This is the first in a series of the best essays that Gary posted to his Facebook page between 2015 and 2017. These posts are often (though not always) presented here in descending chronological order. You can cycle through the entire series by using the left- and right-arrow navigation buttons at the bottom of each page. You can also access each post individually from the main menu at the top left of any webpage on this site. Just click About ADAPTT; near the bottom of the drop-down menu you'll see three entries for the Facebook posts; click on one of these three for another drop-down from which you can choose the post you want.
(Posted March 30, 2017) To all those who acted on the recognition and stopped exploiting other animals, and all the activists I’ve inspired to do more, please continue to enlighten as many people as you possibly can. My tank is completely empty, so I will no longer be online or active in any capacity.
Allow me to explain my situation in the simplest way. Last year Kobe Bryant (NBA) and Peyton Manning (NFL) retired after 18 years. They didn’t hang it up because they wanted to; their worn-out bodies wouldn’t let them continue. Unfortunately, after 18 years of face-to-face activism from 1996-2014, and a brief “online” stint for the last two years, my worn-out MIND, which is an integral part of THE body, won’t allow me to continue either. I no longer possess the patience or the precision to teach. So, before I end up like Michael Jordan in a Washington Wizards uniform, it’s time for me to fly.
FYI: When I became fully active in ’96, I was simply fulfilling a promise made to a chained elephant at The Shrine Circus. That is why I took part in 100s of demonstrations and several acts of civil disobedience and direct action from 1996-2001, resulting in 13 arrests, including the ’97 animal concentration camp raid in Blenheim, Ontario.
Then, after realizing that pure education was the most effective form of activism, I hit the road from 2002-2014 for 7.5 months a year traveling to 30 states giving 2,660 lectures at 186 schools to 60,000 non-vegan students in ethics, composition, philosophy, women’s studies, public policy, nutrition and sociology classes. And I never once charged schools/professors to bring me in because the truth should always be free! (A few generous donors covered my traveling expenses, and helped me pay my bills.) Peruse the COMMENTS section on adaptt.org to see the efficacy of education-based activism, and, keep in mind, those are just the people who decided to send a thank you note!
And what about this startling quote I discovered from a 2003 Toledo Blade newspaper article after I gave 8 lectures in one day (most ever) at a rural high school in Ohio. After the last class, I had a conversation with a student who killed pigs on his family’s property. I later told reporter Jack Lessenberry: “I remember thinking, here I am with Greg the pig farmer, and I don't want anything bad to happen to this guy.”
Fast forward to 2017, and it’s pretty obvious that “the struggle” took its toll on me, especially when the majority of the animal liberation movement (apologists/pacifists/intersectionalists) is more concerned about offending “oppressed” humans instead of demanding an end to their oppressive hypocrisy! If people are willingly participating in The Animal Holocaust, they’ve gone from victim to victimizer since they are unequivocally denying animals the same rights of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness that they are demanding/receiving.
But I didn’t become an animal liberationist to have retaliatory quarrels with misguided apologist/pacifist/intersectionalist vegans, which is 1,000 times more draining than dealing with those who continue to use other animals! Besides obsessing about THEIR own image, and narcissistically making sure there’s an imaginary halo over THEIR head at all times, their main form of “activism” is attacking anyone who doesn’t worship at the altar of humanity, especially if they refuse to do yoga sun-salutes on a beach before exchanging energy-hugs with unbathed hippies in a Woodstock-like drum circle gathering of uselessness!
Since I’ve always been willing to share my uncensored feelings, I must clarify and correct a few things before signing off:
(1) Since humanity thrives on abuse, discrimination and injustice 24/7, I no longer believe veganism can reduce or eliminate the depraved things we do to each other. From teenage mothers throwing their unwanted newborn babies in the trash, and parents physically or mentally abusing their own kids, to men raping women and children, domestic abuse, sweat-shops, the diamond industry, racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism and endless religious wars, we are the nastiest, filthiest, deadliest parasitic-organisms to ever infect The Universe! Fortunately, veganism wasn’t created for us. They exist to reduce and eliminate the depraved things we do to animals and the environment. So the fight to end speciesism must continue!
(2) In the I-24 Israeli interview, I said there were no vegan rapists in the prisons of the world. I never should’ve made that statement because men - whether atheist, religious, democrat, republican, anarchist, white, black, Asian, Latino, pro-life, pro-choice, pro-gun, anti-gun, etc. - will sadistically continue to rape women and children no matter what lifestyle they follow. SO I FULLY RETRACT THAT STATEMENT. I also said that new vegans should wear-out their old cow-skin shoes since the damage had already been done. I no longer recommend that because using/wearing animal-skin is ALWAYS obscene, whether the items are old or new. If you discovered that your old shoes were made of dog-skin or Jew-skin, you wouldn’t create an excuse to ignore those victims so why create one when cows are the victims? Throw animal-skin products in the trash where they belong! I also accidentally said that 50% of Nike shoes were made of synthetic leather. That is not accurate. When she asked the question, my mind was hollering “talk about the many vegan-friendly shoe companies like New Balance or Converse”, and then an old stat from Nike popped into my head, and then it all got jumbled and came out wrong. UGH! Sorry, but when one speaks publicly as much as I used to, it’s impossible not to make mistakes.
(3) In the HUMAN RIGHTS HYPOCRITES video I said Palestinians were the craziest group of people on the planet. That is not true, and I unequivocally take that back. The apologist-pacifist-intersectionalist vegan community is the craziest by far! Then it’s ALL the non-vegan “oppressed” humans (blacks, women, LGBT, Palestinians, Jews, Hispanics, etc.) and non-vegan human rights activists because they’re proudly supporting the rape, baby-stealing, enslavement and murder of animals, unequivocally denying them the same rights of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness that they’re demanding/receiving! Plus, if these hypocrites ever stopped exploiting other animals, they’d simply morph into the first group of self-righteous “humans-first animals-last” lunatics! Basically, everyone else is next, with NON apologist/NON pacifist/NON intersectionalist vegans bringing up the rear because we are the least destructive/hypocritical. Concerning my misanthropy, Malcolm X once said, “You can’t be anti-slavery and pro slave master.” So, even though I empathize with certain groups when they battle others (LGBTs over straights, blacks over whites, women over men), I no longer care about “oppressed” humans because they don’t care about the animals they endlessly oppress on a daily basis. With this being said, I will not tolerate defamatory charges of racism, or supporting rape, or whatever other slur the apologist-pacifist-intersectionalist vegan community wants to manufacture. And, FTR, being a misanthrope doesn’t mean I hate individuals, necessarily. It means I collectively despise humanity because we are toxic to everything that exists. So spare me the Pee Wee Herman-like retort of “Gary, since you hate humans, then you must hate yourself, too?” I still say it’s absurd that people discuss my non-harmful enmity. Will another argument ensue as I now reveal that I hate The Who more than The Rolling Stones, and Star Wars more than James Bond movies, even though I despise all four?
(4) In my Georgia Tech speech I referred to eggs as hen periods. Most are still unaware that this was a Comedy Central Roast-like joke. Remember, I was influenced by comedy (George Carlin) as much as militancy (Malcolm X). Since birds don’t menstruate, eggs are technically not a part of their period. But it’s still an entertaining line to use when roasting those who continue to exploit other animals so there’s no need to eliminate it from your repertoire. In my 2014 EXCUSES speech, with scientifically-accurate humor, I explained that if people perpetually crave and consume objects (eggs) that come OUT of a bird’s cloaca - which is the poop-hole, pee-hole, vaginal-fluid hole and egg-hole all in one - and cook stuffing inside of a turkey’s ass so it can marinate in shit-particles during the baking process, then humans have a big-ass bestial-scat-fetish for bird-ass! Toss in the consumption of breasts, legs and thighs, and squeezing cow-nipples to extract milk for cereal, cheese and pastries, and it’s a bestiality ball at every meal! BTW, I was recently watching reruns of Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. Jennifer Aniston and Steve Harvey showed up to play Pictionary because Fallon loves playing goofy games. Aniston had to draw a picture so Harvey would guess the phrase “Holy Cow”! She drew the body of an animal that appeared to be a cow. When Harvey instead said “sheep, goat”, Aniston drew udders as a hint. I immediately realized that if people wanted to depict cows in a drawing, but didn’t possess Andy Warhol’s skills, cows would be the only animal where NIPPLES could be drawn to describe them because humanity’s favorite pastime has always been stroking cow nipples to extract secretions!
I also need to give some well-deserved shout-outs to a few people that helped me along the way. To activist Hilma Ruby who has never received enough credit for her role in the Ontario mink raid. We were the only ones out of 5 who stood true to the cause by refusing to cooperate with the authorities and never apologizing to the court or the mink-killers for giving 1,542 animals a chance at freedom. To activist Jason Bayless who created the “if it’s not good enough for your eyes then why is it good enough for your stomach” line that I used before showing slaughterhouse videos. We were hanging in the same crowd in 2002 when he suggested adding it to the speech because it worked during his tabling events. To chef/wellness expert Jason Wrobel who edited a few of my essays over the years, came up with the “ass-bread” zinger in the Georgia Tech speech, and traveled with me for a few years during the lecture tour to make the road less unbearable. He was also the only person who could almost eat as much food as I do at one sitting (munchies)! To author Harvey Diamond who created the ‘2-year-old child in a crib with a bunny rabbit and an apple’ anecdote. He received credit for this on my website but I never had time to acknowledge him (or Bayless & Wrobel) during the speech because my “flow” would’ve been compromised. To Kate Timko who tag-team-lectured with me in 2005 because I thought a female’s voice would win-over anyone who thought I was too harsh. The first time we presented “And Nobody Gets Killed” (see my YouTube channel) around 10 women approached Kate after the talk and said, “He was a little too rough for us. But we loved the way you sounded!” Kate later said she was laughing hysterically INSIDE thinking, “I’m just reciting HIS words”. To Allyson Wainstock and Paul Chetirkin who, separately, assembled many different slaughterhouse videos for my speeches. Even though I had to scour through hours of gory footage, they spent longer hours splicing that evil shit together. To the entire Israeli vegan community - especially Hovav, Daniel, Meital, Omri, Tal, Ori and Nir - who made the Hebrew version of my Georgia Tech speech as popular as it is! Considering the endless human conflicts that have always taken place in that region, it’s quite remarkable that a lecture about animal liberation reigns supreme. To retired philosophy professor Gordon Brown who has been the adaptt.org web developer for more than a decade. His erudition and munificence have been invaluable. To Tiiu Ruben who actually created the website in ‘96 and updated it for many years before Gordon took over. To Erika Windisch who, since 2010, added her voice and wisdom to 100s of classroom Q&A sessions, suggested ways to tighten my essays and speeches, filmed my social media videos, and was the creative director for the finally-modernized adaptt.org site.
And a huge, massive shout-out to those who fight for animal liberation only and have always used my activism as a tool to further the cause because it is now your job to find people who are thirsting for knowledge - who aren’t comfortably numb with all the cruelty - and edify them. If everyone did their part and converted 10, 100, 1000, or more, a vegan world would be in reach. Just speak for the animals like you would want to be spoken for if you were in their position, and always follow YOUR heart when it comes to activism. Stop thinking of ideas when you can put those ideas INTO ACTION instead! And please stop having meetings and conferences because you will only end up discussing those meetings at the next conference before scheduling another conference to debate and discuss the previous meetings before having another discussion to debate the meetings scheduled for the next conference and so on. In my prime, I was a man of action who lived by the adage that if you wanted something done right then you actually had to DO IT, and DO IT YOURSELF! You should live by that adage, too. Put those tears, all that anger, all that knowledge into action! You’d be amazed with the results.
Unfortunately, you will discover that enlightenment is bittersweet. Seeing the truth, knowing the truth, and living the truth is wonderful. But realizing how evil our family, friends and species are is maddening! Just keep opening the eyes of as many people as you can for as long as you can so one day you, too, can say “tag, you’re it” to a bunch of people you’ve influenced.