I’ve considered throwing in the towel at this point, leaving what I’ve already written behind for you to remember me by. I even thought about kicking back and eating vegan bon-bons for the rest of my life and to hell with fighting the good fight, but where’s the fun in that? I’m too ornery to just slink off, and besides, I know lots of you would secretly miss me, even if some of you dedicated carneterians have taken a blood oath not to read me anymore. I just can’t desert you guys! You need me.  And I still have a long list of topics I plan to write about, e.g., my affection for dog poop, the truth about the nutritional value of dairy products, how money rules in animal exploitation industries, why “humanely raised” isn’t humane, my new adventures in raw food veganism, etc. , etc.  So I’ll continue to provide provocative fare for those of you open-minded enough to read it. 

 

I discovered Xomba on the rebound from the corporate websites, when it was still funky looking with a motley melange of writers, some of them downright dreadful (the lack of quality control added to its charm).  My personal style was to drop off ‘bytes and ‘blurbs like a phantom bomber and fly off into wild blue cyberspace in between. But that’s just me.  I’m not the Facebook type. Yeah, there was a middle period when I attempted to play the back-scratching game, but it felt unnatural, so I returned to my original fly-by approach.  I’m not in it for the contests or the comforting social strokes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’ll leave that to the younger folks. So why am I here? To Instigate, Educate and get readers to Cogitate and Vegetate (in a good way), not mindlessly Carnetate (with apologies for the bad rap doggerel). 

 

Anyone who’s read me knows that I write a lot of edgy stuff along with more “normal” fare.   The edgy is where my heart is, but the normal gets more hits. So you could say I have the best of both worlds here.  And I’m just getting into the exquisite subversive value of the xomblurb, something that I hadn’t fully embraced in my first two years. 

 

So I just want to thank those who’ve offered moral support and encouragement as well as the few who’ve done just the opposite. You shall remain nameless, but you know who you are. It’s grist for this writer’s mill, so it’s all good. My age, politics and personality have made me a bit of a misfit here (But what else is new? I’m a square peg from way back), but young Nick and company have been gracious and pretty fair. Although I always let them know when I have techie problems, I’ve never run to them freaking out about anybody’s comments or begging that they be censored, as has happened to me. But I actually consider that a badge of honor because it means I’ve stirred my audience enough to think about and (more importantly) question their cherished belief systems, if not to change them (yet).  As a liberal vegan animal rights advocate with an attitude, lord knows I’ve attracted my share of outraged readers. And that’s good too.   

 

Je ne regrette rien, except maybe that many of you still don’t get it. But I try to remind myself that it took me decades to put the pieces together about our toxic relationship with our fellow animals and gather my guts to do something about it, so I shouldn’t expect miracles from others. And rationalizing one’s actions is very human. None of us wants to think we’re bad people. And none of us is born wise. After all, there has been a relentless stream of extremely effective brainwashing on the part of science, medicine, religion, government, the food industry and the media with regard to nutrition as well as our treatment of nonhuman animals and our fragile environment, driven by profit and fueled by propaganda.  It’s a classic David and Goliath situation, with the animal advocates/environmentalists/vegheads on one side and the Corporate Mafia on the other. Eating dead flesh, the more the better, has bizarrely been promoted as a status symbol. Who doesn’t that appeal to? And also, accepting what I and other advocates teach would force you to dramatically change your way of living, which is understandably scary.  You’ve gotta be ready for the revolution, and the truth is that many of you will never be ready because there are so many powerful, seductive vested interests working against that eventuality.   I really do fear for the future of Planet Earth and all its denizens.

 

I’ll leave you with that heavy thought. In the meantime, I wish you and me good fortune in our writing and surviving endeavors.  And some unsolicited advice from an old lady: If you’re not willing to tell the truth, you may as well just phone it in. And oh yeah, if you don’t like the messenger, please don’t use that as an excuse to reject the message.

 

I once worked for a wacky right-wing, gun-toting orthopod who ended virtually all his correspondence with the charmingly baroque phrase “forging forward with forthright vigor”. Well, I’m planning to forge forward with forthright vigor at Xomba. Stay tuned for my next fly-by.