Standing Rock Stands Firm
You may remember in a previous nibblet we reported on Big Oil trying to frack all over the Native American’s holy land at Standing Rock. The peaceful protest received minimal coverage in the mainstream media, possibly because the police and military were sent in to disperse the peaceful protesters, reportedly resorting to rubber bullets and tear gas. As with The Great Tangerine himself, it seems that freedom of speech (including the right to protest) is only protected if you are saying what they want to hear. However, it has been announced that the pipeline will look for alternative routes, which is a win for the protesters! Whilst it is still possible that the big oil companies will wait for the next administration in January, and appeal, this is a small win, and in a year of possibly the most depressing news of all time, we’ll take a small win.
Austria Says No to Fascism
With the increasing moves to the far right across the world, most shockingly with the election of The Great Tangerine (rather like Voldemort, Newsnibbles will not use his name) it seemed likely that other countries would follow suit. However, the election results from last night’s election revealed the a 53% majority voted against the far right candidate, leaving us with hope that 2017 might be better.
There’s Beef in Them Notes
The discovery of “tallow” a by product of beef and mutton, in the new plastic £5 released by The Bank of England earlier this year has caused vegans and vegetarians to raise a petition, which has to date received over 106,000 signatures, and according to The Telegraph the bank are treating the concerns raised with the “utmost seriousness”. So this is more positive news, take that 2016! We would like to take a moment in this nibblet to address some points raised to us whilst discussing this story, in typical balanced, fair, Newsnibbles style.
Point 1: Raised by Louise. “Well, it’s only something like 0.007% tallow.”
Well, yes, but a cow or a sheep still had to die as a result of that tiny percentage, which is totally unnecessary. Animal by products are not an acceptable medium to use for something as central as money, no matter what percentage it is. DOH.
Point 2: Raised by an anonymous Facebook user: “Why should I sign your petition when you don’t care about people being exploited, people are animals too…” (paraphrased).
This is as stupid as the “all lives matter” argument that white people who don’t understand racism use. But, because just calling it stupid doesn’t help disperse the ignorance, we’ll break it down for you here:
So, 1, vegans and vegetarians do care about people. Maybe not you personally, son, as you are, putting it politely being a douche right now. The fact that they don’t want animals in their money does not mean that they don’t give a shit about the starving children and food bank users created by this government’s austerity measures. What it means is THEY DON’T WANT DEAD ANIMALS IN THEIR MONEY! People can choose not to eat meat, they can choose whether they are serious enough about it not to wear leather either, or not use anything containing animal by products. If they want to live in this country they do not have a choice about money. They have to use the money until Corbyn comes to power and some communist barter system is established that will be the envy of the western world. That’s the facts, no choice about money, that’s why it’s a problem.
2. Yes, people are animals too (someone got their GCSE science, didn’t they?). But people have voices – animals don’t. These people are standing for voiceless animals, that’s why the sheep and cows haven’t started their own petition, the lack of opposable thumbs makes this problematic for them, so the vegans did it. Back off the vegans and pick a bigger battle.
We will be happy to address any other issues you have with any of these Nibblets in similar patient and understanding style in the comments below. Please feel free to ask.
And read more about the beefy fivers in The Telegraph
