An Even More Inconvenient Truth

Disclaimer: if you don’t like to discuss where meat comes from, or if you simply “don’t want me throwing my veggie loving lifestyle in your face” then you might want to skip today’s blog!

Those who know me well know that I have been a successful vegetarian for about 8 years now. I have learned so much about vegetarianism, farming in the US, diet and health that my original reasons for becoming vegetarian (love for animals) still exists but has been complimented by many more reasons. So much so that my answer to the question “Why are you a vegetarian?” should politely be answered with “How much time do you have?”

Becoming Vegan will be an adjustment as I learn what I can and can not consume, and also as I miss certain items which I love (cheese, egg salad, mayonnaise.) However so far the biggest change for me is adjusting to calling myself “vegan” as opposed to “vegetarian,” a title I have held and adopted as a part of my self identity. This is consistent with my theory that while people always tell me that they are impressed with my diet and wonder how I can make such a sacrifice, in reality it is not that difficult. I will eat this, I won’t eat that. There are always appetizing alternatives.

Throughout my path to Veganism, I have been teased quite a bit based on my dietary choices, and it doesn’t bother me at all. “If God didn’t want us to eat meat, then why did He make it so tasty?” “Humans have been eating meat for thousands of years.” “It’s nature and natural selection for humans to eat ‘lesser beings’.” Perhaps if we still hunted, raised, killed our meat the way that we have for thousands of years, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I likely still wouldn’t eat it, but I wouldn’t be so disturbed by it. It is only in the last two generations that current attitudes toward animals and the Factory Farm have come into existence, and it is not a pretty change. The meat industry basically has the right to instill any practice that it deems necessary in order to produce meat cheaply and mass produce it.

I have long held the opinion that part of the origin behind our lack of respect for animals as well as our planet is based in Religion. We have, as a culture, developed a Human-centric ideology, whereby since we were supposedly crafted in the image of God, we are thus better than Animals (a category of which we are members) and also entitled to the earth and all of its inhabitants. I like to think of the cliché WWJD in this regard, how would Jesus have wanted us to treat animals? I seriously doubt he would be happy witnessing a downed cow dumped in a pit and left to die.

One argument I often hear is that chickens or cows are dumb (not the case) and thus it’s alright to eat them. Does intelligence even matter when it comes to pain and suffering? And if that is the argument then are dumb humans on the menu as well?

It is interesting to me that people are able to ignore morals when it comes to the animals they eat. Or at least ignore the situation from which the meat comes, which makes it easier to not consider those animals’ suffering and the applicable moral dilemma.
Daily I witness what seems almost a false concern for animals. Sadness over homeless dogs and cats, overcrowded shelters and oil drenched sea birds on TV is well founded, however what about the 99% of animals in our food source who are living in agony?

Few people have any idea what happens at Factory Farms. The issue isn’t only that they are killed inhumanely, which they are, but that they live their entire, insignificant lives in pain and discomfort. It amounts to torture and would be considered as such if it were a dog or cat not able to even turn around in its wire cage. Or what about health concerns? Cages upon cages stacked on top of each other with no flooring means that the chickens literally shit all over each other. Really healthy…

What do we expect to happen if we continue to exploit rather than respect our food sources? This could be our generation’s calling, our duty. It is not previous generations’ fault because as a country we have sought ways to mechanize production processes and increase output. Now it is time to put our ingenuity to better uses and find new ways to produce food. The Factory Farming process is a burden on the environment, bad for our health, and damaging to our reputation as an intelligent species on this planet.