. Your knowledge as to which products you may use will arrive gradually and soon one short glance at the ingredient list will suffice to know whether this is a product you are interested in or not. You should also make use of the opportunity to order animal-product-free food, and cosmetics that were not tested on animals, over the Internet. You are going to make mistakes now and then but do not unnecessarily blame yourself. Everything takes its own good time.

My recommendation: Get yourself some brochures and books about animal-product-free recipes and base food. You must try them! Also occasionally invite those friends and relatives who say that you eat "bird seed". Prove to them that the vegan meals can compete anytime with animal-product-free–meals, both in terms of taste and variety. There is no doubt regarding the moral superiority of one over the other: "organic" still means licking blood – that is something you no longer do.

Sixth Stepp:

The wild and dangerous predatory ape TE (Tyrannohomo erectus), has become a human being who has learnt to peacefully live alongside other animals – as much as this is even possible in our predatory society. By the power of your own cognitive ability and by your will power you have changed from omnivore and meat eater to plant eater.

You have outsmarted evolution and have successfully overcome your defective cerebral synapses. Your world-view has changed. Man is no longer the center of the universe but has taken his part as "primus inter pari". (First among equals).

Now the time has come for you to consider those anthropogenic influences that may not lead directly but indirectly to death by the billions and to unimaginable suffering of your fellow beings. The earth is home to all living beings and we must protect and preserve them. You don’t want a bulldozer to flatten your house or for someone to come and burn your garden. You do not wish to bathe in filghty streams or eat radioactive mushrooms from Tschernobyl. Nor do you want to live in a rubbish dump but wish to live surrounded by unspoilt nature deserving of that name. Animals have the same wish and desire for a clean environment but they cannot join Greenpeace or the Green Party. So you are being called again. Raise your voice for those who have no voice and avoid everything that contributes toward the damage of our joint home. Animal activism also means environmental activism. A wise man once said: "Make a moral choice with everything you buy, do or see. In our consumer-oriented society we can change the world faster with our individual decisions than new laws can." Wouldn’t it be wonderful to think that all environmental activists could also be animal rights activists!

My recommendation: If you think that the sixth step is not necessary then I would suggest you have your next BBQ with your veggie burgers and your veggie roast sausages at the local rubbish dump. Take a deep breath when you are there and once you are done eating, please take a little walk – but barefeet!

The seventh step:

I would have liked to spare you the seventh step – true to the saying "on the seventh day you shall rest." But a circle must be closed. Not only because it looks good in the text but also because a little something is still missing at the end.

You have started your journey by changing yourself, the predatory man-ape, and now you return once more to that being. In the meantime you have learnt how to live in peaceful coexistence with your "fellow animals". You have also realized that a responsible and thoughtful approach to Mother Earth is very important. But now you must think about your treatment of the predatory man-ape species. This immense animal suffering can soon turn one into a misanthropist. Do not go down that dead end street! Even if the ignorance around you seems to go way beyond totalerable boundaries, even if the suffering of the animals keeps haunting you in your dreams, even if the "others" laugh about your activisim and your way of life, do not lose your new-found humanity because of it. Their mockery cannot hurt you because you know yourself to be in good company: Ovid, Pythagoras, Buddha, Da Vinci, Gandhi, Rousseau, Kafka, Tolstoi, Shaw, Schweitzer, Suttner ... and many other great minds have walked the same path – nobel laureates, literary writers, artists and philosophers of the best kind. The driving force that has brought about the evolutionary quantum change in you is your feeling of compassion and especially your love for animals. If you are to believe Kant, then TE (Tyrannohomo erectus) with its defective synapses is, when seen from a biological and evolutionary perspective, the "human" animal, religious misguided but capable of high morals. Should your animal-love now come to exclude the "human" animal, then you would not be much better than TE (Tyrannohomo erectus).

It would mean that your compassion is restricted to the objects of your personal sympathy and affinity. This would be extremely selfish! Your sense of ethics will be judged by future generations not only by your treatment of animals but also by how you have treated the predatory ape "man"!

My recommendation: At the first signs of aversion, haughtiness or uncontrollable aggression you should remind yourself that, not too long ago, you were a predatory ape yourself and have stuck your carnivore teeth into the flesh of your "prey".

Author: Stefan Bernhard Eck

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