This cartoon amused me greatly as I happened to be finishing my sociology degree a little over a quarter century ago (why does that sound a lot longer than 25 years?), and it has graced more than one refrigerator. At the time I didn't give much thought to the quite literal prison sentences served by sentient beings in zoos, circuses, laboratories (I hadn't even heard of the term factory farms yet) and all other manner of places, although I could relate to questioning the usefulness of this particular degree. And to be fair, I haven't reaped the economic benefits that post-secondary education usually confers, although that was totally through my own doing.
But I like to think that my relatively useless degree HAS contributed greatly to my "I'm in here for life" vegan journey. I initially wanted to major in psychology as I was interested in what made people tick (although to be honest I bet most psych majors, myself included, enter the field trying to figure out what the hell makes them tick, snort), but soon realized that examining why groups of people behave as they do is even more interesting. My education and on-again off-again career in non-profit community research helped me to develop critical thinking skills (I hope), a healthy disdain of academic jargon, life-long impatience with committees and meetings, an awareness that statistics can be manipulated any which way you like, and if nothing else, shaped how I view pretty much every issue, including veganism. In other words, I'm hopelessly sociologically bent. ;)
p.s. Don't forget that my vegan giveaway contest ends tonight. I'm working tomorrow, so plan to draw and post the results late afternoon or early evening. See you then!
p.p.s. In order to make it easier for drawing purposes I did not respond to any comments in the giveaway post, but would like to thank everyone for participating. Good luck to all! :)
