In The News

Recap.

In a rush of much important stuff and things and deadlines and events it is easy to lose sight of the larger picture. It is easy, to stay focused in our own worlds and tiny tanks, feeling every ounce of our own import, the bigness of our fish selves. But there is a larger world out there, one that we play a de facto role in shaping. And so I emerge, and take in these things:

Alaska had wildfires in May.

There were tornadoes in Glasgow.

The starfish are dying.

The White House has a program to help the bees.

Americans, apparently, have finally decided they like soccer. And gay marriage. And marijuana.

Win some, lose some.

Comings and Goings

News.

I know that it cannot possibly be true that there is ever such a thing as a day in which there is nothing interesting, notable, or newsworthy going on in the world, but at times American media does a spectacularly good job of making it appear so.  Some of today's headlines:

The Lead: Anthony Weiner talks about Hilary Clinton's possible 2016 election campaign.

Just Below: Oprah points out Swiss racism, then apologizes for the ensuing media storm.

Even Lower: Paula Dean found not guilty of workplace discrimination.

At the Bottom: American women are returning to the home post-recession, to the tune of 26 percent.

Okay.

Photograph Courtesy of:

http://blog.rarenewspapers.com/?tag=headlines

Tax Day

Boston.

Take a moment in silence.

And then,

There are a couple of historical events and broader contexts related to the Boston marathon bombing that I feel need to be more heavily considered in our decision making with regards to and understanding of these events:

This is most likely a domestic dispute.  Typically, foreign terrorists want to connect their actions with their ideologies as quickly as possible. This is a pissed-off American.  This is not "the other" that we have grown to fear, but one of our own. Boston, home of the tea party, is synonymous in American culture with freedom, independence, and the protest of taxes.  The marathon is a cultural icon; the meaning of it and nostalgia we hold for it would not really be understood by a foreign group. 

Tax day.  The day of the race is the first tax day in recent memory in which I did not see a flood of tax stories on the evening news.  That I do not remember hearing tax day mentioned even once is puzzling to me.  Since 2001 the total share of taxes paid by the very wealthy has decreased as the share paid by the middle class has increased.  Since the Occupy Movement of 2011, the movement for economic justice has gained increasing traction from citizens affiliated with both liberal and conservative political parties.  

We have been so badly distracted by the gun control debate that we have failed to address the larger problem of anger, violence, and untreated mental illness in our population.

We need to have a larger conversation.  This fight will not be won with force; it will grow from social change.

References/Resources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61178-2004Aug12.html

Photograph Courtesy of:

http://boozinfoodie.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/boston-tea-party-2009.jpg

By the Numbers

Population

If you have not looked at population numbers for the countries of the world lately, or ever, it is time. A simple glance at the numbers illuminates all sorts of things about US foreign policy, why we go to war and where, and why we hear about some countries more than others.  It also shatters a lot of our preconceived notions about social, political, and economic dominance, our own self-import, and the idea that land mass has anything to do with population.  The top 15:

1. China

2. India

3. United States

4. Indonesia

5. Brazil

6. Pakistan

7. Bangladesh

8.  Nigeria

9. Russia

10. Japan

11. Mexico

12. Phillipines

13.Vietnam 

14. Germany

15. Ethiopia

These are not predominantly Western or Christian countries.  Many of them have incredibly high population densities and incredibly low standards of living.  They have histories riddled with militarism, questionable human rights ethics, and war.  Ourselves included.  Two of them are African nations, which I only mention because of the American tendency to justify part of our ignorance of the African continent with the false belief that few people live there.  

Sometimes numbers speak for themselves.  Think about this list the next time you listen to or watch the news.  Think about it when looking at the kinds of stories that get covered, and especially those that get ignored or obscured.  Decide for yourself what you should be paying attention to.  

Start with the numbers.

Real Time Counters:

http://www.worldometers.info/

References:

World Populations by Country:

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctypopls.htm

Image courtesy of:

http://www.ethiojps.org/PopulationMaps.html

A Cloven Hoof

Meat.

In the last few days it has been revealed that large quantities of foodstuffs common in the European markets were labeled clearly as beef when they were, in fact, horse.  Many people have found this upsetting; especially those that have eaten it.

A few observations:

Most religions of the world place dietary restrictions on their practitioners.  Buddhism and other religions object not to the eating of meat per se, but to the needless and dis-compassionate taking of life.  Judaism and Christianity have dietary laws clearly intended as practical guides to food safety, avoiding the ingestion of blood or decomposed meats; the animal must have a cloven hoof.  The Hindus hold the cow in sacred reverence.

We form intimate working and recreational relationships with horses, not with cows.  Horses are easier to ride.  Some cows have horns.  Neither species speaks English.

It takes far more resources to fatten a cow for slaughter than it does to fatten a horse, though neither is especially more or less nutritious.  There are lots of countries, due to climate and resources, that historically have and continue to raise horses for meat.  Many of these countries are modern, and European.  Americans typically pretend they do not know this.

So.

There is neither a better reason to not eat a horse than a cow nor a better reason to eat a cow rather than a horse.  Eating animals is eating animals, at least to some extent.  Cows and horses bear a good resemblance to one another, certainly more so than a fish and a horse.  If you can eat one, you can probably eat the other.

The controversy that is unfolding this week is not about whether or not it is gross or morally and ethically reprehensible to eat horses or even horses versus cows.  This is the illumination of the modern food system.  What should really be making us feel uncomfortable about about this is how difficult it is to determine the original source of the meat.  That the food industry even in such a small geographic region as continental Europe can be so convolute so as to have obscured both the source and the end product.  The real argument no longer lies in how we eat, vegetarian versus carnivore, but in the industry that has come to feed us.

This is what we eat.  This is not happening across the world right now, its happening right here.  We just haven't shined the light.  Be impeccable with your food.  Understand where it comes from and vote with your dollar.  Buy locally, and trust small food handlers.  

To watch video of the wild horses of Oregon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30QgYVaHqQQ

To watch a truly distressing portrait of the American cattle industry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhlhSQ5z4V4