"Why Vegetarians Should Be Force-Fed...Lard"
Some good arguments against vegetarianism. Unfortunately, the piece is published in an exceptionaly annoying-to-read typeface, and all in caps. I don't know how it works on PCs, but on a Mac, you can make the typeface bigger by holding down COMMAND and hitting the plus key. Shrink it back down to size by holding COMMAND and hitting the minus key. You can also copy the whole piece to a Word document to make it readable in upper and lowercase Geneva. Here's an excerpt from the piece:
I don't want to eat anything that I wouldn't be prepared to kill myself.This one is an interesting argument, that at first glance might seem to be an effective attempt to grab the moral high ground. On closer inspection, however, it turns out to be rubbish. Is a rich advertising executive prepared to harvest a field of wheat? Probably not, but he’ll still be happy to eat the bread. Would he be too squeamish to kill a cow himself? Perhaps, but is squeamishness good?
Modern removal from the process of killing has left many people with a distaste for killing. The strongest association with killing in people's minds today is with killing other humans, and this is a thing done criminally or cruelly. People who like killing other people are a menace to society, but men who liked hunting deer were a boon to the society of our ancestors. There can be no innate distaste for hunting, or we would have died out. The ability humans have evolved to be squeamish is almost certainly one that was to do with self harm and the harming of allies or the provoking of human enemies. Squeamishness itself is not a virtue in all circumstances. If it were, we would all be trying to fake it all the time: “Oh no – a shoe! Yeargh! No I can’t bring myself to touch it! You put it on for me!”
What is the analogous example we can find that shows this argument to have logic? “I don’t want to watch any stunt that I wouldn’t be prepared to do myself”? “I don’t want to view any painting that I wouldn’t be prepared to paint myself”? “I don’t want to laugh at any joke that I wouldn’t be prepared to tell myself”? None of these makes sense, so why does the meat eating one make sense? Some people are better than others at telling jokes. Let them be the comedians. Today, no one has to kill all the meat he eats.
A man might argue that he doesn’t want to enjoy the products of a company that exploits its workers cruelly. This is fair enough, and it could act to make the world a happier place for others, and thus it would be morally good. Broadly, the argument would be “I don’t want to benefit selfishly from something that makes the world a sadder place overall, because it would make me feel guilty, and my feeling of guilt is a sign that I am a good person.” This is fine, and it could be applied well to, for example, buying wildly over-priced trainers made in a tiny sweatshop in the Third World. For it to work with the meat argument, however, it would have to be demonstrable that the effect of eating meat is to make the world a sadder place overall. For my answer to that one, see the rest of this essay.
In case you're wondering, I've never been so healthy since I started eating more meat, and in response to the cruelty issue, I try to buy grass-fed beef from New Zealand and free-range chicken. Moreover, I'm angered by the silliness that all our cheese (except a few hard cheeses that sneak through from France) has to be pasteurized. It's healthy to eat bacteria! And unhealthy not to!
It is a common misconception in the U.S. that cattle here are raised on grain. If you count sorghum maybe, but humans can't eat that and it grows in really crappy soils that wheat and corn do not.
Drive through the countryside and notice the huge round bales of grass. That's what cattle eat to grow up on. Fattening grains like corn are fed to them in the last month or so to soften the meat. If they were, you'd never be able to afford a steak.
My neighbors to the north and east raise cattle and milk cows respectively. Neither grain feed them.
Oligonicella at July 2, 2006 8:38 AM
Keep in mind that there's a difference between vegans and vegetarians. With eggs, milk, and lait-cru cheeses, it's quite possible to get all the nutrients of a meat-based diet. And it really is healthier - take a look at pubmed or medline for the hundreds of scholarly articles on the subject. Vegetarians really do live longer. (This remains true even after accounting for lifestyle differences - see the various studies on 7th-Day Adventists, for instance).
Humans *did* evolve to eat meat, but not nearly as much as we do now. Our ancestors probably got by on far more fruits and veggies than burgers or steaks. Ideally, we should probably be eating meat no more than once or twice a week. But given a choice between carni-ominvorism and lacto-ovo vegetariansism, it seems that the latter is still healthier.
Oh, while the link does provide some decent points, there are far too much a "straw man" arguments about vegetarianism. And the font really is awful. :)
Andrew at July 2, 2006 11:36 AM
I have no problem with vegetarianism (my husband is a vegetarian after all... and I never have to worry about him eating my steak)... except when it is applied to small children. That just isn't right. They need energy dense food, and celery is the antithesis of that.
And yeah, I have to share my steak with my toddlers. Dammit. (But for some odd reason, they really dig broccoli and brussel sprouts. Yuck.)
That said, we don't need as much meat as Americans usually consume. Since I married a vegetarian (and he does the cooking), I've had a much more varied diet than before and my total cholesterol dropped from about 200 to around 160 (not sure how healthy that is, though.)
In any case, one of the most boring conversations to have with a person is going through their dietary restrictions.
meep at July 3, 2006 4:58 AM
It seems that meat (especially meat that's imported from New Zealand) would have to have a worse impact on the environment than domestic fruits and vegetables (Oligonicella's comment nonwithstanding).
reluctant meat eater at July 3, 2006 8:57 AM
Hey, as long as you realize that sitting in an office isn't healthy, you probably won't have a lot of trouble with your diet, whatever you munch, because your body will let you know what fuels it best when it's working. Exercise makes you stronger. Remember exercise? Know why Amy looks like that and can run miles a day?
That said, there are lots of people from all over who are fine with vegetables. The Ujurrians prefer not to eat meat. "Meat is more work. It runs away." (j/k).
Radwaste at July 6, 2006 4:58 PM
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