As a rule, I try not to watch PETA videos. Although I'm sure many would disagree with me, I feel that I do not need to see the violence and torture that animals undergo in order to empathize with them or understand that it is wrong to do such things, or to support those that do. Images of violence do not have a good affect on me. I may, according to some kind of logic, as a human, deserve to have to witness the suffering that my methods of consumption are associated with, but I am not the kind of person that doesn't believe in something until she sees it -- I can very well believe something, or even believe in the possibility of something without witnessing it. If this suggests that I am weak, well then, okay. I still think that I can pretty much put it together that if the material worked with is made of fur or skin, an animal was raised in captivity and then, at some point, skinned for its pelt. I don't like this -- especially the fur part. There is no need for fur. I do not need to see the torture that animals go through in the name of fur.
Leather is not as easy for me to dismiss. I love leather. I have an unholy attachment to shoes and bags and furniture. But we will get to cows later.
I have been thinking about this for some time, and I want to become mostly vegetarian. When I eat steak, chicken, and pork, I can't help but marvel at the fact that I have no idea where this dead animal is from, how long it has been dead, what conditions it was raised and slaughtered under, and how much energy was used in the process. I have seen breakdowns that claim bovine ranching and dairy production to be the most detrimental to the environment, followed, I think, by pig and then chicken farming.
It may sound strange, but I can reasonably cut out chicken flesh from my diet. I don't really like chicken. Once in a while barbecued chicken comes into my life and I marvel at its juicy and tender texture, but I can gross out on chicken pretty quickly. Unfortunately, chicken farming is the least of my worries when it comes to ethics. I mean, I wouldn't agree with or be down with any unethical treatment of animals. For me, this includes feeding them anything other than what they naturally eat, confining them to areas they would not normally restrict themselves to, painful death, or any negligence regarding their health. I always buy organic, free range, and hormone-free chicken and eggs. Yet, I don't really adore chicken. I'm adding to animal suffering by choosing according to convenience instead of maintaining awareness.
I love steak, and some pork dishes are simply delicious -- but don't I owe it to myself to curb my cravings in order to take a stand against inhumane practices?
Yet -- yet -- I really don't want to be one of those people who simply can't eat anything, or go out, or who make veganism their religion and non-vegans their sinful counterparts. I definitely want to simplify. This may mean that I don't shop like I used to, or that I don't eat like I normally do. I just can't continue to eat and wear animals as I have in the past. I don't want to be as associated with killing and consuming as I have been.
You may wonder how I suddenly became so passionate about this. Actually, my concern has been growing incrementally. I don't eat veal or fois gras. As I already mentioned, I don't buy meat that isn't organic and hormone-free. I don't buy fur. But I have asked myself -- is it enough? Can't I do more? I don't ever want to be "done" attempting to simplify my life. I cannot throw it all up into the air at once, though. I mean, that would be traumatic. Of course my dream would be to live in tent I wove myself from cotton I farmed organically...but I have been dealt a hand that I feel I must play respectfully. The bottom line is that I love animals, and I love this planet.
The most recent National Geographic magazine had a article on the eating of endangered monkeys in Africa. The reporter remarked that one baboon that was being roasted looked disturbingly like his three year-old son. I suppose that article struck a chord with me, for I think the element of animal consumption that bothers me the most is how close it seems we come to eating eachother.
2 comments:
The way you write is very intimate and I felt as if I was having a conversation with you. Many of my friends are vegetarian and vegan but it seems too inconvenient to live that lifestyle. Although, I am pretty disgusted by some of the facts I've been hearing lately. Heres a good one, "In one pound of ground beef there could be as much or more than 1000 different cows." Keep on writing, I came by your blog by searching "Long Beach, California" so I probably wont be able to find it again unless you leave me a comment or an email or something like that. Have a wonderful life if we have no further contact.
Daniel, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment.
Oh my, 1000 different cows. It just sounds so irresponsible. I read recently that heifers experience a lot of pain and suffering after calving, and they must calve in order to produce milk. This information came to me after I was trying very hard to justify eating dairy products, but not beef. Perhaps I will just have to take that extra step and find a local dairy that I can visit and then decide for myself if I want to buy their products. That sounds very Mr. Rogers, doesn't it? Let's visit the Crayola factory next! (Oh, wait, that's probably in China now.)
I applaud anyone who commits to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. However, I have observed that many people who are vegan tend to be unbalanced about it, or are quite judgemental of people who chose to eat animal products. It is as if it couldn't be possible that someone could know the effects of animal consuming and do it anyway. There are certainly individuals that delight in pointing fingers, and while I like to think of myself as an analyst, I also understand that sometimes (especially in instances where ethical issues are considered) people will disagree.
It seems as though the ethics that support emotional veganism (as opposed to veganism strictly in the name of better health) create a slippery slope that never ends. For example, if the suffering of animals at the hands of humans in the name of consumerism is unethical, then what about humans suffering similarly? Of course, I would find it confusing if someone like Hannibal Lecter was vegan. (That was a bad joke.) Yet, what about a vegan soldier? What about a vegan politician? A vegan capitalist? A vegan taxpayer? Of course, we do what we can. Yet -- there is no limit to what we can do.
I like to look at this issue in my life as an area where I can invest a lot of hope. I hope that I can incrementally cut out most if not all animal products from my life and graze like a brontosaurus. I also hope that I can accept that many will not make this decision, and that I can love people regardless of what they eat. For example, the men and women who capture or raise baboons in order to sell them on the (black) market for profit, even when there are other protein sources like chicken and legumes readily available, are not inhuman, nor do they deserve to die, as some presumably vegan activists would claim. They are simply people who are put in a terrible position, that of having to provide food (probably not anything as exotic as baboon meat) for their family while living in extreme poverty. They are examples of the bleak side of capitalism.
At the end of the day, it's capitalism that I have an emotional issue with. Of course, capitalism has been "good" to me, but it has been bad for my heart, as it breaks over and over and over again for the billions of cute, lovable, cuddly HUMANS it tortures every day.
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