Here, Take My Skin. You Look A Little Chilly

As confounding as it may seem, I have irrefutable proof that some people, or at least one person, believes that animals are more than happy to be killed and then skinned for their fur. Some people, or at least one person, believes that a fox, for example, will look at a human and say to itself "Gee, my fur would look way better on her than on me. I'd rather die than deprive her of that pleasure."

The proof? Anecdotal!

OK... so I was at work a few days ago and there was a woman sitting at a table with a fur coat beside her. I was busy close by and happened to notice it. I asked her casually if it was real.

"Yes", she said, smiling. "Real fox fur."

Now, working in public, as I do, some things are best said in certain ways. So I ran through, in my head, a few possible things to say.  Steering clear of any 'fuckings' and 'bitches', I thought something more discreet and, maybe thought provoking would suit.

"Maybe the fox needed it more than you do." I said cleverly.

Whammo! That'll knock her back on her ass. Surely a new vegan conversion!

"No", she said, still smiling amiably. "I think they're happy to give them to us."

Whammo, as I get knocked back on my ass. See, in my little confrontational brain there were only two possible responses to my comment. Either something like "Why, you're right! I've been a fool! My days of exploiting animals in any way are over! Joy!", or "Fuck off you self righteous asshole!". But she shook me up. I was, well, confounded.

How does someone arrive at that conclusion? How does an adult, presumably educated to at least grade 12, come to believe that animals consider themselves commodities for us to use? I mean, do mink strut past her on the street, doing little runway walks, showing off their glistening coats in the hopes that maybe she'll pick them for next season's coat?

And then I started thinking about a conversation my sister and I had last Christmas while I was home visiting. My sister is a born again christian. I am an atheist. ...and we were talking about my being a vegan. She brought up the 'point' that in the bible, god gives man dominion over the earth and all it's creatures. In other words, god says "See all these beautiful animals? Well, I give you permission to do whatever you want with them."(I don't remember my exact response to my sister but I'm sure it was brilliant.) So, could there possibly be a  connection here between biblical speciesism and the blissfully ignorant fur coat wearer? Could it be that she was Christian or Catholic or something, and had been taught all her life that animals exist solely for our benefit. She then used her powers of razor sharp logic and keen observation to conclude that non-human animals could and do conceptualize themselves as totally inferior to humans, willing to relinquish complete control over their own lives, willing to suffer pain and death gladly.

Has she ever interacted with a dog? A cat? Was she raised in a hermetically sealed bubble, forbidden contact with any other creatures?

Or maybe she'd had many smart-assed idiots like me dropping little animal rights bombs and she's come up with a sneaky way of shutting us up? Who knows how long she's had the coat.

Alas, these are questions I don't have the answer to, and I'll really never know why she wears dead foxes on her back.