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If You And I Become Vegans, The Global Consequences Aren't Going To Be That Much. But If We Can Get A Few Hundred Million People To Become A Little More Aware And Cut Back On Their Animal Consumption, The Consequences Will Be Great.

-Moby

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If You And I

Moby

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If You And I Become Vegans, The Global Consequences Aren't Going To Be That Much. But If We Can Get A Few Hundred Million People To Become A Little More Aware And Cut Back On Their Animal Consumption, The Consequences Will Be Great.

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You Could Almost Say That Throughout Human History There Are People Who Can Either Foresee Consequences Or Who Are Capable Of Looking For Information And Predicting The Consequences Will Happen, But The Vast Majority Of People Won't Respond To Climate Change Until Their City Is Underwater, Food Supply Is Disrupted Or Everyone Around Them Is Dying Of Zoonotic Disease. It's Almost Like Someone Dealing With An Addiction, Like You Hope That The Person Can Overcome The Addiction Before The Addiction Kills Them.

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We Do All, Myself Included, We Tend To Hold Ourselves To Pretty Low Standards. But When It Comes To Judging Public Figures Or Politicians Or People We've Never Met, We Tend To Hold People To Very High Standards, And, If We Held Ourselves To Those Standards, We'd Always Fall Short.

I Guess...on One Hand, I Spent Way Too Much Time Watching Science Fiction And Reading Science Fiction When I Was Growing Up. But A Part Of It Is I Also Never Felt Much Of A Connection To The World In Which I Lived While I Was Growing Up, And So, Oddly Enough, I Think I Felt A Lot More Connected To The Worlds That I Read About In Science Fiction.

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So Man's Insanity Is Heaven's Sense, And Wandering From All Mortal Reason, Man Comes At Last To That Celestial Thought, Which, To Reason, Is Absurd And Frantic; And Weal Or Woe, Feels Then Uncompromised, Indifferent As His God.

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Being A Vegan Is Pretty Easy These Days, As Almost Every Town And City Has Health Food Stores And Vegetarian-friendly Restaurants.

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This Isn't Like Naming Your Dog Spot.

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I've Experienced Tons Of Failure. I've Been Making Music For 30 Years, And I'd Say Failure And Success Have Happened In Equal Measure.

Success And Failure

Old People Go To The Polls Because They Can't Get Erections, Young People Stay Home, Do Drugs And Have Sex.

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I Went To Columbia University Because They Were Doing A Study On People Who Suffered From Panic Attacks, And Because I Suffered From Panic Attacks My Whole Life, I Decided To Be A Part Of It. They Had This Questionnaire Where They Asked, How Many Units Of Alcohol Do You Have In A Month? The Top Answer Was 40 Or More, And I Got Really Scared Because I Was Having On Average 60 Or 70 Drinks A Week. And I Realized That That Was A Bad Sign.

I'd Much Rather Go Out And Have Music Randomly Presented To Me By Different Djs Than Stay Home And Discover It On My Own.

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Every Single Day The World Seems Like It Is On The Brink Of Falling Apart. But Then I Look Outside My Window, And Things Look About The Same As They Did A Week Ago. It's Almost A Form Of Cognitive Dissonance.

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There Is A Dysfunctional Strangeness To Los Angeles That Doesn't Exist In Any Other Western City. The Roads Are Crumbling, No-one Knows What They're Doing, The City Government Barely Works.

There's Not A Lot Of Precedent For Weird, Bald Musicians In The Lower East Side Making Records In Their Bedrooms And Going On To Sell A Lot Of Copies Of The Record. Especially If You Look At The Pop Climate.

I Think The Ideal Job In That Alternative Universe Would Be To Lead Whitewater Rafting Trips Through The Grand Canyon. So Maybe I'd Be A Guy Leading Whitewater Rafting Trips At The Grand Canyon. Or Maybe A Professional Skydiver.

I Sort Of Use As My Guiding Principle That Show The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin. Whenever Possible, Do The Stupid Thing.

Guiding Principles

Actually, The Most Entitled People I've Met Are Indie Rockers And Indie Actors, Because They Really Believe Their Press.

Ketamine's Such A Waste Of Time Drug. All You Do When You're On Ketamine Is Go: 'oh, I'm On Drugs. I Don't Feel Good, I Don't Feel Bad, I'm Just On Drugs...'

When I Do Have Time To Work On Music, I'm Kind Of Selfish, And Would Rather Work On My Own Stuff Than Someone Else's.

I Find The Fact That So Few People Buy Albums To Be Strangely Emancipating. There's Absolutely No Reason For 99% Of Musicians Making Albums To Think About Actually Selling Albums. So As A Musician You Can Just Make An Album For The Love Of Making Albums.

All Human Belief Systems Are Inherently Flawed.

A Lot Of People Do Talk About The Demise Of The Album, But I Still Believe That If An Artist Tries Hard To Make A Great Album, People Will Buy It And Listen To It As An Album, Rather Than Just A Collection Of Random Songs.

There Is A Lot Of Music In The World That I Love That Does Not Always Get The Appropriate Exposure.

It's Enshrined In Our Constitution That An Individual Has A Right To Release Information And Disseminate Information That Makes The Powers That Be Uncomfortable.

When 'play' First Came Out, Journalists Didn't Review It; It Didn't Get Radio Play. And Then It Became This Big Successful Record And, I Hate To Admit This, I Found Myself Liking The Fame. I Bought Into It.

I Don't Know Many Artists Who Are Happy With Themselves All Of The Time.

I Did A Cover Of The James Bond Theme, And I Felt Like Such A Fraud, Because The Original Is So Good.

More Often Than Not, Whenever Gossip Has Been Written About Me, The Gossip Is More Interesting Than The Reality. I Know Some Public Figures Hate Gossip, But Personally I Like It Because It Makes My Life Sound More Glamorous And Interesting Than It Really Is.

I'd Just Rather Have A Really Sharp, Interesting, Smart Gay Son Than Some Big Dumb Hetero Meathead.

Most Artists, You Know, You Spend Their Entire Lives Learning How To Play Music And Write Songs, And They Don't Really Know How The Music Business Works.

I Find Myself For Whatever Reason Unable To Live In The Apartment I Renovate And Have To Sell.

My Interest In Gospel Music And Liturgical Art And Biblically-inspired Literature Has Nothing To Do With Organised Religion And Everything To Do With Human Beings Trying To Figure Out Their Place On This Planet.

Everyone Feels Awkward, Everyone Feels Uncomfortable, Everyone Gets Older, Everyone Gets Lonely, Everyone Gets Sick, Everyone Eventually Dies. You’re At The Aspen Ideas Fest, And You Have These Really Smart, Really Accomplished People Who Pretend Like They’ve Somehow Figured Out A Way To Bypass The Human Condition. We Live In This Culture Where There Are So Many Things That Want Us To Pretend That We’re Not Truly Human.

The Midlife Crisis You're Having At 30 Is Indulgent, But The Midlife Crisis You Have At 45 Is To An Extent Thrust Upon You.

That Softness Around Your Eyes, A Softness In Your Face. Almost The Way You Feel When You’re About To Start Crying. That, To Me, Is Love. It Can Be Romantic Love, It Can Be Friendship Love, It Can Be Family Love, It Can Be Love For A Chipmunk. It Can Be Love For Anything.

A Vegan Who Beats His Wife Is Far Further Down The Ethical Ladder Than A Meat Eater Who's Kind To His Children.

I'm A Terrible Cook, So I Usually Eat Out With Friends.

I Would Drink And Drink And Then At 3 O'clock In The Morning Take Anything That Was Put In Front Of Me. And I'd Sometimes Be Disappointed When Conventional Things Were Put In Front Of Me. Like, I'd Do A Line Of Something And Be Disappointed To Find It Was Just Cocaine.

The Good Thing About Working Alone Is I Get A Lot Done And I Can Experiment More. The Bad Thing Is I Miss Out On The Gregarious, Social Way That Most Musicians Work.

How Do I Transform Pain. I Guess The Number One Way In Which I Do That Is By Working On Music, But Also It Can Be Anything From Just Talking About It With Other People Or Doing Kickboxing Or Meditating Or Running Around With Dogs. Or Just Simply Trying To Sit With It And Be Mindful And Be Aware Of It.

There Are So Many Musicians, Friends Of Mine, Who Play Shows For Ten People A Night, Or Always Desperately Wanted A Record Contract. So Even If Every Person On The Planet Loathes Me, I Have Nothing To Complain About. My Job Is Not A Bad Job, So I Can't Complain.

If There Is True Evil In The World - It Is Republican Conservatives.

A Great Song Is A Great Song, Whether It's On Vinyl Or Cd Or Cassette Or Reel To Reel Or Mp3. Then Again, That Might Be An Overly Optimistic View, But I Do Think That Great Music Will Transcend The Medium In Which It Is Delivered.

I Saw People Around Me Who Were Falling Deeper And Deeper Into Alcoholism And Substance Abuse. It's Seductive Because Alcohol Is Amazing And Drugs Are Amazing, They Work So Well.

There's Something About The Human Brain, That It Actually Has A Predilection Towards Negativity, Which Served Us Really Well When We Lived In An Environment That Was Very Threatening.

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There's A Fairly Extensive Network Of Musicians On Tour Who Are All Trying To Stay Sober, And We Generally Reach Out To Each Other And Offer Support When And Where We Can.

For Some Reason New York Is The Epicentre For People Who Hate Me. Maybe This Is Another Reason Why I Left New York But I Get More Hatred Directed Towards Me There Than Any Other Place.

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There Are A Lot Of People In The Animal Rights Movement Who Can Be Very Passionate And Aggressive, And I Applaud People's Passion, But When People Are Judgmental And Aggressive, All You End Up Doing Is Getting Other People To Turn Away In Irritation. To Change People's Minds, You Have To Respect The People You're Talking To.

There Was A Time When I Was Way Too Reliant Upon Other People's Opinions And Perspective Of Me. And I Guess Over Time Came To See How Unhealthy That Was. I Mean It's Almost Like A Sign Of Mental Illness To Base Your Self-worth On The Opinions Of Complete Strangers.

There Are Some Public Figures Who Are Very Private And Almost Hide Behind Their Work. I Try To Be As Open As Possible.

I'm A Weird, Bald Musician Who Makes Records In His Bedroom And Lives In The Lower East Side.

Over Time, I Started Becoming More And More Aware Of The Vastness And Complexity Of The Universe, Which Led Me Away From Any Sort Of Conventional Christianity.

No One Drives In Manhattan - In Fact, Many Of The Folks Who Live In Manhattan Don't Even Have Driving Licenses!

I Honestly Just Love Being In My Studio Working On Music. That's All The Inspiration I Need. And I Don't Write With An End Result In Mind, I Just Write For The Simple Love Of Writing.

I Think That Growing Up Very Poor In A Very Wealthy Town Gave Me A Sense Of Being An Outsider, And I Hated It When I Was Growing Up.

I've Been Friends With Madonna For Ever. In Fact She Was At My 3rd Solo Performance In 1990, And There Were Only 10 People In The Audience.

When You Say 'failure,' That Seems Really Dramatic, But A Lot Of Failure Is Just Really Depressing And Mundane. I Remember The First Time I Ever Played A Concert In Italy. I Played A Venue That Held 900 People, And I Think Five People Showed Up. It Wasn't A Big, 'john Carter Of Mars' Type Failure. It Wasn't Dramatic; It Was Just Depressing.

Mainly I'm A Vegan Because I Like Animals, And I Don't Want To Be Involved In Their Suffering. Also, It's Better For My Health And For The Environment.

Everyone Feels Awkward, Everyone Feels Uncomfortable, Everyone Gets Older, Everyone Gets Lonely, Everyone Gets Sick, Everyone Eventually Dies.

We Need To Finally Accept That All Sentient Creatures Are Deserving Of Basic Rights. I Define Basic Rights As This -the Ability To Pursue Life Without Having Someone Else's Will Involuntarily Forced Upon You.

Unfortunately I'm Still Straight. But Who Knows, Life Is Complicated And Maybe I'll Wake Up Gay Tomorrow! Here's Hoping. And Congratulations To Everyone Who Lives In A Place Where They Can Marry The Person They Love, Regardless Of Gender!

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I Think That The Current Climate Enables A Lot Of Musicians To Do Relatively Well. Twenty-five Years Ago, You Could Be A Bass Player In A Folk-rock Band And Do Pretty Well - That Sort Of Means That You're Going To Have To Go Get A Day Job. But A Lot Of My Friends Have Learned How To Write Classical Music For Movies And Produce Other People And Do Remixes, And Dj And Go On Tour, And Do All These Different Things. The More Diverse Their Approach, The Better Their Chances Of Actually Having A Career.

A Part Of Me Wants To Sort Of Try And Sound Cool And Feed This Myth That I'm Some Sort Of Glamorous Lothario, But I Was Raised By Women - My Mother And Her Mother And My Aunts - And As A Result, Most Of My Friends Have Always Been Women.

The Good Thing About Not Being Drop-dead Gorgeous Is That As Time Passes, I Don't Have Much To Worry About. I Have Friends Who Are Actors And Every Day They Look In The Mirror With Trepidation.

I Wasn't Raised Catholic; I Just Really Like The Image Of A Neutral And Benign Mary Floating Around Somewhere, Being Nice To People.

There's Really No Reason For Any Musician, Writer, Actor To Ever Take Themselves Seriously. If You Work In A Needle Exchange, Take Yourself Seriously. You're Doing Good Work. If You're Involved In Hostage Negotiations And Saving Lives, You Can Have A Sense Of Entitlement.

For Me, Love Is Very Non-academic. Love, It’s A Very Physical Thing. I Don’t Mean Physical In Terms Of - I Mean, It Can Be Sexual. But Those Moments When I’m Aware Of The Fact That I Love Someone Or Love Something, It Really Manifests Physically.

By Being Vulnerable, Either With Yourself Or In The Presence Of Another Person, That’s Where All Growth And Ultimate Well-being Comes From.

I Remember New York In The '80s As A Place With Vacant Lots That Would Eventually Give Over To Nature. Weeds Would Grow Up, Squirrels Would Move In. That Entropy Is Gone Now. It's Too Expensive To Let A Vacant Lot Go Natural.

There Are Viable (and Usually Better) Alternatives To The Use Of Animals For Food, Sport, Clothing, & Experimentation. I Beg You To Discontinue Any Actions That Might Cause Or Condone Animal Torture, Abuse, Or Destruction.

Sometimes People Will Think, I Need To Have Pre-sanctioned Spiritual Joy. Getting Joy From My Contemplative Meditation Practice Or Getting Joy From Reading Thich Nhat Hahn Books. Those Things Can Be Joyful But I Think It’s The Small, Simple Joys Of Playing With Dogs Or Having Sex With Someone You Love Or Going For A Walk Outside, Stuff That We Tend To Ignore.

I'm Offended By The Is-ought Fallacy, Which Has Been Used To Justify Slavery, Women Not Being Allowed To Vote, Children Working In Factories.

As An American, No One Expected Donald Trump To Ever Be A Serious Candidate For President. I Don't Think He Even Expected To Be A Serious Candidate. He Wanted The Free Media He Would Get.

When Famous People Are Nice To Me, It Feels Good, So I'm Happy To Hang Out With Them. It's Better Than Being At Home, Depressed, Reading 'the Hobbit.'

We Almost Need To Cultivate - I Hate To Sound New Age-y - But To Cultivate A Positive Bias, And Really Work To Focus On Those Things And Notice Those Things That Are Wonderful And Uplifting.

I've Dated Some Very Enthusiastic, Attractive People And Some Very Unenthusiastic, Less Attractive People. I See No Correlation. But Female Friends Of Mine Who Have Dated Male Public Figures Have Found That Is The Case. They Say Male Models Are Terrible In Bed, Because They Feel Like Just Showing Up Is All The Effort They Need To Make.

I Don't Think Too Much About How It Might Exist In The World In A Commercial Sense - I More Just Try And Focus On Making Music That I Love And Trying To Put It Out Into The World.

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Margaret Drabble

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