To celebrate the once in a lifetime October 21 2015 “Back to the Future day”, the Invercargill Vegan Society wrote an opinion piece for “The Southland Times”.
Popular 1980’s scifi movie “Back to the Future part II” predicted October 21 2015 would be The Future: flying cars, fusion power, “hoverboards”, bizarre clothing…
We’re not quite living in The Future yet, BUT, 30 years after the films release, we vegans still have a deep love for Back to the Future! The Vegan Kiwi own, among other movie memorabilia, a DeLorean DMC12 sportscar. Miranda and Jono live in Christchurch, but they’ve visited Invercargill before to take part in a DeLorean documentary. For “Back to the Future day”, Miranda appeared on 3 News, showing her DeLorean, and on the Stuff national newspaper chain website.
The Vegan Kiwi are joining us in this November’s Southland Santa Parade. We look forward to representing our local vegan community, with the futuristic classic car making the statement we can all “brighten the future” for animals in need.
On October 21 2015 “Back to the Future day”, the Invercargill Vegan Society placed posters around our city. “Brighten the Future for animals in need”, with the The Vegan Kiwi and Invercargill Vegan Society organisations listed. In the movie, the time machine famously leaves burning tyretracks in it’s wake. For our poster, this has a fun double meaning: pioneers blazing a trail *forward*, while also being left *behind*. We’re all just dots on the time-space continuum…. :-)
Unfortunately, her partner Jono was caught speeding through urban Christchurch at 144kph. Yes, these police bastards CAN do 90! ;-)
(the photo was staged Mum, we promise!)
On October 22nd, the “Southland Express” ran a feature on their DeLorean, and mentioned the Invercargill Vegan Society entry in this years parade. It’s actually fitting it was printed the day after “Back to the Future day”, as in the film, Doc literally shows a newspaper from October 22 2015, to show what will happen the very next day! By changing the events of October 21 2015, the McFly family are saved from going to court, the villainous cyborg Biff Tannen and gang taking their place.
Here is our October 21 2015 vegan opinion piece for “The Southland Times”:
The original 1985 ”Back to the Future” film introduced us to Doc Brown, Marty McFly, and their time traveling DeLorean sportscar. Speeding through the time-space continuum at 88 miles per hour, they journeyed back thirty years to the world of 1955. School dances, plutonium, and a 1.21 “jiggawatt” bolt of lighting relayed via the town clocktower.
Tremendous success lead to a sequel, “Back to the Future Part II”. This time, the DeLorean (literally) flew off into the future, with flying cars, pink “hoverboards” and in “Biff Tannen”, a Donald Trump-ish enemy. 30 years into the 1955 past, back to 1985, then 30 years into the future. We see the precise date they arrive in this world of tomorrow….October 21 2015. Why, that’s today!
Science fiction movies from the 80’s can be a little …..“unrealistic”, in predicting future events. As of the actual October 21st 2015, we’re safe from the threat of cyborg teenagers smashing up the place. We’ve long abandoned the fax machine.
But we have very real issues affecting our world. For many millions of animals in New Zealand, their dystopia is not set in a fictional, hypothetical future. Suffering is their present-day reality. Chickens, pigs, cows, sheep….cats and dogs, it’s not easy being an animal. We hurt them, we kill them, we use them as mere things. We treat other animals as though they were lesser than us, even in our everyday language. To use an example from “Back to the Future”, our teenage protagonist is often challenged to partake in risky behaviour. He’d better participate, or his “top of the food chain” status shall surely be questioned. “What’s the matter McFly, you…..chicken?”
My wife and I live with rescued hens, and we know what wonderful birds they are. Chickens are, sadly, the most abused land animals on the planet. Male chicks are killed on the first day of their lives by the New Zealand egg industry, female egg laying hens after 18 months of life. Broiler “meat” chickens are killed around 6 weeks of age. With all the horrors we put these innocent birds through, and we have the nerve to portray THEM as the cowards?
The way we talk about other animals matters. We can choose to disrespect them, or, we can hold animals in high regard. The DeLorean itself, has fancy doors that open vertically. “Gullwing doors” glide upwards, named in honour of the graceful wings of the Seagull.
Invercargill Vegan Society members Miranda and Jono love animals. Through their organisation “The Vegan Kiwi”, they work to support veganism, respect for animals throughout New Zealand. They also share a passion for “Back to the Future”, owning a pink hoverboard, and, a DeLorean. Barring a flummoxed Flux Capacitor, their futuristic classic car will join next month’s Southland Santa Parade.
As animal lovers, vegans wish to avoid hurting animals. In the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the choices we make, we simply skip things which involve animal cruelty. Living in the future, it’s only getting easier and easier to live vegan for the animals. Taking inspiration from “Back to the Future”, we can all choose to “brighten the future”, for animals in need.
We don’t need a time machine to change the world. As Huey Lewis and the News sung through the movies: “it don’t take money, don’t take fame. Don’t need no credit card to ride this train”.
We all have compassion for animals. We can all help animals in need, today. With our actions, we can choose to live in a way respectful and considerate for animals. As vegans, we can all work for a brighter future for our animal friends. “That’s the power of love”.
We look forward to a brighter future for everyone, a vegan world.
Oh, AND the Southland Santa Parade :-)
UPDATE
November 2015: The Southland Santa Parade parade rocked! Check us out :-)
