Dairy, Bitches

Have y'all happened to notice a trend to my posts? Besides being exceptionally well written and full of sociopolitical banter (in the manner of Murphy Brown – how I love topical humor! "blahdiblah…the Ayatollah…") they're long as hell, aren't they? Well if you have a problem with that, I'll try really hard to care but no promises. I have a lot to say, a short span of time in which to say it, and frankly, I could give less of a crap if you like my posts or not. I like them. If they seem more like PhD dissertations (written by someone with only a vague idea of what a dissertation should look like) than your average blogspot, well, that's the nature of the beast. This is my little corner of cyberspace and I shall clutter it up to my heart's content. If you want something a little less verbose, perhaps Curious George would be more your speed? Or my little sister's Xanga. As soon as I can convince her my intentions are good, I'll post the link. I shouldn't make fun, but 13 year olds are hilarious. Okay, on to today's feminist rant!

Just kidding.

What I have to say has nothing to do with feminism, the military or big science words. I hear my regular readers breathing a big sigh of relief. Seriously yall, if I get one more IM telling me that the word oxytocin makes your head hurt, I'm going to question your college credentials. No no, today's topic is straight off the bodybuilding.com forums. We are going to discuss the evils of dairy, and why I think animal rights activists are hypocrites.

This whole post was inspired by this thread. To summarize, one of my friends asked about milk as a weight-loss tool – should she drink it, etc. Most people responded saying that milk is a great source of calcium, a high protein diet leeches calcium from bones, active women need calcium so yes ma'am, drink up. This is what I like to call the rational position. For a complete list of why we support dairy, check out the thread, I'm not going to recap here. A few other people – the minority – responded with "milk sucks, it's unhealthy, it's meant only for baby cows, omigod ur goin 2 get cancer n die lol". Now, I have no problem whatsoever with people having different opinions from mine. Different opinions are what make the world go 'round, and besides, I find ignorance extremely humorous (which is a bonus because there's so much of it in the world). What I have a problem with is people dressing up their moral or ethical codas in pseudoscientific evidence to scare the pants off other people and coerce them into the shared belief that animal products are evil. If you choose to not eat animal products, it's not because they are unhealthy (if you're trying to convince yourself that's the case, or that humans were ever vegetarians in our prehistory…well you're wrong) but because of your ethical beliefs. Be up front about it, it's not like people are going to think less of you. People believe all sorts of shit in America – that animals deserve rights and humane treatment is hardly the weirdest of the bunch.

Too many people demonize whole sections of the food pyramid. Earth to space cadets, human beings are omnivores. We are designed to require and utilize a wide variety of food sources – cutting out any one section of the food pyramid is a good way to moralize your way into a nutritional deficiency. If you believe strongly in not eating animal products, more power to you, go forth and hug some trees…but don't try to force those beliefs on others. One of the websites mentioned as evidence for why dairy is bad for you is a website funded by PETA – milksucks.com. Gee, I wonder why they dislike milk. To quote Maddox, whoo whoo, here comes the clue train, next stop is you.

I love America. People can (and do) do anything they damn well please. If you want to follow a diet where all you drink is your own urine, nobody will stop you. People may start avoiding you, but they won't stop you. It's once you start standing on the street corner preaching the virtues of this diet that you open yourself up for attack (and a visit from those nice folks in white coats). Being political (and therefore not apathetic) is something that ought to be commended – so as much as I disagree with PETA, I can't fault them for their convictions. That being said, I think animal rights activists are hypocrites. Don't get me wrong, I believe in humane treatment for Rover, Fluffy and Bessie the Cow as much as anyone, but those yahoos who bomb medical research facilities or throw blood on old ladies in fur coats? What kind of fucked up individual thinks it's okay to destroy property, kill scientists and scare the pants off some poor bluehair in the name of Animal Liberation? Haven't these idiots ever heard of peaceful protest? Jesus, go smoke some ganja and simmer down. Anybody who puts the lives of animals ahead of the lives of their fellow human beings really needs to get their priorities in order. There are people all over the world living in poverty, violence, disease, who look at the wealthy Americans fighting over FOOD and think we've all gone off our smug Western-world rocker. As Chris Rock says, "don't eat red meat? Shit, don't eat green meat."

I just think if you're going to be politically active, there are far worthier causes than animal rights to get yourself involved in. Look at the Sudan – fighting in Darfur that echoes the heinous crimes in Rwanda has been going on for two years – or hell, the entire continent of Africa where children die of diseases that American kids maybe get a day off of school for, because they lack basic antibiotics. If you want to be a hero, if you want to fight for something, go join the Peace Corps or Doctors Without Borders – leave the arguing about poultry for when the rest of the world (hell, the rest of AMERICA) is enjoying the same standard of living as you are. Protest, like obesity, is a luxury of the industrialized.

Just my two cents.