I cried today during lecture. Not because I'm overly emotional about the end of Art 7A (although I will miss Kip's teaching style) or stressed about finals, or any of the typical reasons I tear up. I cried because it made me physically ill to watch dolphins be slaughtered by the masses in The Cove. I've never watched the full film, but after that brief scene I'm not sure I could stomach it. I'm not vegetarian, and despite my love for animals, I don't exactly go out of my way to be an animal rights activist. I eat chicken and turkey and other meats on occasion without remorse. But for some reason the thought of dolphins being stabbed to death is horrifying, and something I never wished to see captured on video. It's hard to remain ignorant once you see something like that, and yet it's also hard to change your lifestyle in order to accommodate ideal changes. I wish I could stop being hypocritical and not eat meat or join groups that actively fight such cruelty but those things are easier said than done. Kind of a downer way to end class. What Kip said about the video being equivalent to Japanese film crews filming the cruelties of American farming made the situation even more complicated. Who are we to tell another culture what appropriate food sources are? Why can we dictate "humane" ways of killing when there probably is no such thing? Cultural relativism is such a prominent barrier in society when you're on the outside looking in and trying to create change, but within every culture there are traditions and customs that are sacred and worth preserving, outside judgment be damned. I want to be that one student that makes a difference. I just need to find ways of going about it.
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