A much smarter ape.

Humans kick ass. That is the one universal truth that we can all learn from our short little moment on this earth. The great lesson is not the beauty of nature, the delusions of God's greatness or any other man-made construct, other than this. We, as a species, need not fear any other animal. Given enough time we will figure out its weakness, kill and eat it. Or turn its carcass into some amusing product to help make our lives more interesting. Humans beings are dumb, selfish, evil, gluttonous, self-involved, murderous, vile and utterly irrational most of the time. I take no issue with this view  of the human race. What needs to be considered however is that all of these negative attributes we possess are concepts we have created. Any animal, even the little fuzzy ones we find cute, are much worse than the most horrid person. By our standards. Show me a walrus that can play the violin or a chipmunk that has deeply theorized on its own existence and I might change my tune. Until then I'll enjoy being a dirty stinking ape, of the more clever variety. We are the crowning achievement of creation. As of yet.

Stringbeany Arguments.

Eating meat is not immoral. And the people who claim that it is should fuck off. This is what I'm going to be proving as this little post zips along at a hopefully comfortable pace. The main problem I have with vegetarians and vegans that have chosen their dietary habits upon moral convictions is not that they seem to be stuck in a convoluted circular argument but that they are intolerant and refuse to take a debate. I myself can be quite intolerant, I do not believe that we can all be right about all things at every possible situation, I however always leave an opening for debate. A possibility for everyone to lay forth an argument for their case. No vegan/vegetarian seems willing to do so. They open up with a condemnation of my ethical code and then do not even give me the benefit of questioning their motivations. Claiming intolerance on my part. No sir or madame, you are the one being intolerant. Of course I'm going to defend myself in a more knee-jerk reactionary way if you confront me with ethical accusations. However, underlying my sharpened tone is a well thought out thesis. A series of moral arguments which reach a conclusion. Let me deconstruct some parts of it for you. To lay it bare for inspection. Eating other organisms is required for your own survival. That's a given. Where some draw the line seems very murky to me. Apparently the clincher is intelligence in some form. What exactly does this intelligence manifest itself as? You could argue that a pig or a cow or a monkey are self-aware in one way or another. Alright. Is a shrimp or fish self-aware? Hardly. They only function according to very simple natural instincts. They just mindlessly repeat actions and react to their environment. If anything they are organic machines. Even the more intelligent animals we use in farming owe their entire existence to us. None of them would be here were it not for human ingenuity. Does that not then give us some license to continue their existence? The combined realities of market forces and the physical characteristics of these animals guarantee that they would not be able to subsist without human society. Life's continuation necessitates us generating money from breeding, selling and eating these animals. It becomes a requirement that I enjoy a good steak once in a while for their species to survive. You think a cow would fare well in the wild? They're a bear's equivalent of a bacchanal. That is another point. There are other animals besides ourselves that eat meat. They are out there killing each other. All the time. Are they somehow immoral? Using such logic you would have to concede that they are, something a vegan would never admit though. They have so little familiarity with actual nature outside of Disney movies that they believe animals have human characteristics. Such as the moral concepts of good and evil, personality and emotions. Anthropomorphizing animals into just being humans with fur and strange ears performing little song and dance routines. They are not privy to these ideas we have compiled on life, the world and morality. This is the sharp contrast these highfalutin supposedly ethically conscious vegetarians cannot grasp. We humans are animals, not separated from nature by a glass wall. We are governed by natural instincts and our evolutionary past. Yet at the same time we are unique in that we have the ability to be moral. And if morality is not strictly a human attribute we are without a doubt the only ones who can analyze it. We can formulate strings of thought and hypothesize on the inner workings of our own morality. Lay down arguments on why one should behave and be a certain way and not another. To then communicate this to other minds is absolutely awe inspiring. Either we humans are unique in having the concept of morality (and are thus better) or animals behave in an immoral fashion at almost every point in their lives. This would also make us better than our fuzzy little woodland friends. Which is it guacamole lovers? Inflicting pointless harm and pain on another living and breathing being is to be appalled, of course it is. But why am I in the wrong because I enjoy consuming the carcass of an animal? Most of them have lived a relatively stress free and painless life. Far more enjoyable than a creature in the wild, trust me. If you want change, demand more reforms. Help make sure that farming is done properly. Don't alienate the majority of people by taking a moral high ground of your own construction. If you look closely at it you will discover that it's just a mound of bullshit that you're standing on. Bacon, pork chops, barbecue ribs, hamburgers, steaks, grilled chicken and cutlets. Yummy and enticingly scrumptious. Can I please retain one of the few pleasures in life?

Practical Solutions.

Sports and Health-care Why don't hockey teams put a sumo wrestler in the goal? Tiny little goal, big fat fellow, seems sort of obvious to me. And if you can't find a Japanese guy simply throw in a fat mid-western housewife or something. Anyone with the right girth will do. They don't even need to know how to skate. Just have the teammates escort this behemoth out on the ice and shove 'em between the posts. All this person has to do is stay put and wheeze for long enough to survive the playoffs. Hell, it could even be a diabetic stroke victim that had to lose a foot at some point. There are plenty of those around, more than you'd think. High-fructose corn syrup is cheap. Let's put these people to good use and take some of the burden off of our failing health-care system. Good ideas like these will save western democracy. I'll make sure of it. Even if it kills us all. By the way: if athletes injure themselves I don't want to see them automatically end up first in line for treatment. He won't be able to play anymore? Good, fuck him. He knew what he was getting into when he laced up. They are no more important than anyone else on that list. The guy's shuffling around a piece of leather on a field with his friends all day. We won't be losing a cure for cancer here. Death and Burial When I die my request is to not be buried. No cremation for me either, thanks. I have some rather specific wishes I want carried out by my family and friends. Dress up, festively and in vibrant colours. Wear funny hats and shoes. Party it up. Drink, smoke, snort, huff, inject or freebase whatever you want. But do it for at least two days before and after the ceremony. Drag my body into a desert of your choice. Place my corpse upon a black plinth three stories in height. Wait until the sun is setting in the west and that magic hour arrives. And at the very right moment; blow the entire thing to pieces in a huge fucking fireball of destructive power. Then cheer loudly as tiny pieces of debris and my body parts rain down upon you. Don't worry, there will be umbrellas available for the more conservative among you. Airport Security Let's face it, we probably won't be able to make all aspects of air travel completely safe from attacks by crazy people. Instead of investing billions of dollars world wide on trying to check all the passengers I've come up with a somewhat more cost effective solution. Line the inside of all the airplanes with a two inch thick plate of steel. Give all the passengers a baseball bat on each flight. A proper Louisville Slugger painted orange for visibility. You think any terrorist wants to be trapped inside a metal tube at high altitude with a bunch of panicked and desperate passengers carrying blunt objects? Going out in a crash is one thing, being bludgeoned to death in a cramped space is quite another. Sure there will be some unfortunate incidents not related to terrorism once in a while but that's just par for the course. Security is paramount. We sure do put an inordinate amount of time and effort into inane nonsense. Not me though. Only important subjects cross my mind. I'm a modern day renaissance man. Off-brand and suspiciously out of sync. The North Korean cartoon propaganda version of a comedy legend.

Leave Me My Fears.

There are certain things in life we all take for granted. Things that when you take a step back and reflect upon them are revealed to be quite absurd. What is it about the passage of time and turning the ceaseless repetition into tradition that make otherwise illogical things seem almost mundane? Why do we go about our lives in certain ways, why do we accept this? This is just a rather large and maybe preposterously convoluted way for me to say: Dogs are fucking scary! Not all dogs mind you. The small ones I have no problem with. But most dogs taller than my knees freak me out somewhat. Hasn't it occurred to anyone that dogs are animals with big teeth and powerful jaws? And they prefer to eat meat. That doesn't scare anyone? - "Well dogs are tamed?" Bullshit! Dogs flip out all the time. Every other day some apparently docile and domesticated dog goes insane and chomps on someones ankles. If a dog gets a chance he'll chew your fucking face off. It's not like dogs have any real sense of right and wrong. Dogs aren't more moral than any other animal. If a dog sees a winning outcome from him killing you and abusing your corpse he will do it. The only real reason why most dogs do not is that they consider you to be part of the same pack and probably that you're also the dominant leader. You see, a dog is an idiot. Even a full grown St. Bernard which is twice as heavy as its owner (let's say a 55 kilo girl named Jennifer with blond hair and no real muscle mass to speak off)  will be easily intimidated. Since she's walking on two legs and is therefore higher above ground. Dogs are God damn morons.

This thing will kill your entire family!

In fact I'd say that the dogs that freak out and mangle someones face and genitals are probably the ones that got wise to this little bullshit deal we've got going here and decided to be free. Only they can't quite grasp the idea of social constructs and rules and end up getting put to sleep. Because, like I said, a dog is stupid. That's why I don't trust dogs that are stronger than me. It's like trusting a monkey with a gun. Sure it's cute, almost quaint even. Until it figures out that it's got the upper hand. And before you know it you're ducking behind a dumpster, kneeling on a used tampon and two week old pizza. Trying to figure out what went wrong. Not all fears are irrational.