Meat Is Murder: Coetzee and justice for animals

countthree

Well-Known Member
Nobel prize winning author J.M. Coetzee denounced animal cruelty in a rare public reading, calling for humans to treat them with "justice".

The 76-year-old novelist read an unpublished piece on the subject to a packed hall in Madrid's Reina Sofia Museum, where he was invited to speak by an animal rights group.

"I am not an animal lover," he read to the crowd.

"Animals don't need my love... I don't care about love. I care about justice."

South African Coetzee is a vegetarian and has been promoting animal rights for decades.

The winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature has written about the subject in the past, including a novella called "The Lives of Animals".

The text he read was framed as a discussion between an Australian author and her son, in which she says: "People tolerate the slaughter of animals only because they see none of it."

Humans think they "are much more important than animals" and "deny animal consciousness," Coetzee read, saying it was up to people to "cultivate" their sympathy.

Asked at the end of the talk why bullfighting still exists in Spain, the novelist simply spread his arms without answering in a sign of total incomprehension.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/3...-coetzee-speaks-against-animal-cruelty/#page1
 
Thanks for making me aware of that, countthree.

I like that. And I care about that. I don't know whether family is all about love, but for me they all belong to the family.

agreed. Though i wonder whether he meant "sympathy" or "empathy". At least empathy has to be learnt, just like reading and writing. it's a cultural technique.

I think he meant something like "Love is wonderful, but if you don't agree all animals should be loved, at least you must agree they deserve justice", since animals are not "a thing", they are sentient living beings. Like humans. If they are not our pets, from the animal point of view, our love is not as necessary and relevant as our protection.
 
in general, im not a big animal person, with a few exceptions (like bunnies!). i find a lot of animals a bit annoying (although this tends to change when i've been around them, and i have to wonder if i dont just feel this way lately because i havent spent much time with animals for a long time). so i can understand what he (funny, i always though jm coetzee was a she!) is saying. just because i dont necessarily like an animal doesnt mean that it's okay to kill it. like, i dont like pigs at all, but intellectually i know killing them is wrong. and that's what matters. a beings right to live has nothing to do whether i like them or not. they have a right to live because they were given life, and because they want that life.

i once killed a spider on a whim. im not really sure why i did it because i dont usually kill spiders. i was going through some sudden phase of severe arachnophia, which later living in a basement suite with a daily infiltration of wolf spiders the size of my fist promptly cured me of (it was kind of like living in a horror movie!). anyway, at first i only succeeded in killing the back half of him. and i watched as he was dragging his body trying to get away from the next blow that would surely kill him. to me it was the saddest thing. he had such a strong life instinct that even though the back half of him was crushed and useless he still wanted to live, and i, on a whim destroyed that, and nothing i could do could fix that. i dont think even my life instinct is that strong.
 
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Yes, he is a he, a great writer and a nobel prize. Besides and even most important, he is an excellent person. He frequently visits Argentina and collaborates with a public university (public unis tradicionally are the best here against the best efforts of merchants of knowledge, until now). In Argentina he gives lessons on writing to people in prisons, he made several conferences with Paul Auster, he helps local writers, etc.
 
Nobel prize winning author J.M. Coetzee denounced animal cruelty in a rare public reading, calling for humans to treat them with "justice".

The 76-year-old novelist read an unpublished piece on the subject to a packed hall in Madrid's Reina Sofia Museum, where he was invited to speak by an animal rights group.

"I am not an animal lover," he read to the crowd.

"Animals don't need my love... I don't care about love. I care about justice."

South African Coetzee is a vegetarian and has been promoting animal rights for decades.

The winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature has written about the subject in the past, including a novella called "The Lives of Animals".

The text he read was framed as a discussion between an Australian author and her son, in which she says: "People tolerate the slaughter of animals only because they see none of it."

Humans think they "are much more important than animals" and "deny animal consciousness," Coetzee read, saying it was up to people to "cultivate" their sympathy.

Asked at the end of the talk why bullfighting still exists in Spain, the novelist simply spread his arms without answering in a sign of total incomprehension.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/3...-coetzee-speaks-against-animal-cruelty/#page1

He sounds like a wonderfull man! :)
I note sum of prisons in Buenos Aires in argentina were he visits are some of the worst on the planet, no proper health care, no proper sanitation werebye people defecate in plastic bags and urinate in bottles, severe over crowding, people on remand without charge ect ect ect and inmates kept in terribley cruel and inumane conditions that defile and violate a persons human rights!!

Repeated incidence of violent abuse and rape ect.

And our prison system here in the UK is not much better, I know of little 12 / 13 year old kids who were in juvenile detention centers, and who were systematically punched, kicked and slapped and restraint using strangulation ect by nasty 16 stone bully screws running these centers!

I believe there is even a prison in columbia were the PRISONERS even have guns and run the entire prison sytem themselves!!

Its absoulte hell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

Prisons all around the world....... terrible places !

But anyways I have this major issue with bull fighting and bull runs in spain ect.
NO JUSTICE WHATSOEVER FOR THESE POOR ANIMALS !!!!

Its NOT acceptable as a tradition and culture at all, that is absolute lies !!!!!


Its brutal cruelty and torture AND SLAUGHER at its very worst of innocent highly sentinel beings, I just cant believe people actually want 2 watch and participate in this horrible cruelty, truley sickening!!!! :(

The poor bull screams out and begs for mercy and compassion... none is ever given.

THIS "SPORT" MUST BE BANNED NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And as it was in the beginning so shall it be in the end!

I made a promise , that promice has now been kept and honered.
But its only the beginning! take care everyone ! :)
 
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He sounds like a wonderfull man! :)
I note sum of prisons in Buenos Aires in argentina were he visits are some of the worst on the planet, no proper health care, no proper sanitation werebye people defecate in plastic bags and urinate in bottles, severe over crowding, people on remand without charge ect ect ect and inmates kept in terribley cruel and inumane conditions that defile and violate a persons human rights!!

Repeated incidence of violent abuse and rape ect.

And our prison system here in the UK is not much better, I know of little 12 / 13 year old kids who were in juvenile detention centers, and who were systematically punched, kicked and slapped and restraint using strangulation ect by nasty 16 stone bully screws running these centers!

I believe there is even a prison in columbia were the PRISONERS even have guns and run the entire prison sytem themselves!!

Its absoulte hell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

Prisons all around the world....... terrible places !

But anyways I have this major issue with bull fighting and bull runs in spain ect.
NO JUSTICE WHATSOEVER FOR THESE POOR ANIMALS !!!!

Its NOT acceptable as a tradition and culture at all, that is absolute lies !!!!!


Its brutal cruelty and torture AND SLAUGHER at its very worst of innocent highly sentinel beings, I just cant believe people actually want 2 watch and participate in this horrible cruelty, truley sickening!!!! :(

The poor bull screams out and begs for mercy and compassion... none is ever given.

THIS "SPORT" MUST BE BANNED NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And as it was in the beginning so shall it be in the end!

I made a promise , that promice has now been kept and honered.
But its only the beginning! take care everyone ! :)

Prisons are terrible everywhere. They generally reflect the society they belong to, so prisons in Argentina are, like the rest of the country, very uneven. You can find terrible pits of human and material misery, and you can find people studying university degrees, because there's a program that, given the prisioners will and capacity, let them study some careers. Of course, everything is very ugly, sad and corrupted. That's why I admire what Coetzee and other people does: they care. Because, you know, Alma Matters.
 
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Prisons are terrible everywhere. They generally reflect the society they belong to, so prisons in Argentina are, like the rest of the country, very uneven. You can find terrible pits of human and material misery, and you can find people studying universitary degrees, because there's a program that, given the prisioners will and capacity, let them study some careers. Of course, everything is very ugly, sad and corrupted. That's why I admire what Coetzee and other people does: they care. Because, you know, Alma Matters.


Was just after you mentioned about the corruption in argentina, different topic, thought Id google it, and noticed about some of the terrible prisons there! but like you mention , corruption ect everywere unfortnatley! :(

But yea there are some wonderful light workers amongst us who do things 2 help others ect, its quite surprising ! :)

Interesting 2 learn about were other members of the forum live all around the world and there homeland culture, traditions, beliefs ect , noticed the beautifull scenery in argentina and wonderfull wildlife ect glorious water falls, snow tipped mountains, tranquil lakes, and trees everywere ect !

Mind you its not 2 far from the magnificent Brazilian rain forest itself ! so its 2 be expected!
 
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