"Mhm... You just mentioned the taxes on animal skins... When the increases in taxes on animal skins become known, it's grist to the mill of animal rights activists. At the moment, apart from these taxes, the government is doing almost nothing to reduce the trade in animal skins. There are no bans. There are hardly any restrictions. There are no public campaigns and no funding for animal rights organizations. At best, they are recognized as non-profit organizations, but even that is the exception rather than the rule. Some animal rights activists therefore accuse the government of only wanting to enrich itself with taxes on animal skins. What would you say to that?"
"I didn't expect to be asked so many critical questions. What is your motivation for this question? Aren't you about economics?"
"In a reader survey at the beginning of the year, 42% of respondents were in favor of a ban on the fur trade. So for some of our readership, this is a concern."
"Of that 42%, how many were vegetarian or vegan? Were they asked that too? If the national average is anything to go by, it's no more than 6%."
"Um... 62% of respondents said they wanted to eat less meat in the future. 7% said that they don't eat meat or fish."
"I'm pleased that people have such intentions. It doesn't make economic sense for the population to consume a lot of meat, but as long as a lot of people eat a lot of meat, a lot of animal skins will be created. Certainly not all of these animals are consumed domestically, but the meat is still not thrown away. It is either exported or used as animal feed or for other purposes. If meat is currently being thrown away because the trade in it is not worthwhile, then this will only be possible this year. We'll come to why later. This means that the animals will all be fully used from next year onwards at the latest. The question I have now is, if 93% of respondents eat meat, but 42% of respondents specifically want to ban the fur trade, why does an animal with fur deserve to live more than an animal without fur? Is it lucky because it doesn't taste as good or is cute? That's a logic that doesn't make sense to me. Let me say this clearly, there will be no bans on the trade with animal skins. If at some point there are over 50% who don't eat meat, or if some farm animals are no longer kept for domestic consumption because it's no longer worth it, then I'll be happy to revisit this subject, but until then up to 35% of your readership are hypocrites."
"It's not my opinion. I don't want to argue any further in this direction. I just wanted to bring it up once because it's relevant to some of our readers. Um... Can we leave out the hypocrites? That will probably only be met with resentment."
"Do whatever brings you readership. I didn't say that because I don't mean it. I have no fear of offending people if I feel it necessary."
"The problem is that we can either present you in a positive or negative light, but not in a neutral one. An ambivalent reading experience harms our sales. Very few people will actively read this. If your answers stand out both positively and negatively, the reader is forced to form their own opinion. There is then a risk that they will no longer feel adequately represented by us because they would prefer to read more critical or less critical questions based on their own position. It should not appear as if we are treating you with velvet gloves, but also not as if we are trying to put you down. Of course, this is easier to achieve if your answers all go in the same general direction. To be honest, although we deal with economics, the level of education of our readers is rather average. These are not people who trade stocks for a living, but people who read this on their lunch break at the office and think they have to read it because they hold a few stocks. The next time these people see our magazine in the newsstand, they'll remember that it was exhausting for them to read and leave it there."
"Nevertheless, please continue to ask me critical questions and try to leave a few small ideas."
"We want to present you in a positive light?"
"I'm aware of that. But if I don't face critical questions, then I won't be able to be convincing. If you just butter me up, it'll be a boring conversation. Feel free to challenge me a little. I feel confident today." explained Marah with a soft smile.
The man looked briefly at his colleague at the typewriter for confirmation. She seemed to agree and he nodded.
"I guess we can do that."
"Good, then we can continue?"
"Yeah, um... So you don't want any bans on keeping individual animal species as livestock, as long as they are fully utilized?
"That is correct."
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"You just said that a high level of meat consumption by the population would not be reasonable, but yet you don't want any bans. So why don't you help animal rights organizations, for example, or run government campaigns to reduce the population's meat consumption?"
"I think advertising campaigns are a waste of time in this case. Advertising shows you how you can be if you want to be like that. If you don't want to be like that, advertising achieves nothing. You can live healthier if you eat less meat? That's not necessarily right and can also be wrong. You can protect animals by eating less meat? You might not care. You can save money? Not true either. What else remains? An advertising campaign against meat consumption almost only reaches people who don't eat meat anyway or are already planning to eat less meat. There will be no financial support or recognition of the charitable status of other animal rights organizations, because people who disrupt the trade with sabotage are not acting in a charitable way. These organizations can be happy not to be held accountable for the actions of individual members."
"So you're not going to do anything?"
"No, it's not as if I'm going to do anything. Taxes on animal skins will be increased. The import of substances will be more strictly controlled. The full use of farm animals will be mandatory from next year onwards. There will also be changes to the conditions under which animals are kept. But that's not necessarily a topic for today."
"But there won't be any bans?"
"Yes, as I said, there will be no bans."
"Will there be no bans because you like wearing fur yourself?"
"What makes you think that? It has nothing to do with me. My citizens want meat and leather and fur from other animals, and that's completely justified."
"You told me to be critical... I remember a photo from last winter, when you were in Ceramare on a state visit." The man turned to the woman with the glasses. "Make a mark for the photo, please." He got a casual nod. "In the photo, you can see you and Emperor Shikai at a mink farm. You are wearing a white fur coat with a matching hat and leather gloves, probably arctic fox. Are you sure you won't ban the fur trade out of self-interest?"
"You've seen the photo?"
"As rarely as you leave the country, and then to Ceramare, the photo was in all the newspapers. I think almost everyone has seen it. You can see sunshine glistening in the shallow snow. You are bending down. The minks crawl between your boots and you reach out to feed them. I have to admit, it's an aesthetically pleasing photo and the coat looked high quality. It was certainly good advertising for the fur industry."
"I have to disappoint you, but that was not real fur. I never wear animal products. I already explained that at the time."
In surprise, the man's head came forward as if he was trying to hear the answer again.
"You don't wear animal products?"
"Of course not."
"May I ask why not?"
"Why should I wear the inferior product?"
"The inferior product? What exactly do you mean by that?"
"The best faux fur is better than the best real fur. You know that when you've had both in high quality. Is that surprising for you? One is grown as nature intended. The other is constructed as the designer intended. Of course, the faux fur is better. Faux fur is fluffier and feels softer on the skin. The shine lasts longer. The structure is more even. With real fur, the hair is always slightly different. It looks unkempt. Anyone can get real fur quickly, but you can only get good fake fur with money. Real fur is only more expensive than faux fur because of taxes. There are no such taxes in Ceramare, so real fur is cheaper there. If I visited Ceramare with a real fur coat, it would give the impression that I couldn't afford a decent one."
"What about leather?"
"It's the same with leather. Why should it be any different?"
"I have to admit, I don't know anything about fur, but I used to have an office chair covered in artificial leather. After six months, it started to lose its material, so I got rid of it and bought a real leather one, which I still have today. So my personal experience with artificial leather is rather negative."
"With synthetic materials, quality is to a large extent a choice made by the manufacturer. If you buy cheap or no branded goods, then you won't get any quality. If you buy a cheap cotton T-shirt, it won't last long either. You just have to look at what you buy."
"I'll give it a try..." The man noted something on the side. "There's another reason I was able to memorize the photo." He leaned forward to get a better look at her face. " You look happy in that photo. I mean, more than usual," he said with a grin.
"I was happy." Marah replied, glancing sideways at her cup. "I signed a new trade agreement that day that took me two and a half years to get." In the last sentence, she grabbed her mug for the first time and took a sip of the tea. "Minks have a big market in Ceramare and this was the Emperor's private farm. He offered it to me and I accepted because I had to get the rest of the day over somehow. - Make it less offensive in the print. - He keeps them free-range because he likes to hunt them. He didn't explain to me how he does it. He probably just lets the dogs loose and shoots blindly into the forest from his wheelchair."
"I was going to dig into it a bit because you asked for it, but I guess we'll cut it a little or leave it out."
"You don't need to take me into consideration if that's what it's about. You're welcome to print it that way."
"Then I guess we will..."
The man wrote something down again. He was probably already planning restructuring for the print version. Marah herself was studying her file during this time.
It was always impressive to watch Marah when you knew a little more about her.
The man had shown good intuition in pursuing the contradiction. However, he still was not able to find the truth.
Marah had lied about everything. She was a vegetarian.
At least that was Reyji's assumption. There were various indications for this. Over the years, Reyji had never seen Marah eat or wear an animal product. Marah spent every spare minute with her animals. She also had a tendency to always defend the values she wanted to destroy.
.../ End Part