Since Merchant's article on Cruelty to Animals, I have noticed a lot of talk
about why it is right to kill animals, or not to kill them. I feel, quite
honestly, that a lot of people don't really understand, or are going about
vegetarianism the wrong way, or for the wrong reasons. Let me explain.
One of the most frequent (and in my opinion, most ignorant) questions that I
am asked is, "If you were stranded all alone somewhere, would you eat meat?" If
you ask this question, you will probably get an answer that goes something
like this....
"Firstly, I don't plan on being stranded anytime soon. But if I was, I would
make the decision then." And then the person would look at me with one of
these strange looks, because usually this is not what they are expecting, so
I go a little more into detail.
"I don't feel that the worst thing is that we kill animals to eat them. It's
survival methods. So it's mostly how we treat animals before we kill them."
And then of course I will be asked to go into more detail, and what I tell
people, usually comes as a bit of a surprise to them. I won't bore you with
my long conversations, though. Instead, I'll summarize it.
Nowadays, pretty much everything on farms is done by machinery. What the
farmer used to do, can all be accomplished with little or no actual contact
with the animals. A farm is not what you imagine it to be anymore.
Many animals are pumped up with steroids and drugs to make them bigger
faster. They may not get the chance to build up much muscle before getting
killed. Calves killed for veal are a good example of this.
Many of these animals are crowded onto warehouse floors. When Merchant says
that R. MacDonald is the king of all animal evil, she means that each of his
chickens are given less space then a piece of 8 1/2 by 11 paper. They can
barely move!
Because of these space limitations, and lack of fresh air, many animals will
start to go insane. Some farmers will de-beak fully conscious chickens using
hot blades, so that they won't peck each other to death. Pigs may also have
their teeth moved removed so that they don't bite each other's tails.
I don't have a problem with people who hunt reasonably. What does this mean.
If someone hunts wild animals, without making them suffer and then uses
their meat to eat, that's okay with me. As long as it doesn't go to waste.
If a person hunts to hang heads on their walls, that is not okay by me.
And, just for the record, vegetarians don't only eat salad! I, for one, eat
a lot of East Asian food, where a lot of the major religions support being
vegetarian.
Anyway, my dad says I'm a bit of a hypocrite because a great song in my
opinion is "Carrot Juice is Murder" by the Canadian comedy group The Arrogant Worms. Don't ask.
l8er gators,
Giggler01
