A Dumb Thing I Saw Today

What do you think of the bumper sticker spoken of in my great story?

  • I agree.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I disagree.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don't understand what the big deal is...

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hip-skip trip on a lip! Banana!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
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Svenmonkey

Guest
On my way home from school, I saw one of those massive, useless, gas-guzzling SUVs, which isn't an abnormal sight these days, but on the bumper it had a bumper sticker saying, "If animals aren't meant to be eaten, then why are they made of meat?" If my mother would've complied, I would have thrown some of my books through their windows...

How can somebody be so ignorant of reality? I was expecting to see a confederate flag somewhere on there, but there wasn't one. It frightens me to think that such ignorance is possible in our society, especially among one educated enough to buy his/her own car with his/her own money.
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
Well, I'v tried the vegetarian thing - I did for a very very long year - and the only reason I did it was to impress a girl I know (sad, isn't it?). I acknowledge the fact that some animals are meant to be eaten - they don't call it 'the food chain' for nothing.

However, I do have problems w/ psychotic Rednecks that try to throw it in other people's faces...

-Ferret

"Member of PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals"
 
S

Shiro, Time Devourer

Guest
The promotion of mass consumption for its own sake (which I'm sure is implied) is a horrible aspect of materialism and greed. The bumper sticker's message, being much like 'Man is on top and everything else is meant for us to do as we please' makes me think of this:

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Bible, NIV, Luke 12:15

And this:

http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/global/sensem/djordj98.html
 
T

train

Guest
Meybe a bumper sticker to remind that person that they are also made of meat would serve him well...;)
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Without really knowing the circumstances here, I'll tend to disagree with the crowd a bit and say this might have all been a bit tongue-in-cheek. Like along the lines of "My student can beat up your honor student". Bumper stickers are just a way to express "funny" things like t-shirts ("I'm with Stupid").
 
C

Creepy Old Man

Guest
Meybe a bumper sticker to remind that person that they are also made of meat would serve him well...
Why, human is the only meat I eat! A good, tender, plump little fetus is always a good meal, as long as you take off the head, remove the umbilical chord, and take out the intestines...

Heeeheeehhehe
 
T

Thallid Ice Cream Man

Guest
Go away, Almindhra/Sageridder/train/ferret/ransac/orgg/whoever you are. Shoo.


That's a stupid bumper sticker. I understand what you mean. Fortunately the sticker actually makes so much of an idiot out of the driver that it'll all turn out for the best.
 
C

Creepy Old Man

Guest
I'm not going away, I'll just sit here in my van and watch you with my creepy binoculars.

Edit: Oink it, boy! You gave away my really bad cover!
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
Well, it is nice to know that humankind is not as far up the food chain as they think they are - seriously, put a man and a wolverine in a cage together (and even give the man a weapon) and see who wins...or let's go to a much smaller scale and make it man vs. virus. We know why usually wins this one.

Personally, I think we could solve the whole 'cruelty to animals' and 'mass consumption' problem in one fell swoop: Canibalism!!!

-Ferret

"Soylent Green is People! Yummy People!"
 
T

train

Guest
Speaking of Cannibalism... Red Dragon anyone?!! good movie!

Back on topic... I think man in general, being as dumb as he is, will always do himself out... As for nature - she can never lose... and we can't beat her, so it's all hopeless!:eek: :rolleyes:
 
S

Shiro, Time Devourer

Guest
Killing animals is wrong. Let's kill each other instead.

This notion is a hypocritical miss. Are we saying that animals are greater than humans. Us as a little higher or equal I can understand, but greater and more worthy of life?
 
T

train

Guest
I would say animals are more in tune with life... they accept their existence and do only what they need to to survive. Humans however don't like the thought of co-habitation, we want it all to be under our control no matter what...

So animals probably aren't more worthy, they're just examples of how to exist without problems...;)
 

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
Well, I like most animals - but, many of them I like on a bun w/ fries.


I'm afraid that some animals just have to cope w/ bing food for other animals. Imagine being a baby rabbit just learing to hop around and your mother tells you "You better learn to move fast because everyone will want to eat you. Just thought you might know that..."

Sure, it's depressing to think about and maybe a bit hypocritical but I like to eat meat. It's yummy and a great source of protein...

-Ferret

"...and it beats the heck out of tofu..."
 
T

train

Guest
Even without protein, most vegetables beat the heck out of tofu!!!...;)
 
1

1000th Cpa

Guest
THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
by Terry Bisson


"They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"Meat. They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."

"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"

"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."

"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."

"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."

"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."

"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in that sector and they're made out of meat."

"Maybe they're like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."

"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take long. Do you have any idea what's the life span of meat?"

"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."

"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads, like the weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."

"No brain?"

"Oh, there's a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat! That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"So ... what does the thinking?"

"You're not understanding, are you? You're refusing to deal with what I'm telling you. The brain does the thinking. The meat."

"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"

"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?"

"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."

"Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."

"Omigod. So what does this meat have in mind?"

"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the Universe, contact other sentiences, swap ideas and information. The usual."

"We're supposed to talk to meat."

"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there. Anybody home.' That sort of thing."

"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."

"I thought you just told me they used radio."

"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."

"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"

"Officially or unofficially?"

"Both."

"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."

"I was hoping you would say that."

"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"

"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say? 'Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"

"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they can only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."

"So we just pretend there's no one home in the Universe."

"That's it."

"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you probed? You're sure they won't remember?"

"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them."

"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."

"And we marked the entire sector unoccupied."

"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"

"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."

"They always come around."

"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone ..."
 
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