Christmas is Over… Now We Can Think About Peace and Goodwill
Let’s make this season of violence and slaughter a thing of the past
So, Christmas Day 2022 has passed, as usual, with the violent slaughter of millions of turkeys, pigs and other animals.
It’s ironic that the so-called ‘season of peace and goodwill’ is filled with so much violence and suffering.
It’s also ironic that so many people around the world ‘sacrifice’ so many innocent souls (and by ‘sacrifice’ I mean callously and heartlessly murder them for their own insatiable greed) in the name of Jesus Christ, who supposedly put an end to the requirement for animal sacrifice through His own sacrifice on the cross.
Don’t get me wrong, humans slaughter animals all year round in a never-ending, 24–7 bloodbath that accounts for billions of animals’ lives every single year.
But Christmas is a special time, when people traditionally gorge themselves to the point of torpor on the torn and bruised flesh of sentient beings in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Turkeys, of course, are the traditional victims, and there have been countless undercover exposes revealing the true extent of the horror inherent in the turkey industry. You may remember this case where workers at a Bernard Matthews turkey farm played baseball with live turkeys in their ‘care’.
But plenty of other animals suffer in the name of peace and compassion every year, too. Think of all those ‘pigs in blankets’ who were actual pigs not so long ago.
Instead of blankets they were raised on a cold concrete floor, often kept in metal restrains so they couldn’t even turn around, beaten and abused before finally being sent off to the gas chambers.
These gas chambers — or ‘controlled atmosphere’ devices— are used routinely throughout the industry as a supposedly ‘humane’ way to ‘stun’ animals before they are bled to death.
In reality, they thrash around in agony and terror as the searing and suffocating carbon dioxide gas burns them from the inside.
But, hey, we need our pigs-in-blankets on Christmas day.
So much for peace and goodwill.
So much for compassion.
When I went vegan in 1986 there were very few vegan options around that made a convincing ‘substitute’ for the traditional Christmas roast. Nut roast was the vegan staple for many years.
Now, though, with the surge in veganism, there are so many succulent, meat-like vegan options that it’s hard for me to understand why anyone would still choose to put violence and suffering on their plates.
This year, like every other, I live in hope that as people emerge from the gluttony of Christmas and approach New Year, they will make true peace and compassion a central part of their New Year resolutions.
There is no better time than right now to make a choice to do the right thing — not only for the animals, but for your own health and the health of this beautiful planet on which we all depend — and to go vegan.
Check out Veganuary if you need inspiration and support in going vegan this New Year, and be sure to download the free vegan e-book below.
Together, we can end this cruel and outdated annual bloodbath, and make goodwill and compassion a reality all year round.
Peace isn’t just a word — it’s a way of living or it’s nothing at all.
Let’s make this season of violence and slaughter a thing of the past.
