Pigs !

After this , I will no longer use that expression . Come to think of it we generally use such a term in a derogatory manner to describe one who is rude, insensitive , cruel or evil ; all very common and potent human attributes, not necessarily traits of the pig . It demonstrates how egocentric and psychotic our own human condition is .


How often have you seen or heard of a group of pigs , capturing , imnprisoning , torturing and executing another species for food ,clothing and other products and services which , in this age of technology , it could be argued, we could do without . Diogenes the great cynic philosopher used the phrase 'Thrice human ' for those he thought were lacking in any moral fibre or integrity . He got it right two and half thousand years ago .

How often have we seen pigs turn on their own species in large numbers and attempt to wipe millions of their own kind off the face of the earth ? I don't think they are a perfect species and I understand they can show aggression to eachother at times but to a miniscule degree compared with us smug humans .


I have been a life long lover of eating meat , amongst my favourites being a variety of pork dishes . However I have often had battles with my conscience every time I hear from animal rights activists that eating meat promotes and perpetuates untold cruelty throughout the world . I would think about it at times and then shove it to the back of my mind as I munched on a pork chop . It was too much of an invasion of my comfort zone to take action , even a little difference could be worth while. I even got close to working in a slaughter house when I went to live in my birth place , Cyprus in 1992. So much was my cowardice , that I knew deep down that if I took on the job offered to me in the abattoir , I would be so uncomfortable , seeing what went into providing my bacon , or pork kebab on the table for that matter, that I could of had to bring my meat eating days to a halt then and there . But I enjoyed it too much and refusal of the job allowed me to carry on without thinking. I continued like this for years, thinking about it at times but not making a decision . This year at the turn of the hour that brought in 2007 I was thinking again that I must do something as I have always admired those that choose not to eat animals .
So at the turn of the year returning home quite late ,I was hungry and demolished a tin of corned beef like a heroin addict .. Ahhhhhhhhhh,. Then I said ; tomorrow , I must and will do it , and so far, since that day , I have managed to keep away from eating mammals or birds , I feel quite proud of myself as I thought it would be impossible, still I have moments where I reminisce but over all I have found good substitutes for meet and still eat fish( that's another debate altogether) which I cannot enter into right now . And in my conscience I feel better and a little truer in my own self. I still can be accused of hypocrisy as I am wearing leather shoes and still eating meat of another sort but at least , that's several hundred pigs less for slaughter , and a little less hypocrisy .


Pigs are seen by some to be possibly the fourth most intelligent species after , humans, apes and sea mammals such as dolphins . Having had a pet dog for the first time in my life has made a difference I often pondered as I looked him in the eyes thinking how many millions of such eyes stare into the humans' eyes who do our dirty work for us in the factory farms. It is totally incongruent that we in the western culture deem cats and dogs as almost holy or sacred yet slaughter millions of their equals . This is exactly how we have been adjusted with little questioning .
Having stopped eating mammals and birds for almost two months , I felt a little more curious to search the internet about these animals . I was shocked by what I saw , for example a group of people in a third world country slaughtering a pig in the most gruesome , drawn out and agonising way ,leaving it to squeal and groan for minutes as they incompetently pinned it down and butchered it ..I had to stop viewing . I also saw another video , where what appeared to be some kind of 'celebrity ' chef showing, how he humanely and painstakingly reared two pigs all the way to the day he took them personally to the abattoir and watched them being slaughtered in a reputable establishment whose manager assured our 'celebrity' that the pigs 'did not feel a thing. ' , to be fair to our TV cook ,he did look emotionally involved and needed reassurance to believe what he saw.

The very strikingly surreal moments in this mini video were first , the filming of the last days of the pigs, as they were treated like pets in the chef's garden . The Tv cook was saying on their last day as he prepared to cart them to the abattoir that:'They normally run up to me to greet me in the mornings' they remained in their kennels, although it was drizzling lightly ,he said 'I don't think it's the rain , they must know something'. Thats the tragic side to it , that he felt they knew , however he was at the same time talking about the dishes and exciting recipes he was going to produce from them . The other bizarre moment was when the two carcasses had ceased twitching and had moved further down the production line , having seen them removed of all hair and been disembowelled , he spoke of various culinary delights as the camera drew close to the two features that distinguished these two strung up pieces of pork from their dead peers ; they still had name tags tied to them :Elizabeth and Harold .


Pigs !