When Ethics is Taught by Capitalists...

Is a life without pain any more of a life than one without pleasure?

I read this article the other day and was truly amazed that this is even a consideration. People are so cold sometimes, most times, I suppose. It still amazes me that there is such a disconnect between the individual in modern society and other living beings on this planet, both human and non human.

Pain free animals? You have got to be kidding me. Couldn’t we just strive not to hurt animals? Making them not feel pain is in many ways a higher level of cruelity than inflicting the pain to begin with.

From the Article:
"If we can't do away with factory farming, we should at least take steps to minimize the amount of suffering that is caused," says Adam Shriver, a philosopher at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. In a provocative paper published this month, Shriver contends that genetically engineered pain-free animals are the most acceptable alternative (Neuroethics, DOI: 10.1007/s12152-009-9048-6). "I'm offering a solution where you could still eat meat but avoid animal suffering."

The fact that this “philosopher” just assumes there is no alternative to factory farming makes me wonder how much research he has done. He acts like there really is no other choice but to torture animals, and that to ‘improve’ this ‘unavoidable’ situation he wants to genetically take away the ability to feel.

Perhaps looking at the human equivalent of this phenomenon will shed some light. Let’s take a look at Gabby Gingras. Here’s a CNN article on her.

From the article:

She has a disorder known as CIPA -- congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. Although she can feel touch, her brain doesn't receive signals that she's experiencing pain, and she hardly sweats. If Gabby broke her leg, or put her hand on a hot plate, or if her body was overheating, she wouldn't know.

It is an extremely dangerous condition, and very rare. Gabby's doctor, Dr. Peter Dyck at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, estimates there are only 100 documented cases of CIPA in the world.

"Not being able to feel pain is a terrible disadvantage," Dyck said.

Steve and Trish Gingras first noticed something was wrong when Gabby was 4 months old. She was biting her fingers until they bled. By the time she was 2, her teeth had to be removed so she wouldn't hurt herself. Now, she must eat very small bites of soft food -- and like everything else she does, she eats with gusto.

The problems with not being able to feel pain start small but grow into a huge issue. At least in Gabby’s case her parents can communicate with her and when she was 5, in 2006, she understood (at least to an extent) her condition.

Taking away an animal’s ability to feel pain is a danger to both the animal and to the handlers of the animals. Lameness will be much more difficult to detect in animals along with other medical conditions. I have no idea how the lack of pain would effect birthing in mammal breeds.

There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathize with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life's sores the better. --Oscar Wilde

All of those practical problems hold nothing compared to the fact that removing pain from any living thing is fundamentally wrong and not humanity’s right. Humans would never truly know if the animals’ ability to feel pain was gone. I had a discussion with a woman that lives and works on a dairy farm a little over a week ago and she was convinced that non-modified cows do not feel pain. There is no limit to the ability of people to blind themselves to things when they choose to. Genetically eliminating the ability to feel pain will probably do nothing more but increase the unfit conditions that are factory farms.

Direct Deposit

Only in Western Civilization would this article ever exist: Should You Sacrifice Love for Work?

The fact that such an article not only exists, but that a “reputable” news agency like CNN ran it makes me sick. Love or work? Really?! There are very few people I know that actually love their jobs. Most of them are simply putting up with them so they can pay their bills and finance happy hour. Some people I know actually hate their jobs. The ones that love them are few and far between and seem to mostly be business owners.

(Most)People get jobs for one underlying reason, to make money. People want to make money for all sorts of reasons. To pay off school debt (my main reason), have a nice house, a nice car, show off, travel (which I do wish I could do more of), and many others. Why people justify their jobs is not what I’m particularly interested in however. What I am interested in/disgusted with is the fact that it is mainstream to choose a job that you likely don’t even love over a person you do.

I don’t care if you work for a fortune 500 company and have an office with a view. If you meet the man/woman that you love it shouldn’t matter. If having them in your life requires you to drop the job that pays you six figures, do it. I could pull on about 1,000 clichés right now discussing never putting money over love. I won’t do that, but keep in mind that old wisdom often becomes cliché over time.

This society is so based on being solitary. It’s quite frowned upon for people to work together that have a romantic relationship, yet this is something that essentially used to happen all of the time. In many, if not most, indigenous societies people lived in thriving, functioning communities unlike anything we see often today. Men and women in love and not in love worked side by side. They may have had different tasks that separated them on some days by several miles, but they were a community, and were never too far apart. I highly doubt they had any discussions about whether to go gather food or be in love, they were things that existed together and wouldn’t make any sense to separate.

The careers of the twenty first century, however, are all about separation. Separation from ownership and the employees. Separation between the office workers and those in the factories. Separation from the factories and the results of their production.

Profiting off of both human and non human pain and suffering REQUIRES separation.

This separation then leaks into other areas of our lives, including relationships.

Don’t let it. Never be the one who gave up love for a dependable direct deposit.

Artificial Communities

I was driving to work, per the usual, early this morning when I realized that I see the same group of cars/people at a certain intersection during each commute. There’s the large mail truck that takes the turn too slowly, the biker in all yellow who looks nervously at the cars, the woman in the black coup doing her makeup. As this realization struck me I felt comforted that I held a place in this commuting community. I felt comforted, that is, until I put some more thought into it.

This “community” I’d experienced was an artificial one. Our society is full of such artificial communities and even goes so far as to market them as real ones. As humans it is natural for us to want to belong, to have a network of people that make us feel safe. I live with two roommates I found on Craigslist. I did this partially to save money, but mostly to establish a living community that I’d been missing while living alone. While I do converse with the two women I live with, they barely know me. Compared to the people that live downstairs, however, they know a lot. My downstairs neighbors make us women feel safe. There are there men that we occasionally say hi to on passing. We take comfort in knowing they are there. We feel like they are part of our community, but they aren’t. All that we know about them is that they seem to bike everywhere and listen to music with a lot of bass until around 10:30pm.

"We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race." -Cicero

Genuine communities don’t seem to exist much anymore, at least not in cities. People can live for years next to one another and never spend more than ten minutes in conversation. This disconnect wasn’t always the case and I’m sure in some smaller communities that it doesn’t exist at all.

I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. I knew my neighbors, as did my parents, and it wasn’t unheard of to run to one of their houses within a two block radius and ask to borrow something. Be it the cliché cup of sugar or an air compressor or tool of some sort. We all borrowed things to one another without question. I would spend hours playing with the neighborhood children, laughing, having a blast. We varied in age by over five years but we were still the best of friends. But now, over 15 years later, we have all drifted apart. The neighbors my parents would spend hours talking to on back porches have moved away, their houses have been torn down. New houses all from the same mold and builder have taken their place with neighbors they might mumble a hello to in passing.

What destroyed the community? What is the culprit? I could go ahead and blame Western Society without even blinking as I so often do for problems such as this, but I believe it’s necessary to go deeper. It would be naive to say that Western Society wasn’t around 15 years ago when I was busy playing sports with my neighbors. I’m sure that some children still have similar experiences, somewhere, today. What I think it comes down to is understanding Western Culture as a disease. The disease has many stages that slowly progress to total decimation. When I was a child we were in a stage several before the stage we now sit in. Although a community existed then it was still quite watered down compared to communities in the 1800’s, which were watered down compared to communities 200 years before, and so on and so forth.

"There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community." -M. Scott Peck

This society is slowly sweeping away our connections with each other and with the land we live on. We no longer blink when we find out a low income housing complex will be torn down to build condos. We do not borrow sugar from our neighbors, we chain our doors against them. We establish artificial communities in our commutes, online, and in our minds.

Let’s get over this block we’ve created (or had created for us) against meeting and knowing people. Perhaps I’ll go visit my downstairs neighbors today, bring them some cookies and get to know them. It would be a start, at least.

Good, Better, Best, Never Let it Rest, Until the Good is the Better and the Better is the Best!

As most of you know, I ran Cross Country and Track in high school, but when I decided to start running competitively again this summer it had been five years since my last race. I had no idea what to expect, all I knew is that my competitive spirit was still very much intact and that I’d keep pushing myself.

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving." - Maurice Greene

I entered my first race, a 5k to push myself to start running regularly again. I didn’t anticipate being competitive in the overall top finishers, and had no idea what to expect for a goal time. I ended up being second in my age category and winning a hat (random I know). We mapped the course to figure out our slow times and realized it was an extra 1k! After that, I was hooked. I remembered everything I loved about running in high school and knew that not much would tear me away now.

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." - Jesse Owens

Over the course of the summer I ran several more races, placing each time and getting more and more hooked. I ordered some awesome road race shoes and realized that even without a team like the one I loved in high school I could have a blast running.

The last race I ran was on October 7 and I ended up getting a PR. Granted I’ve only been running 5ks this season, but improvement is improvement.

"The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost

My goal now? Well, I signed up for two trail races in November, the much loved Turkey Trots. One is in my current city, the other in my home town on the trails I ran in high school. I will be breaking out the spikes that haven’t seen the light of day in five years and pushing out what I hope will be the best times of my 5k career. I am going to start concentrating on training how I should be. No more 3mi runs each day and calling it quits. I will incorporate intervals, long slow distance days, hills, and even some 800 repeats (just need to find a track around here to use for that).

Knees: All through high school I had horrible issues with tendinitis in my knees. It’s still there, for sure. I have been wearing Cho-Pat straps under the kneecaps however and that seems to be solving most of my problems. If they really start to bother me I’ll take a day or two off (something I would never have dreamed of doing in high school). Hopefully they will continue to hold up, I’m not sure I could give up running again.

Birch and Fern

I miss the stars of the north. The way that they were everywhere I looked at night, bright and shining as if they could still remember their purpose when not disturbed by city lights.

I’ve always loved northern Wisconsin. I’ve longed to go there from time to time since my life got so busy that it never seemed to happen more than once or twice a year. Until a month ago I hadn’t spent more than three days in a row up there since I was 14. I think the three day limit was keeping me safe from the constant longing I’m now struggling with. Three days was okay, it was enough to continue my affair with the birch and fern, but not enough to lead to true love. The north was a mistress and nothing more. But the nine days I spent up there in September led to love—and love leads to irrationality.

"In the woods we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life--no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last week Tuesday I took a sick day and actually considered driving four hours north at 6am, spending the day at my parent’s place up there, and driving back at around 8pm. After quite the struggle I talked myself out of this gas and money-guzzling adventure. The fact that I even considered something as irresponsible as this, however, shows how much I miss it there.

I wonder sometimes how it is that I ended up living in the city. I love the culture of this town and the accepting nature of most people here…but all I want is to live in the country these days. Although I’m sure as soon as I got there I’d miss everything being so close. I remember when I was around twelve I wrote a poem called Country and City Girl showing my conflicting viewpoints on where I’d like to live. Those conflicts haven’t really been resolved.

I want to go to grad school next year but I’m not sure the idea of living in an even bigger city than the one I’m in now is a good one. I will be further north, but a north filled with sound barricades and traffic isn’t one I particularly look forward to. I guess I have some more thinking to do.

“The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.”

-Claude Monet

When Peace Isn't Given A Chance

Alright everyone—this morning I am confused. As I’m sure most of you have already heard, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I’m trying to wrap my head around how any United States President (or any governmental leader in any country) could win this award.

OSLO (Reuters) “The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for ‘his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.’ But critics -- especially in parts of the Arab and Muslim world -- called its decision premature.”

Maybe I’m missing something but I thought that America was AT WAR? Perhaps a short review of things America has done (and is doing) since Obama has been in office will shed some light on this?

Maybe we need to look at the Nobel Peace Prize itself, and what it is supposed to represent? According to their website On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes, the Nobel Prizes. As described in Nobel's will, one part was dedicated to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

10/4/09 “President Obama is overseeing a review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, with his top general in that country, some other military leaders and opposition Republicans pressing him to act quickly to increase the present 68,000-troop level by up to 40,000 troops.”

Deaths in Afghanistan :

There have been 1,435 coalition deaths -- 865 Americans, 11 Australians, one Belgian, 219 Britons, 131 Canadians, three Czech, 25 Danes, 21 Dutch, six Estonians, one Finn, 35 French, 30 Germans, two Hungarians, 20 Italians, three Latvian, one Lithuanian, four Norwegians, 13 Poles, two Portuguese, 11 Romanians, one South Korean, 25 Spaniards, two Swedes, two Turks and one NATO/ISAF -- in the war on terror as of October 8, 2009, according to a CNN count. Below are the names of the soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors whose deaths have been reported by their nation's governments. The list also includes one U.S. Defense Department civilian employee. The troops died in support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom or the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. At least 4,178 U.S. personnel have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.

Obviously not all of these deaths occurred while Obama was in office, but he has failed to end this war and the death toll continues to grow. In September of 2009 alone CNN lists 70 deaths in Afghanistan. Obama is not directly responsible for any of these deaths but his leadership and continuing the war did lead to most of them. Yet he deserves a peace prize?

Perhaps we should define peace. Here’s what Merriam Webster has to say on the topic: Main Entry: ¹peace

Pronunciation: \ˈpēs\

Function: noun

1 : a state of tranquility or quiet: as a : freedom from civil disturbance b : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom
2 : freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3 : harmony in personal relations
4 a : a state or period of mutual concord between governments b : a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity
5 —used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell

It’s possible I’m missing something, but I don’t think America in the last year (or Obama’s leadership of it) fits into any of these definitions. Let’s go through examples of why (and where) it hasn’t.

1. State of tranquility or quiet, freedom from civil disturbance (Iraq, Afghanistan)
2. Freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions (G20 Protests )
3. Harmony in personal relations (I don’t know much about Obama’s family life, MAYBE he qualifies here).
4. a. A state or period of mutual concord between governments (it doesn’t say it needs to be ALL governments here, so maybe Obama squeaks past with America’s “allies”.

b. a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity (hasn’t happened with Iraq or Afghanistan)

5. Used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell. (I don’t think this much applies, but perhaps Obama would qualify here).

I better congratulate Obama however, I wouldn’t want all of his “Peace Keeping Forces” (with guns) to get mad at me or anything.

What the Fuck, Chuck?

So, I decided to take a non-credit creative writing class this fall at a local technical college. I wasn’t expecting much when I signed up, was just hoping for a few good prompts to get me writing regularly again. I was pleasantly surprised to find a group of intelligent people in the class and an awesome professor with a respectable syllabus. We even had homework! (The nerd in me was definitively in heaven).

There is only one problem with the respectful awesome class—and that problem is Chuck. Chuck has an MFA in writing, which at first made me excited to have a classmate that had experience writing in the professional realm. That was, of course, until I found out that he was the gloating type. Not only did he try to take over the class (interrupting the professor and preaching about how she should teach) but he also managed to wave his own book around so that we’d all notice he had one.

The first class period we had a writing prompt where we had to write a list-type thing. Most of us shared ours—I’ll probably post mine on here as an example when I get home. He, of course, shared his. I hate to be judgmental, but it’s all too easy to judge a guy who is obviously judging everyone else. I said a nice comment about what he read because he complimented what I wrote—but his writing isn’t all that good.

Last night was the second class, and true to form Chuck was his own pretentious self. Our assignment was to read a paragraph or two from our favorite author and talk about why we liked them. It was great at first. People sharing from authors I’d never heard of but definitely wanted to read. It was great, of course, until Chuck decided he needed to interject. He started name dropping authors and analyzing what each person said. If he didn’t ‘approve’ of people’s choices he would look obviously annoyed. His comments made us almost not finish in time before the class ended. People in the class were obviously just as annoyed as me. I wish the teacher had said something. The woman across from me was covering her mouth to keep from laughing.

When it was Chuck’s turn to share, his holier than thou attitude continued. He decided to share a poem. He HANDED OUT copies of the poem effectively killing a few trees for his dumb ass superiority complex. The poem wasn’t very good. On top of that he then analyzed the poem like we would in one of my 400 level writing classes in college if it was an assignment. Only, he was the only one analyzing. He talked for over ten minutes about this poem and why it was so great, dropping literary definitions like they were candy in a parade and we the eager children waiting on the sides of the road. (Only we weren’t children and were far from eager to listen to his lecture).

Next week we are critiquing writing people handed out at the end of class. We only have about 5minutes per person to critique. I hope to god Chuck doesn’t get called on. If he does and tries to take up all of my critique time I’m going to interrupt him and tell him I want a few other opinions before my time runs out.