Be Excellent To Each Other

What's wrong with wearing fur?

I've often thought that the reason people target women wearing fur is that it's a far safer option than going after motorcycles gangs.

I hate to say it, but if I met you "in real life" Mali, I'd end up running you over with a threshing machine.

Why?

For fun, and also to enrich the soil to grow my soya beans.

Did I ever tell you about that Fox Fur coat I almost bought for a girlfriend once?

At the risk of going horribly off-topic:

I think the standard argument is that killing something because you want to wear its skin is rubbish.

I think the main reason that wearing fur is seen as BAD is that fur is soft and nice and stuff, and the animals that used to have it are consdiered to be soft and nice and stuff. With big eyes.

Whereas, in reality, mink are vicious little fuckers and foxes are flea ridden vermin.

But i think fur looks nice.

Wearing fake fur is simply bollocks. it says "I can't afford real fur".

But fur is warm, and looks good.

One line of argument might be that once basic needs such as food and clothing have been met it seems heartless to kill cute fluffy things for aesthetic pleasure. Eg if I was freezing n the mountains I could justifiably use fur to keep warm, but my needs in central Oxford can be met by other materials.

But then the same arguments might also apply to leather*

Me? I like those Roman soldiers who wore an entire wolf's head as a hat. That is cool.

* for shoes, you perverts.

There are several reason to wear fur in central Oxford.

it wil attract rich wimmins. Which is good, as they are rich. And wimmins

And hippies wimins, which is good, as they are slags.

Win all around, i'd say.

Men wear fur? Where?

If it looks the same what difference does it make? Unless you don't like it because it looks especially nice but more because it is a signifier of wealth.

beacuse, if you oppose real fur, and wear fake fur, then that's like opposing slavery but getting your butler to black up, innit?

I'd say it's more like eating veggie burgers if you're a vegetarian.

Mink are ghastly little shits though.

So - if we ate the foxes, dogs, rabbits, mink and so on, then that's fine as the fur would be a by-product?

OT, I had zebra for lunch. Was nice, but nothing special.

They only sell zebra so they don't have to stick a label on it to get through the till.

And beef.

In my view, it depends.

Breeding animals for their fur only is a bit unreasonable.

If an animal is bred to be eaten, then using their fur is better than letting it rot. (see also, leather).

If an animal dies of natural causes or other reasons, then fair enough, it doesn't need it any more. (for example, wolf populations in wildlife preserves have to be tightly controlled, so occasionally young males are culled. These pelts can be bought if you know where to look.)

Pretty sure that my need for beef can't be met by other means. I'm not going to a restaurant where a man brings round slabs of tofu on a sword and cuts off slices.

Is there any difference, morally, in breeding animals for food rather than for fur?

No more unreasonable for breeding them for their meat, IMO.

Hi5!

Most fur comes from pest animals though - with the possible exception of ermine. So you want them killed anyway, because they're overbreeding and threatening your crops/livestock.

None, whatsoever, in my opinion. It's a resource used for a purpose.

Sounds right to me. I don't think I'm camp enough to wear fur like MaliA though.

Fix.

I agree. Of course, once the aliens conquer Earth I think I might quickly reconsider my position.

[EDIT typo]

I'd like to eat a mink.

Which wine do you serve it with? I guess Mr Chris took his zebra with a cheeky chardonnay.

Bog off, hippy!

Heh. but you've got all those Tom Jones cds...

I don't have a problem with veal production, either.

There was a big fuss a year or so ago about the MoD using bearskins to make the hats for the Queen's Guards (or whatever they're called) to wear.

Everyone had a pop at them for it, despite their reassurances that they'd tried different options but none were as comfortable or as long-lasting as actual bear skins.

And of course, that the bearskins for the hats came from bears that were being culled anyway (by someone other than the MoD), whether they made hats out of them or not.

There's no problem to have with British Rose veal.

Don't get me wrong - I've got a leather jacket that took at least a cow and a half to make and I have no problem with steak or fur.
I can also merrily kill, skin, cook and eat most foods (I'm happy to do any, I just don't have the skill). Hippy I ain't

How far does that opinion go, though? Does it apply to bull-fighting?

I'd have a hard time as a meat-eater drawing any moral distinction whatsoever between killing an animal for food or for fur or for both. At least not without being a massive hypocrite, and to be honest it is one of those areas where I am quite conflicted. If I acted truly in accordance with how I really view things when I sit down and think about them then I would probably be a vegetarian. I don't believe in what most people describe as a soul and I believe that animals are capable of experiencing suffering, pain and fear and that this means that they should be treated differently to just another "resource" as Mali puts it.

I think I'd quite like to go to a bull fight. it's one of those things that I've never been to (although, in France many, many years ago, there was an option, but the MsA of that time said no, or something, can't remember why, might have had something to do with transport.)

I wouldn't have a conscionable problem with it.

Well, I suppose many people see it as a waste of an animal, more so than say a cow or sheep where people can eat the meat and use the skin/fur, which is I guess why more people get angered at the thought of fur coats than leather shoes.

That's why you hit them over the head, really, really fucking hard once.

I feel the same way (I was a vegan for four years). I've come to terms with my hypocrisy now, though. Meat is too yummy to abstain from. I don't wear fur (I am not a pimp), but I don't eschew those who do. I guess it's a lifestyle choice.

Like in bull fighting you mean?

That's a sport.

Like Fox hunting.

it's different.

I'm pretty sure when slaughtering the animals for fur, they tend to be treated very poorly and killed inhumanely. I could be wrong, however, and I agree that any meat-eaters against fur wearing can shut the fuck up. (Assuming I am wrong and the animals are killed humanely.)

that's pretty obvious, but it seems maliA lacks common sense. Bikers use leather, therefore there's nothing wrong with it. What is wrong is breeding and killing animals for something as shallow as that. There's many alternatives to fox, chinchilla , and every other cute animal fur.

Is there any good information on how much fur clothing is produced using captive bred animals, and how much is from wild-caught trapping and pest culling?

There really isn't. Once you've gone chinchilla you can never go back.

Chinchilla

Is that the film where Alan Sugar stomps around Tokyo?

i want everyone who wants this cute mix between a squirrel and an hamster dead, dead.

I watched a peta video on chinese fur trade. I defy anyone to promote wearing of fur after deeing a kinda racoon dog skinned alive and bliking its bloody eyes ina pile of its other dead mates. Or indeed the dogs getting skinned alive and tortured.