Dear Mr. Bryan Pease Congratulations on doing harm. Today a good friend, documentary photographer, progressive food person and father of two just told me the event he’d worked on for hundreds of hours and put $3,000 of his own money into had been canceled due to your uninformed, ignorant campaign on Change.org. Suzies Farm has pulled out of Death for Food because your cyber-bullying is potentially causing great harm to their business. I haven’t spoken with them directly, but I’d bet my life savings Suzie’s didn’t cancel Death for Food because they agree with you (they’ve been behind Death for Food the entire way). They canceled because your uninformed, reckless accusations caused financial harm to their farm. A farm that has done great work in San Diego. Their crime was not organizing their business around your value system. My friend behind Death for Food is not a wealthy lawyer like yourself. $3,000 isn’t billable in a few hours. He poured his heart and his bank account into this project because he believes—as do I—that he was making a positive educational change in our food system. And you sunk it on an ignorant, reactionary, extremist whim. Many people have offered to help us pull off the event somewhere. We likely will. Still, you should be proud that youve been able to do harm to my friend and a good, progressive, ethical San Diego farm. Do you feel at all for either of them in your heart, or does their hardship not register with you because they aren’t adorable animals who purr or bleat or bark? When you see us carnivores, do you see human beings with feelings and value, or just seething viruses with legs and fangs and forks? I usually take the high road, but I think I won’t this time. I asked many people of your track record, and all of them replied the same thing. I’m paraphrasing, but only slightly: “Vegan extremist bully with a law degree.” Or “Vegan extremist lawyer who bullies farmers.” Or simply, “Watch out—he will attack you.” You’ve already attacked a friend. He’s received hate mail and hate phone calls thanks to your ignorance. So I’m going to run that risk. It’s time that people questioned your work, because you are hurting good people. Jaime Fritsch is doing a very good thing with Death for Food. He’s asking carnivores to take a long, hard look at the life that’s given up for meat and to honor food animals. An advocate for more responsible meat-eating, respect for food animals, and less waste. That apparently doesn’t appease the God of Dogma (that’s you, buddy). You have decided what is the true, righteous path in life and you will make the rest of us sinners pay dearly until we align ourselves with your value system. Crusaders and bigots have long had a similar plan for life. What bothers me so much about your Change.org campaign is the sheer intellectual laziness, or all-out ignorance. Did you bother sending an email or phone call to anyone involved with Death for Food before you started your reactionary campaign? No, you didn’t. Did you come yourself to the first event to see if your suspected horrors were a reality? No. Did you attempt to ask anyone who went to the first Death for Food event to see if they might report any bloodthirst and sensationalism or cruelty to animals? I doubt it. What you did was look at a JPEG on a computer. You decided you didn’t like a photo by a DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER of a piglet being killed for food—as they are in many, many countries across the world (but the killing part is usually hidden like a dirty secret). Based on that, you started a campaign of total, absolute ignorance and put it on the internet. You painted Jaime Fritsch and his supporters as sensationalistic animal killers who are charging people money for the thrill of the kill. Had you taken 10 minutes to talk to the real person behind this project, you would’ve understood that is the farthest thing from the truth. But you didn’t. That would have been inconvenient. That might have subjected your extremist dogma to real, logical questioning. Questions like, “Yes, veganism is right for you—but do we all have to live by your standards?” The great thing about the internet? People don’t have time to research your claims. They take your ignorant attack as well-researched fact. Especially because you’re a lawyer from a good college. Naturally, they’re horrified at your spin on Death for Food. And, having little time, they just sign your petition. We have asked you repeatedly to have a respectful public media discussion about this topic, and you have yet to respond. That doesn’t surprise me. Dogma often doesn’t hold up to sunlight very well. And why bother exchanging philosophies or debating facts when you’ve already dealt a blow to the movement without any facts? I mean, that’s talent. Should you ever grow tired of reckless vegan activism, consider a career in tabloids. I choose to eat meat. Do I mock vegetarians for their life choice? Nope. Do I spread misinformation about vegans’ health or mental stability? No. Do I come to your place of business and rub bacon on your car door handle? I do not. And yet you feel that vegans are so morally superior to carnivores that it’s acceptable to freely impinge upon our lives. You are what’s wrong with America. You and those old white men with guns who sit at the border and the nice folks from Westboro Baptist Church. You are an extremist who believes so strongly in his own worldview that you use your power to crush conflicting worldviews. Worse, you don’t let facts get in the way of a good, old-fashioned take-down of another human being whose ideas conflict with your own. You are a hyperactive, dangerous strain of dogma. You are reckless, and uncaring of the people you hurt. And at the same time—horrifyingly—you are very powerful. You’re a lawyer. You know how to use the internet. The fact that the internet and you exist at the same time should frighten people. I’m sad for my friend and for Suzie’s Farms. This all sounds really overboard, I realize. But you inspired me. Damaging the reputations of good people and good farms—not to mention causing both financial harm—is worth me going overboard. It really irks me when ignorant people intentionally hurt good people. To your continued ignorance, and its access to mass electronic media, Sincerely, Troy Johnson P.S. There is now an award in your honor. It is called the Ingobel Pease Prize. We will grant it to anyone who exhibits great ability to harm people with the least amount of knowledge possible.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 17:06:04 +0000
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