I hate preaching. When people ask me why I'm a vegetarian I usually say something like, "For humanitarian reasons." And then I try to drop the subject. If I say any more than that it always sounds like I'm preaching. If the conversation does go further, however, it oftentimes ends with the other person saying that they would rather not think about where their meat comes from.
Me neither. No one likes thinking about hellish brutality very much. I just wonder what the world might be like if everyone thought even a little bit about things they would prefer to ignore.
Here's the article that inspired this drawing, if you're interested.
16 comments:
Yeah, man, I really hate the times we're living in. Good for you for bein' a vegetarian. What I've heard from a woman who was handin' out pamphlets about this topic was that if you can't sustain vegetarianism (whether cuz of dietary needs or whatever), you can still make a difference by eating a lot less meat. And she said that you could even do stuff like give up every meat but beef, cuz those cows on ranches have it a lot better than a lot of those farm animals. (But even the beef industry has its problems).
MMM so hungry, so very, very, hungry.
Eat chicken, because they're not really meat - they're actually a walking, pecking, squawking vegetable and chemical combination.
All the sudden I have a craving for chicken.....
Eat Jack in the Box tacos! There is no way that the "meat paste" they put in them things came from any animal. Or maybe it came from all of them.
More likely...It was mass produced in a Lab somewhere.
yeah, I'm doing what Becky says - trying to eat less and less meat. mostly I just eat fish, except the whole thing with that is that most ways that we get fish on the table these days is not very good for the environment, plus it makes you have more mercury and crap in your system if you eat a lot of fish. pretty soon I'll be mad as a hatter. that drawing is wicked ass cool.
I'd eat all of that. mmm, massacre meat.
Did anyone read the article. Aside from being very disturbing, there are some good links at the end.
We have a problem on our hands, it is called too many people reproducing too quickly. I doubt that any out there would advocate exterminating humans to make way for the animals. So as vegetarians we can eat vegetables and all that good stuff. Now we end up having to produce so much of that with fertilizer (which I will refer to as a hormone) and genetically altered foods. Have any of you noticed how pretty red delicious apples have become but with such poor taste. So by becoming vegetarians we end up raping (using the writers word when referring to the Turkeys) the environment. I understand that it takes less biomass to produce sustenance through lower order plants than it takes to produce meat, but no matter what we do, someone or something is going to suffer. There are too many people on this planet not to have a dramatic impact. We can try to do our best to to nurture the animals and the environment but the planet and its creatures will suffer at our hands regardless. Lastly, the agenda and the bias of the articles author needs to be considered. Certainly she wants us to believe that all animal farms are of this nature, but I doubt she is going to use the farms which may be crowded but don't include the brutality of the workers like these fellows. It is all summed up with her request for money at the end. Watch out for those that pull at your emotions and then beg for a donation.
Peace,
Matt
For those unprepared to give up meat entirely (I'm one of them) eating less meat is definitely a good idea. For me the cruelty of the meat industry is only one factor in wanting to reduce my meat consumption. There's also an increased risk of contracting diseases from meats as opposed to vegetables. There's exposure to hormones, some of which may be causing children to hit puberty earlier. And worst of all for me is hte amount of resources consumed to produce meat as opposed to vegetables. A pound of meat requires something like 40 times the amount of water needed to produce a pound of vegetables. And then there's clear-cutting forests just to open up more land for cattle grazing.
Human beings have never eaten as much meat per capitaq, on average, as they do now. Add to that that our population is 600% larger than it was only about one hundred years ago, and we can see that our eating habits are part of the environmental dilemma we find ourselves in now. Lowering your meat consumption, or eliminating it altogether, is not only humane, but also environmentally friendly.
C'mon Matt! OK, so short of sterilizing 90% of the population (which I know you aren't advocating) we can't, and therefore shouldn't, do anything to improve our lives or those of animals or the health of the planet?
OK. Well then. Since there is no perfect solution we should simply throw up our hands and surrender. Rather than "raping" the environment by growing fruits and vegetables (seriously?), it's far better to maintain the status quo by not only raping, but also decapitating, defecating down the neckhole, and burning the corpse of the environment as we do now.
There actually are sustainable ways of growing produce that don't involve "raping" the environment, though. I googled "sustainable agriculture," and found LOTS of information. This site looked helpful: http://www.sustainablebizness.com/organicag.htm
And, sure, the article I refer to has a bias. Most writers DO use the examples that will best make their case. But, the author didn't "request money" at the end, as you say. This is what she wrote:
"What you can do to answer my prayer for mercy: First, become aware. Numerous groups on the internet carry information, videos, and activist suggestions for those who want to end the torture of animals: PETA, Humane Farming Association, Mercy for Animals, Compassion Over Killing, Farm Sanctuary, United Poultry Concerns, and Viva! are just among a few that are out there."
The plea for money you might be talking about is from the meta-site, or whatever you want to call it, asking for donations to maintain their site. Here is a quote from that section: "We derive no financial remuneration for our efforts to build a social order based on justice, democracy, compassion, and humanity. Isn’t that your desire as well? In fact, it costs us money to maintain our Internet presence."
Anyway, since the carrying capacity of the planet has been artificially inflated thanks to over a century of easy access to oil, and the fact that the earth's oil reserves are not infinite, when the oil starts running out (and some say that it has already begun running out) that overpopulation problem you point to is going to work itself out in dramatic fashion.
some people drink alchohol. in fact most people do. it doesnt really help, its drug, it doesnt serve any real purpose. they get wasted, they fuck up their lives and their livers. they crash into people on the freeway, they use it an excuse to beat the shit out of their families. Some people smoke, get lung cancer, have money wasted on trying to fix lung cancer, pollute the air, another drug. some people do drugs, hard drugs, snort coke, while Colombians die in the drug wars while trying to farm cocoa leaves, or dudes in the ghetto get jailed for life trying to make a living selling the shit. some people buy diamonds while africans kill each other to decide who is going to sell them to america.
i dont do/support any of those things, but
i eat meat.
sorry
:(
we all have our vices.
Forget I brought it up.
WHOA!!!!!!!!!! KICK ASS!!!
(the drawing i mean) :)
Humans are omnivorous, we can eat meat and have done so fromthe dawn of our exsistance. We should however not eat soooo much and we should not support an industry that is brutal and greedy. I think the way to fulfill dietary requirements and be earth freindly is to eat far less meat and to buy it from independant ranches that treat the animals well and do not overproduce.
As far as knowing where it came from, I think everyone who decides to eat meat should go hunting at least once in thier lives. I have been deer hunting and helped to gut a deer (I did'nt shoot it though) and I still enjoyed the deer steaks that came from it.
mommy...where does meat come from?
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