Media, Power, Social Change, and the Feline Absent Referent

My colleague Cheryl Abbate who is a graduate student of philosophy and animal ethics at Marquette University in Wisconsin shared this bizarre news story with me (please click to watch the video).  PETA paid for a somewhat graphic image of a cat undergoing medical experimentation to be posted on buses to raise awareness about Nonhuman Animal testing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  In the clip, the news station frames the story as a question of obscene imagery and First Amendment rights.  The newscaster, the bus management, and the public are all presented questioning PETA's legal ability to post the imagery publicly.  Never once is the animal testing actually discussed.

Really, the image isn't even that graphic compared to the scads of absolutely horrific, keep-you-up-at-night, scar-you-for-life, secondary post traumatic stress disorder-inducing imagery that is out there (I just returned from a research trip to the Tom Regan Animal Rights Archive and I'm still trying to recover from the images I saw).  But why has the news story focused only on the First Amendment when the big elephant in the room (or suffering orange cat in this case) is staring us right in the face?

If the viewers relied solely on what the news story presented, they'd never even know there was a problem with the systematic torture and killing of cats in their community.  The university's violence against Nonhuman Animals is completely ignored.  Instead, attention is drawn to the  violence to those humans made uncomfortable by the image or those worried about harm to their business.  An attempt to raise awareness about the interests of the vulnerable has been manipulated as a story about the interests of the privileged.

Research has demonstrated that vegan rhetoric is often distorted by mainstream elite-controlled media to either defame and dismiss veganism, or twist animal-positive ideas to support the status quo.  The media is an agent of socialization created and maintained by those in power.  In this case, the multi-billion dollar science industry and the large university get the privilege to shape reality.  These entities not only hold tremendous sway over the community, but they have also infiltrated the institution of media itself.  As we know, the media is run by powerful white men and their corporate interests.

Indeed, many social movement scholars question the ability for social movements to successfully utilize the media to disseminate messages of radical social change and equality.  On the other hand, the power of morally shocking imagery was also demonstrated.  Many concerned citizens have been contacting the university with complaints.  Fortunately, the news team and others working to maintain the existing power structure can't follow the buses around and try to deflect everyone's attention from Nonhuman Animal rights to First Amendment rights.

References

Cole, M. and K. Morgan.  2011.  "Veganphobia:  Derogatory Discourses of Veganism and the Reproduction of Speciesism in UK National Newspapers."  The British Journal of Sociology 62 (1):  134-153.

Freeman, C.  2009.  "This Little Piggy Went to Press;  The American News Media's Construction of Animals in Agriculture."  The Communication Review 12 (1):  78-103.

Sampedro, V.  1997.  "The Media Politics of Social Protest."  Mobilization 2 (2):  1985-205.

The Social Construction of Cockroaches

For many, cockroaches are stereotyped as dirty, file, disease-ridden, and unworthy of life.  Admittedly, even vegans sometimes have difficulty overcoming the "heebie jeebies" cockroaches can sometimes trigger--our socialization against certain animal species is that strong.

In many areas of the world, cockroaches are eaten as food.  Some places (like Russia and Jamaica) even use cockroaches in traditional medicine.  For Westerners, however, cockroaches are considered so vile, they are only worthy of human contact in derogatory "fear factor" contests. In fact, many of us find cockroaches so creepy, they are suitable for Halloween costumes.

Yet, as Sociological Images points out, "What seems normal is not necessarily  natural or inevitable."  Apparently Americans were not always so disgusted by cockroaches, as evidenced in this advertisement from the 1930s or 40s depicting well-to-do women gleefully participating in a cockroach race.  

Incidentally, cockroach racing resurfaced in Australia in the 1980s, where it continues today, albeit with the more charismatic hissing cockroach.

According to Cockroach, by Marion Copeland (2003), cockroaches have enjoyed an important role in human folklore, appearing in Aesopian fables and Greek mythology. They become symbols of clever wit, resilience, and survival.   They also represent the dichotomy of light and darkness, as well as power and weakness.

Cockroaches also surface in the story of human slavery and colonization.  For example, most of the species of cockroaches we are familiar with in the United States only arrived to North America with the Spanish colonizers of the 1500s and ships transporting slaves from Africa not long after.  Many oppressed peoples have taken on the cockroach as symbol of the injustice they face.  Alternatively, the cockroach image has also been forced on the vulnerable to dehumanize them and justify their subjugation.

The cockroach's long history in the story of humanity has not gone completely underappreciated.  In The Cockroach Papers:  A Compendium of History and Lore, author Richard Schweid reminds us that cockroaches, too, are sentient beings worth saving.  Smashing the stereotypes (he notes that cockroaches clean themselves as much as cats do, for example), Schweid reminds us that cockroaches serve many important functions for our ecosystem.  Ultimately, he argues, humans and cockroaches can and should coexist.

A Dog Reacts to 2 Girls 1 Cup

In 2007, one of the most popular viral videos of the year was called "2 Girls 1 Cup." It was a short trailer for a fetish porn film called "Hungry Bitches," and featured two women defecating into a cup, eating the feces, vomiting, and then eating the vomit.

Trust me when I tell you not to try to satisfy your curiosity by googling the video. You really do not want to see it. It was one of the grossest things I have ever seen in my life, and I think most people who saw the video would agree.

In fact, the best thing to have come out of the video was the video reaction phenomenon that quickly emerged from it. Here, people filmed themselves, or friends or family members, watching 2G1C for the first time, putting the reaction videos on YouTube for others to enjoy.

The reaction videos are priceless (especially those involving people's grandparents); we get to watch the viewer initially not understand what's happening in the video, then, as they begin to understand, watch as disgust registers on their face, and then eventually watch as the viewer gets angry, gets up, or sometimes vomits themselves.

Of the many theories to explain the evolutionary significance and function of disgust, one theory suggests that things that are disgusting to humans are those that make us more like animals--that breach the human animal border. Thus bestiality, public sex, and anything involving human waste would be seen as disgusting to most of us.

This makes this dog's reaction so perfect. Because he is a dog, and dogs do enjoy eating feces, he registers no disgust at all at 2 Girls 1Cup. Why would he?