Thursday, July 29, 2010

Lecturing at Jain Temple in October - Vegetarian Awareness Month

I was invited a few times to lecture on 'a general vegetarian topic' (which I did only once, on World Vegetarian Day - October 1st - and Gandhi's Birthday - October 2nd).

I think my point was that the local Jain communities around the world would be in an excellent position to take responsibility for these two events annually and to motivate others, particular others related to India, Indian culture, and Jainism and Hinduism - to acknowledge World Vegetarian Day - October 1st - and Gandhi's Birthday - October 2nd - and the values they represent.

After all, World Vegetarian Day - October 1st - is celebrated globally under the international sponsorship of IVU (International Vegetarian Union - www.IVU.org) and Gandhi's Birthday - October 2nd - is celebrated through FARM - Farm Animal Reform Movement (Bethesda, MA).

I urged them to 'leverage' their ethnic and national identity in the service of their deeply held values and in solidarity with others of shared background whose spirituality could benefit by these encouragements.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

SMOs within the vegan advocacy movement

Wikipedia's article on social movements and organizations specifically mentions the vegan movement and PETA. Did you write it? The spelling suggests that it was written with European spelling habits.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Social_Movements

Social movements are any broad social alliances of people who are connected through their shared interest in blocking or affecting social change. Social movements do not have to be formally organized. Multiple alliances may work separately for common causes and still be considered a social movement.

A distinction is drawn between social movements and social movement organizations (SMOs). A social movement organization is a formally organized component of a social movement. But an SMO may only make up a part of a particular social movement. For instance, PETA(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) advocates for vegan lifestyles along with its other aims. But PETA is not the only group to advocate for vegan diets and lifestyles; there are numerous other groups actively engaged toward this end (see vegan).^[1] Thus, the social movement may be a push toward veganism (an effort with numerous motivations)^[1] and PETA is an SMO working within the broader social movement.

Modern social movements became possible through the wider dissemination of literature and increased mobility of labor due to the industrialization of societies. Organised social structures like modern day armies, political societies, and popular movements required freedom of expression, education and relative economic independence.

Giddens^[2] has identified four areas in which social movements operate in modern societies:

democratic movements that work for political rights
labor movements that work for control of the workplace
ecological movements that are concerned with the environment
peace movements that work toward, well, peace

It is also interesting to note that social movements can spawn counter movements. For instance, the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a number of counter movements that attempted to block the goals of the women's movement, many of which were reform movements within conservative religions.^[3]

However, citing SMOs suggests that SMOs speak FOR vegans, which is something I specifically repudiate. Most vegetarians, as most vegans, are un-organized - not organized into support for SMOs - a statement that I think can be supported by Partridge and Amato's (outdated, to be sure, since it's 1990) preliminary research on vegetarians (and vegans before there WAS an identifiable vegan movement; we then ONLY had the American Vegan Society in Malanga, NJ).

Further, Keith Akers wrote (years ago, I think in the late 1980s in an outreach flyer from the Vegetarian Society of Colorado) that the vegan (even the vegetarian movement, at its best) is unlike all protest movements, including the animal rights movement. All protest movements talk about what others are doing wrong; the vegan movement is about what we can do right, justly, well, decently, ahead of the curve, and better. In my humble opinion (IMHO - a writing style characteristic of the AR online movement, as I've watched it over more than a decade), that distinction ought to be seriously considered in writing as well as in analysis.

A social movement organization (often capitalized in literature as Social Movement Organization or abbreviated as SMO) is a formally organized component of a social movement (SM). A SMO may only make up a part of a particular social movement; in other words, a specific social movement is usually composed of many social movement organizations - formal organizations that share movement's goals and attempt to implement them.^[1] Social movement organizations play coordinating roles in social movements, but do not actually employ or direct most of the participants.

For instance, the civil rights movement was a social movement composed of specific social movement organizations (likeSNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) or CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)).^[1] PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) advocates for vegan lifestyles along with its other aims. But PETA is not the only group to advocate for vegan diets and lifestyles; there are numerous other groups actively engaged toward this end.^[2] Thus, the social movement is the general push toward veganism (an effort with numerous motivations) and PETA is only a single SMO working within the broader social movement.^[2] The peace movement is composed of many groups that want peace - groups that classify as SMOs such as Peace Action (SANE/FREEZE), Fellowship of Reconciliation and others.^[3] Ku Klux Klan is yet another SMO - part of the white supremacist movement.^[4] al-Qaeda, acting as a coordinating body for a large number of loosely-connected anti-American organizations and individuals is another example of a social movement organization.

An organizational equivalent of a particular social movement - a collection of all SMOs focused on a given field - is known as a Social Movement Industry (SMI).^[1] Social Movement Industries are similar to social movements in scope but are seen as having more structure.^[5] Social movement industries can be combined into one one Social Movement Sector in the society.^[6]

The term SMO entered the literature through the work of Zald and Ash (1966).^[7]

Compassionate Spirit: vegan movement about what we can do right, justly, well, decently, ahead of the curve, and better

Keith Akers wrote that the vegan (even the vegetarian movement, at its best) is unlike all protest movements, including the animal rights movement. All protest movements talk about what others are doing wrong; the vegan movement is about what we can do right, justly, well, decently, ahead of the curve, and better.

http://www.CompassionateSpirit.com

So I AGREE with the Compassionate Spirit that veganism and the vegan movement are about what we can do right, justly, well, decently, ahead of the curve, and better

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The ants go marching

The ants go marching lyrics

The ants go marching one by one.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one;
The little one stops to suck his thumb,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching two by two.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two;
The little one stops to tie his shoe,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching three by three.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching three by three.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching three by three;
The little one stops to climb a tree,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching four by four.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching four by four.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching four by four;
The little one stops to shut the door,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching five by five.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching five by five.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching five by five;
The little one stops to take a dive,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching six by six.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching six by six.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching six by six;
The little one stops to pick up sticks,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching seven by seven.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching seven by seven.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching seven by seven;
The little one stops to pray to heaven,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching eight by eight.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching eight by eight.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching eight by eight;
The little one stops to rollerskate,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching nine by nine.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching nine by nine.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching nine by nine;
The little one stops to check the time,
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The ants go marching ten by ten.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching ten by ten.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching ten by ten;
The little one stops to shout
"THE END!!"

Friday, July 23, 2010

Small Book With a Big Idea (by

My friend Sara Ting wrote this book.

Would YOU like to read _Small Book With a Big Idea_?

If so, and you get a copy of this witty and engaging book, let me know your reactions.

List Price: $11.99

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Small Book With a Big Idea

5 Minute Training to Empower You and Transform Our World

Authored by Sara Ting

Thought-provoking, engaging, poignant and witty. 5 minute training to empower you and help transform the world.

Publication Date:: Jul 16 2010
ISBN/EAN13:: 1450555381 / 9781450555388
Page Count:: 62
Binding Type:: US Trade Paper
Trim Size:: 5.25" x 8"
Language:: English
Color:: Black and White
Related Categories:: Fiction / General

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Is there an animal rights MOVEMENT as such? What social science evidence is there?

I'm interested in your assessment, from your professional and academic study, of whether the (so-called?) 'animal rights movement' has the capacity to effectively foster and help implement fundamental change in the social and legal status of animals in North America?

A political scientist from Harvard and the University of Michigan, Dr. Carl Phillips (presenting himself consistently as an ethical vegan, we all saw), argued at the beginning of this century that the (idea of the) 'animal rights movement' is a myth because, though there may be growing understanding and support for 'it's' values and outlooks and scientific research is deepening and broadening the evidence base for such outlooks and values, the collage of constituencies present NONE of the characteristics of a social movement:

� no cohesion

� no lore or repertoire

� no campaigns (well, there's the Great American Meatout, but that's about kicking the meat habit for one day of the year, on March 20th, and it's a rag tag annually-collected group of volunteers who voluntarily report to FARM on their 'doings' - including 'steak-outs')

While Charles Tilly (2004) defines big social movements as a series of contentious performances, displays and campaigns by which ordinary people made collective claims on others, most of those who claim to be 'animal rights advocates' are sheepish about making any general and broadly defensible claims UPON others (that have any impact) because they prefer an outlook and value system of individual (and I'd argue arbitrary) self-justification (the 'choice' movement).

Distinguishing social movements from political parties and advocacy groups, Sidney Tarrow (1994) defines a social movement as collective challenges [to elites, authorities, other groups, or cultural codes] by persons with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interactions with elites, opponents, and authorities. Most often, those who are most outspoken in national organizations that claim to be animal rights' organizations (and really are welfarist organizations) have chosen VERY LOUDLY a political party where the overwhelming majority are neither vegetarian (let alone vegan) and have no concept of rights pertaining to anyone other than to members of their own species.

It all seems pretty humble, I'd say, and while humility is a virtue with its own charm, this set of human stirrings seems more of the 'humbleness' variety that lacks any socially organic sense of itself (that's definable and self-defined, evidence-based, and consequentially effective.

Now I suspect that Carl Phillips had been thinking of writing a book on the topic because he was very thorough in his efforts to disabuse us all of the notion that we comprised a movement. Then, after 'flashing on the scene' (in the rhetoric of the 1960s) and 'dissing' everyone who looked prominent in (what many of us had THOUGHT to be 'the AR movement'), he disappeared (from 'the scene') to be hardly discoverable without significant efforts. To this extent, some could have thought he was 'a plant' from elsewhere, but he seemed very genuine throughout his graduate careers at U Mich and Harvard, and he spoke well and genuinely about the scientific reasons for being vegetarian and for replacing animal models in the various life sciences. If Dr. Phillips had been a plant, he surely seemed to be 'a vegan plant' and not the sort that could have sown any destruction EXCEPT the doubt that we could be termed 'a social movement' or 'a political movement' in the systematic analysis of ANY of the social or political theorists who write about such historical processes.

Though bureaucratization seems to be common in 'the national AR organizations (e.g. PETA, Fund for Animals, AAVS, NAVS, PCRM, et al. - perhaps characteristic of the phenomenon's middle class roots in America and Europe), we (ARAs = animal rights advocates) may have failed to 'coalesce', in the terms of Blumer, Mause, and Tilly, and that failure could be the process disruption that kept or keeps us from emerging as a viable social movement - a failure to coalesce (despite the emergence of a plurality of 'voices' that seem too often polarized or alienated from one another.

Any thoughts on that?

His lectures were passionate, robust, genuine, engaging and interesting to the point of being fascinating, and 'bursting at the seams' in the sense that (as I recall them) they often went past the stopping time.

Vegetarian In Boston

Friday, July 30, 2010

Gary E. Fraser, M.B., CH.B., PH.D., M.P.H. - LLU Department of Biostatistics

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Lecturing at Jain Temple in October - Vegetarian Awareness Month

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Soybean Powered Buses

Are Biofuels the Answer?

The Science and Economics of Alternative Energy

November 18, 2010

Register here

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

SMOs within the vegan advocacy movement

Compassionate Spirit: vegan movement about what we can do right, justly, well, decently, ahead of the curve, and better

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The ants go marching

The ants go marching lyrics

SHARE:

Friday, July 23, 2010

Small Book With a Big Idea (by

Small Book With a Big Idea

5 Minute Training to Empower You and Transform Our World

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Is there an animal rights MOVEMENT as such? What social science evidence is there?

About Me

Friday, July 30, 2010

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Are Biofuels the Answer? The Science and Economics of Alternative Energy

November 18, 2010

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The ants go marching lyrics

SHARE:

Friday, July 23, 2010

Small Book With a Big Idea

5 Minute Training to Empower You and Transform Our World

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Are Biofuels the Answer?

The Science and Economics of Alternative Energy