Untitled Prose 2

Sometimes I feel doomed alone, like the couch-thinker hopeful, curled with her crutch. She loves her, and she needs her. She clings to her and follows her to sleep. Summer consoler. I have no substitute, and soon you will join me. You dress yearning, wanting, aching, hoping, fearing. I have the same routine, dreamer. It just won't happen.

Small Talk Sucks

I ache for deep and meaningful conversation.

Aristotle's Naturally Just War for Slavery... Yep

Bk. I, chap. 8 of Aristotle's Politics is littered with complex ideas and notoriously difficult notions. These include slavery, war, justice and the natural. In this particular piece of literature, Aristotle explains that some people are born as natural slaves. Their natures are such that they are instinctively (naturally) submissive and compliant. From Aristotle's other works, such as the Republic, we know that these slaves are the blood in the veins of society. They take care of the dirty work (farming, cooking, cleaning, etc.) so the Greek citizens can spend their time philosophizing and debating about politics, virtues and the higher qualities of life. Concerning the obtainment of these slaves, Aristotle is famously quoted in the Politics bk. I, chap. 8 as saying, "the art of war is a natural art of acquisition." [1256b1137] What he means by this is that war can be justified if its end is the acquisition of natural slaves. Of course, this doesn't mean that anything goes; there is still a strict set of ethical rules that must be followed. So, not only is a war for slaves justified (a seemingly warped notion on its own), but it's natural.

What bugs me is that Aristotle also posited a notion of "natural law" and "natural justice." They each refer to the natural order of the world - the way things were "meant" (I'm not implying a divine creator here) to be. The reason that acts like murder, rape or lying seem wrong is because they are not part of the natural law. They are inherently unjust. Now, it seems to me that there is a problem between Aristotle's notion of natural justice and his idea of a naturally just war in pursuit of slaves. The problem is not that slavery is unjust, but that stealing is unjust. Indeed, it seems that the only reason one would have to wage war for slaves is because one would need to steal slaves from someone else (a different nation or empire, of course). So, assuming theft is not a quality of natural justice (admittedly, I am not aware whether or not Aristotle specifies what natural justice is, but I would guess that it aligns with the virtues, in which case theft would obviously be unjust), a war that aims to essentially steal slaves from someone else cannot be naturally just, as Aristotle claims it is. Perhaps I am missing something, but, if I have not made a terrible misinterpretation or unwarranted assumption, this is a searing contradiction in Aristotle's ethical and political theory.

Hey...

...is an embarrassing acknowledgment of my shameful self - a vulgar prod at my petty existence. Don't greet me.

A Year of Being Vegan

Well, a year and three days to be exact. On January 5th of last year I stopped buying anything that comes from animals - that's what being vegan means. I stopped eating meat, dairy, honey and other minor ingredients. I stopped buying anything with leather or fur (not that I wore much of either, anyway). And I certainly stopped buying anything that was tested on animals (again, not that I did, anyway). The way people treat animals is simply fucked. They raise them on unnatural diets full of chemicals and hormones in barns and cages where they oftentimes don't have enough room to turn around. Sometimes they spend their whole lives without ever seeing the sun. Male chicks in egg factories are thrown away like garbage, literally. Dumpsters will overflow with their petty figures. Animals with luxurious fur are skinned alive then thrown into heaps of other skinned animals bleeding and suffocating to one of the most painful deaths I can imagine. It's sick. Even if they were treated humanely, killing an animal for food when fruits, vegetables and grains could be used instead is completely unjustified. Everything about using animals for our own ends is backwards and twisted.

The meat industry is also the single worst contributor to global warming and environmental destruction. All the gasses from the animals and machinery that are crammed into factory farms, slaughterhouses and meat packing plants do more damage to the ozone layer than anything else. Waste and chemicals escape the farms and seep into local water sources, causing illness to humans and animals alike. No meat eater can call themselves "green."

I've learned a lot from being vegan. One important fact is that everything you hear about vegans and vegetarians not getting enough protein or other nutrients is a lie. You can't use that as an excuse. The only real deficiency we have is vitamin B12, but it is easily supplemented. Also, being vegan does not necessarily mean eating healthy. It was easier to eat healthy over the summer, having my mom to help cook and all, but a lot of food that you wouldn't expect to be vegan is, in fact, vegan, so eating healthy at school is still as difficult as ever.

Going vegan isn't as hard as you'd think, nor is it as pricey as everyone claims it to be. In fact, I think my average grocery bill is cheaper now. Eating out is hard, but you can usually find something to eat, though people will make fun of you and give you a hard time, and you will argue with many close-minded, stubborn dolts. Regardless, if you've any brain at all, please just take some time to think seriously about it. There are a million reasons to go vegan - even Biblical ones, if that's your cup of tea. If you want to know more, feel free to leave a comment or something.

"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."

Leo Tolstoy