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Consider the Source Lyrics
I don’t think about what I can’t see,
it don’t count if it ain’t staring at me.
Little choices I cannot recall,
get it quick or not at all.
Every bargain has a hidden cost:
what was saved? what was lost?
Forty color-ways and free returns:
Where’s it made? What’d they earn?
Is it enough to add to cart
with buyer’s remorse?
Well if you don’t know where to start,
consider the source.
What becomes of what I throw away?
Broken cord, takeout tray,
leaky battery and shattered screen,
spilling ink I can’t clean.
Is it too much to be undone,
too late to change course?
Before condemning anyone,
Consider the source.
Set the table for an easy meal,
I don’t mind what I can’t feel:
Tired turkey in a crowded cage,
he can’t peck, he can’t rage.
Little choices and the way they spread,
Who must starve so we’d be fed?
I don’t think about what I can’t see,
but now that bird won’t stop staring at me.
I tap my heart before I dine,
but quickly divorce
from all your agony down the line,
and all I endorse.
Is it enough to add to cart
with buyer’s remorse?
Well if you don’t know where to start,
consider the source.
it don’t count if it ain’t staring at me.
Little choices I cannot recall,
get it quick or not at all.
what was saved? what was lost?
Forty color-ways and free returns:
Where’s it made? What’d they earn?
with buyer’s remorse?
Well if you don’t know where to start,
consider the source.
Broken cord, takeout tray,
leaky battery and shattered screen,
spilling ink I can’t clean.
too late to change course?
Before condemning anyone,
Consider the source.
I don’t mind what I can’t feel:
Tired turkey in a crowded cage,
he can’t peck, he can’t rage.
Who must starve so we’d be fed?
I don’t think about what I can’t see,
but now that bird won’t stop staring at me.
but quickly divorce
from all your agony down the line,
and all I endorse.
with buyer’s remorse?
Well if you don’t know where to start,
consider the source.
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By not considering the consequences - and therefore meaning - of our choices, we fail to take responsibility for our freedom, inevitably reinforcing power structures and turning the world into a more cynical place.
While I appreciate The Antlers sparing a thought for the mass violence we inflict on trillions of other sensuous beings - beings who possess intelligence, subjectivity, complex emotions, and a demonstrated vulnerability to trauma (that includes fishes) - the lyrics focus on the means of their exploitation and killing, therefore taking the latter two for granted. And that's the same as saying their freedom and lives don't matter. I don't hold this against The Antlers, as it's the common sense view propagated even by the vast majority of animal protection organizations. But to advocate for other animals in such a way is a disservice to them, and shows a profound contempt. The idea that the animal system, which is inherently violent and degrading, can be made humane is central to its legitimation. As such, the popular welfarist discourse around so-called factory farming ultimately serves to perpetuate even the very worst violations of other animals' bodily autonomy and dignity.
""This sophisticated strategy has diverted animal welfare groups from pursuing truly compassionate goals and social justice for animals. In effect, major animal welfare organizations are now directing much of their effort toward making people feel good about consuming animal products." John Sorensen, Thinking the Unthinkable (2014)
Ideologies of superiority; degradation, discrimination, and violence always start with other animals. Our freedoms are intertwined.
Animal agriculture is also the leading driver of species extinction, and a means of producing food so inefficient that if we got our nutrients from plants only (which we can) we would only need a quarter of the land currently being used for agriculture.
"What the public urgently needs to know is that there is no “humane” or “ethical” way to exploit and brutalize other sensitive beings. Because the animal system imperils our own existence, too, animal advocates meanwhile need to forge alliances with other anti-capitalist social movements, with the aim of developing a single movement capable of acting in defense of social justice, animals, democracy, and the living earth." - John Sanbonmatsu, Current Affairs Issue 55 (2025)