A poem by Leeza Coleman
YOU CAN’T SAY THAT!
You can’t use those words!
Do you know what those words mean?
milk. meat.
You want to twist those words.
You want to imbue them with the possibility of compassion.
You want to make language grow as if it were a living being.
You want to use logic to invade our right to make money.
milk. meat.
Those words will never be associated with compassion
as long as we have anything to say about it!
We will go to court to shut you up!
We will engage phalanxes of lawyers.
We will buy billboards and advertisements.
We will show happy cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens.
You are dangerous.
You are extreme.
You are terrorists.
You want to “rescue” our victims…I mean, profit-making commodities.
FOUR-LETTER WORDS!
THEY WERE MEANT TO BE BRUTAL.
The problem is that you compassionate people believe that
my right to make money does not come first.
milk. meat.
Leave the four-letter words to those
who know how to abuse…I mean, use them.
References
“Democrats and Republicans Unite against Vegan ‘Milk’ in Hopes of Preventing English Language from Evolving” (The Humane Herald, August 2, 2018).
“The government wants to ban soy and nut milks from being called ‘milk’ — here’s why” (Insider, July 20, 2018).
“U.S. Cattlemen want the word ‘meat’ banned from plant-based foods” (Treehugger, February 27, 2018).
“Ranchers set to fight back against vegetarian ‘fake meat’” (USA Today, February 25, 2018).
The Humane Herald 