I’m Sorry, Meat-Eaters, But You’re Full Of It

August 29, 2008 | 4 Comments

taste bud

I think this article, “I’m Sorry, Taste Buds” is compelling for those who believe in human supremacy. The author, Kevin Padrez, offers plenty of good reasons to go vegan:

“If the impending heart attack isn’t enough to scare you away, there are the added immoral actions of the meat industry. Twinkies, though more unhealthy than meat, are not jacked up with sickly growth hormones, aren’t raised to be brutally slaughtered and don’t cause an environmental toll that is both grossly underestimated and completely unsustainable.

He doesn’t think it’s right to treat animals the way they’re treated in industrial agriculture. And he believes in God. And he thinks veg*nism is a sacrifice. These are common assumptions for many Americans.

Padrez decided to go vegetarian for Lent and he realizes some things:

“[T]he vegetarian life is growing on me [...] I feel better about myself knowing I am doing something good for my body and soul.”

I share it here because it might be compelling to you or someone you know. He makes some excellent points about how vegetarianism and veganism are good for your health, the environment, and your conscience.

However, this is my blog and this space is essentially about me and my ideas. And well, I disagree with some of his premises.

Of course, I agree with him regarding industrial animal agriculture (aka factory farming). I think it’s terribly cruel and completely immoral. Animals should not be confined in tiny crates, cages or crammed into warehouses. Animals should not be force-fed, forcibly impregnated, pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, or inhumanely slaughtered. Every animal should know the feeling of natural sunlight on their back or belly. Every animal should have access to clean air and water. Every animal should be able to live a long, full life. Every animal should have plenty of room to roam and wander. Every animal should be the beneficiary of human kindness and compassion, not cruelty and greed.

I also agree with Padrez about the health benefits of vegetarianism. Both my mother and my husband made major health transformations due to their change in diet from omnivorism to vegetarianism. They became much healthier people as vegetarians. (My own transformation wasn’t nearly as dramatic given that I became vegetarian at age six and hadn’t developed health problems related to meat-eating.) Moreover, I’ve read The China Study, which documents numerous health and nutrition studies and concludes that vegetarianism is indeed much more healthy than omnivorism.

But I disagree with some of his other premises.

For starters, I’m atheist. I think God and religion has been used to justify many horrors in this world and I don’t support any religion or any irrational belief that is destructive to the belief-holder or anyone else. That said, I think many people’s belief in God and attachment to religion is relatively harmless. Moreover, I understand that beliefs formed in early childhood are exceptionally difficult to erase. Therefor, I place no major emphasis on eradicating that particular irrational belief. If someone believes in God, I don’t worry about their cognitive abilities or reasoning skills the way some atheists and agnostics do. I usually simply let them have their belief and try not to offend them too much with my lack of belief.

Next, I don’t agree that veganism is a sacrifice. In fact, I feel that’s it’s a moral baseline. It’s the least we can do. It doesn’t make us better than anyone else. It doesn’t make us superheroes. We aren’t exceptionally generous or compassionate people. Vegans are not “brave” or “heroic” regardless of what some people think. We are merely humans who’ve made the decision to try to live our lives without harming animals.

Furthermore, not only is living as a vegan not a sacrifice, it can be an abundant lifestyle. Vegans tend to have an abundance of health, an abundance of a clear conscience, an abundance of interesting foods, an abundance of energy, and more. The saying that “when you close one door, another door opens” is absolutely true in regards to veganism. The so-called sacrifice of abastaining from harming animals is not a true sacrifice because harming animals is not a true good. Just as ridding ones self of bad habits like smoking cigarettes is not a sacrifice, veganism is ridding ones self of a bad habit and is not a sacrifice.

However, given Padrez’s premises, his logic is valid. If I shared his perspective of the world, I would likely come to similar conclusions about animals and veg*nism.

This is why I focused on the major issue that he used to justify his actions of meat-eating: taste. He claimed that:

“Sure, meat is packed with fat and bare of most vitamins and minerals, but it will always have one thing: flavor. Study after study showing the health benefits of vegetarian diets were not enough for me to sacrifice my favorite food group.”

Padrez may well favor meat, but his taste buds are not independent, unbiased judges. His taste buds are merely extensions of his brain - and all the judgments and biases within that brain.

In fact, studies have shown that taste is so subjective that it belies one’s assumptions. A preference for the taste of meat is a physical manifestation of cultural and philosophical/ religious baggage, not an empirically valid fact.

This also explains why many vegetarians and vegans dislike faux meat products: because the taste reminds them of eating animals. They have a dislike of the idea more than a dislike of the flavors.

One of Padrez’s central premises is untrue, thus his entire argument crumbles. I didn’t even have to attack his belief in God or even his assumption of human supremacy in order to get there, I simply had to use some sociological/ marketing studies.

See why I was interested in going back to school to study Sociology?
;)

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Animals, Environmentalism, Food, Lifestyle, Philosophy and Guidance, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism 
4 Comments to "I’m Sorry, Meat-Eaters, But You’re Full Of It"

Meat Mongers

August 18, 2008 | 1 Comment

Love it:

“I see it this way: those in opposition to us have so little in their favor in terms of evidence for maintaining their heart-clogging, global warming enhancing, death mongering lifestyle that they now need to vilify us to make themselves feel better. It is becoming ever-more alarming how similar war mongers are to meat mongers.”

Link >>

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under animal-rights, meat mongers, vegan, veganism, vegetarianism 
1 Comment to "Meat Mongers"