The exchange of life for life

In the days when our grandparents died at home, we knew what death looked like. Now granddad is whisked away the moment his breathing slows. You never have to see how the story ends (and so, in some ways, it never ends).

When we butchered animals with our own hands we understood the exchange of life for life, and tried to reduce the suffering (if only ti ease our own conscience). But modern agribusiness has taken all the mess off our hands. Now we can keep the show – sows that aren’t allowed to stand, chickends bred to grow so fast they verge on structural colapse, the final elimination of every trait that is not conveniente or profitable – safely out of sight.

When pollution poured from the smokestack of the plant on the edge o four town, we knew the tradeoffs “progress” demanded. Now organized crime trucks off CFCs across the borders, and the seeds of massive genetic pollution are sown in labs in anonymous buildings in tree-lined neighborhoods.

Sinister space is the darkness that defines the light. Once sinister space is out of view, that’s when real evil marshals its troops. When there is no on and nothing but the Earth itself to bear witness.

Adbusters, junho 2001