Activism... vs. Reactivism

     I have always admired activists.  From my mother, the first activist I knew, to Pete Bethune whom I've never even met, activists have inspired me take my ideals beyond the talking phase.  From Gandhi to Paul Watson activists come in as many different forms as they have differing causes.  From "Save me Jesus" to "Save the Whales," activism takes on a seemingly infinite number of forms.  Some are quite benign in their activism, for example a group of anti-war protesters standing on the side with positive messages of support for peace.  And others meanwhile are much more harmful, like the ones for example whom are in the next story I will tell you.

    I founded a fledgling group in 2010 called Team Blue Florida which was supposed to act as a union for all Florida's marine animal activist groups.  We started a website, scouted for members, and held a couple of protests.  Things seemed to be progressing and with every passing day I found myself more and more confident to speak my mind.  I was seeing the need to protest just about anyone who fished, any place that was connected to shark finning, BP, the list was endless.  And growing longer by the hour.  Truly.  My band Leaf was at the time taking a backseat to all this "activism."  Or was it reactivism?"

    You see I've been into ecology since like 4th grade.  Sticking up for animals was nothing new to me.  The "hip" trends of veganism and so on were just old hat to me.  My Dad was learning to eat vegan while I was learning fractions.  We recycled back when there weren't any recycling programs anywhere.  But when I saw the movie "The Cove", I felt my paternal instinct to protect the weak kick into high gear.  You see this movie exposes the horrors behind captive dolphin programs and shows dolphins being literally slaughtered right before your eyes.

    Well, I reacted.  Swift and strong.  I did all I could to convince others of the truth behind SeaWorld and other similar parks.  I protested, got in arguments with friends, made a Leaf video for dolphins, and burnt some bridges, all in the name of saving the dolphins.  And I made friends.  Some nasty ones.

    My new friends were dedicated, and dependable when it came to animal rights activism.  I got to know a woman in PETA who sent me signs for protests and also some pretty radical people from a group called ARRF.   Now I didn't know this at the time, an general assumption is made about people who protest for animal rights.  "They are all vegetarian"  Well, I'm not.  And at some point the issue came up and bam!  Game on!  I began to get emails from old "friends" saying nasty things.  They sent 6 real postal letters to various members of my family saying even more nasty things.  (All typed up in some CSI fashion to hide the identity of the sender)  The defriended me as a group, 15 or so in all, and to this day I still get comments relating to my personal dietary choices. :)

   Now, unfortunately it didn't work.  I still eat meat.  I wonder, if these tactics ever work?  And I wonder what they are fighting for?

   To act is to be deliberate.  To make choice based on a expectation of an effect.  So if people are wishing "cancer" on my mom because her son eats turkey, what exactly are they acting for?  Or is this an emotional "reaction" to some letdown they may have had about an expectation in their minds about me being vegan.

    I see parallels in my form of reactivism and my "friend's" form.  Both relied very little on wishing to act for an effect, and rather more on reacting to some mental stimuli.

    My reaction was so similar to the vegans' reactions.  Both were full of judgement.  Both were swift and harsh.  And both put zero thought into the actual outcome of our reactions.  I don't think the vegans who react this way to meat eaters really want to "turn off" people like me from eating more vegan as they did.  I know I don't want to burn all the bridges of friends who I know that fish for money or who don't recycle.  These reactions are based on ego, not love.

    These reactions were based on Ego not love.

     I have to repeat that so I don't fall into that trap again.  And also to draw a line in the sand for anyone looking for a place to be a meat eating animal rights activist.  Now that may seem like hypocrisy to you... but only if you obey your "reactive" mind.   If you truly want animals rights, then respect mine, for I am just an animal convinced of my own humanity.  Can you prove your humanity by being civil?  Or will emotions rule your thoughts and control the outcomes of your reactions?

   Action or Reaction?   Activism or Reactivism?    Hate or Love?   Judgement or Compassion?

    One love... Tommy Leaf   http://www.leafjam.com