[johnny]

Originally posted by Link: I was in Stockholm with a couple of friends after I had graduated from High School. We went to the zoo one afternoon because there was nothing else left to do (we had already been to the more casual places), and at the end of some sort of wildlife tour, you could pet a snake and a tarantula. While I'm slightly arachnaphobic, I did touch both creatures. Now I'm practically ashamed of myself doing such a thing; both creatures were hiding themselves as much as possible, probably so afraid of all the visitors coming and poking and touching that it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they both died the same evening from the traumatic experiences. Somehow people don't realize that we are just a bunch of apes as well, and we wouldn't like it one bit if we were put in a cage and were constantly petted. We scream our hearts out if we hear about cruelty to humans (go Amnesty International ), but somehow the same doesn't apply to other animals. Same goes for the goldfish; if that was a human in that blender, or a cat, something else, we wouldn't find it funny or artistic at all. I have to admit I was a vegetarian for six years because I thought eating meat and fish (I can't believe how some people can tell me with a straight face that they are vegetarian, but do eat fish ) was unnecessarily cruel to animals. After six years I started wondering why I was vegetarian after all, and I quit being it altogether, simply because I didn't believe in my original protest anymore. Eat or be eaten, so to say. Doesn't mean I applaud animal cruelty altogether. You won't see me kill animals unnecessarily, even bugs. I will rather catch a wasp/spider/ant and release it outside than kill it. I actually loathe people who disrespectfully kill these creatures without considering how fragile and beautiful life actually is. Exploiting your own strength to the extremes is actually a weakness IMHO. Ipse dixit.

I know it's a bit lame to quote an entire post if there are so few words to add, but i couldn't agree more with you on this.