Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Saluting another letter writer

Mel Marks. Remember that name if you don't know it already. He is a letter writer of note, always on issues similar to those taken up in this blog and occasional letters too.

Earlier this week, Marks' letter in the Trenton Times, "Take a closer look at how we value life," wondered in print whether the same people who help save birds from the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico then eat a bird for dinner.

Without name-calling or otherwise turning readers off, Marks says many people (most people?!) "compartmentalize" what they know about UN-natural disasters such as factory farms and related health and environmental issues when shopping for food. They "subsidize the systematic killing of . . . animals for their dinner table" -- probably while tsk-tsking about the horrors in the Gulf.

And such behavior happens on a broader scale too, Marks says. Humans are also scarily willing to tolerate killing of people in war while rushing to help them after a tsumani or earthquake.

Selective reading, seeing and hearing; selective knowing.

Marks points out that people could start making a difference by reforming their personal diets. Change can start at home, or, think globally, act locally.
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