First, I must confess that I'm more than happy to watch Theresa May be shaken to her knees. Yes she has taken the helm of Great Britain at a most uncertain time and most probably is trying her best, but I'm sorry I just don't have the faith. That being said you'd think I'd welcome the opportunity to turn her into a Cruella de May caricature.
But I'm not.
Honestly, the resurrection of the fox hunting anti-ban is nothing but weak propaganda against a strong candidate. It's cringeworthy, it's lame and yet... it's working. Social media platforms are once again flying to the plight of foxes, red balls of fur curling into people's laps, playing with dog toys in the garden. Meanwhile, the evil Cruella de May casts her ugly stare upon this innocence, waiting for the day when she can, and will, take it away. And carnivores for miles around quiver at her stare, at the thought that an innocent might suffer at her blood-stained fingers.
To kill in the name of sport is cruel, but to kill in the name of mass production, for burgers and chicken nuggets, is fine? To kill one is evil but to kill millions is normal? What am I missing here? If that fox meat that we collect from 'sport' were to be ground into burgers would fox hunting suddenly be OK? Because people don't care about their food, so now they wouldn't care about foxes.
From where I stand, the fox hunting debate is merely a demonstration of peoples ability to play with empathy. A simple switch that enables us to adjust our sadness depending on whether or not our own lives will be affected. It's a symptom not too tenuously linked to determine the average psychopath and yet we all rely on that switch, every single day.
But surely our sympathy for animals does not have to be so black and white. Surely we can adjust our switch to a scale. A scale that allows us to care about foxes without it overruling our political judgement, one where we care about foxes but also about our own footprint on animal cruelty. Using this scale would have far more of an impact on animal suffering than we get from demonising Theresa May in a shared status. Every single time you say no to meat, eggs or dairy you are decreasing animal abuse.
No, I'm not asking you to become vegan but I am suggesting that we think. I am guilty, I hate the dairy industry, it's disgusting to suction baby milk from an artificially fertilised cow. But I love cheese. So now I implement the scale. I have stopped drinking milk and now only buy cheese once a week... it's not perfect but it's a compromise.
I'm not perfect.
But I'm accepting that I can make a change.
By all means people, please continue hating your fox hunters, but if you're eating your nuggets guilt free... well you're a bloody hypocrite.