Is Meat Really Murder?
August 6, 2008 by Scott Wharton
Filed under Men's Health
Now I know I may tick some people off here, but it’s a topic that never gets old and everyone has an opinion on. If you’re easily offended by honesty and talk about meat eating, then turn back now or go here. I’ll be the first to tell you that I love a good steak, a well prepared chicken breast, a good tasty lamb chop and a nicely grilled pork loin. I love vegetables as well. I know a well balanced diet is important and you can get proteins and most of the nutrients you need from certain vegetables. I have heard great things from people that have turned to vegetarianism and how much better they feel, but there is still my insatiable need (want) for meat and I will always be a meat eater.
Now I don’t approve of some of the ways that animals are treated and the cycle of processing meat for human consumption, and I wish there was something I could do about it…besides stop eating meat. Even though we breed to feed, if we just stopped consuming meat and let livestock and naturally wild animals roam free and live it would upset the balance of our eco system by our own doing. Predation is a big part of the cycle of life and death and you could argue the point that humans were meant to be omnivorous till you’re blue in the face but some people would try to make you feel guilty for eating meat. That’s the difference between people that eat meat and people that are hardcore vegetarians.
The great thing about being human is that you can make that decision. You can choose to eat meat or not. 99% of the people that eat meat don’t care if you are a vegetarian or not, but often wonder how you do it. However, a lot of vegetarians look down upon people that eat meat as if they’re dirty animals, murderers or rapists. It’s almost on the verge of discrimination. Some vegetarians even go as far saying mean things to people that eat meat such as “I hope you die of Heart disease from all the meat you eat”, yet we don’t wish cancer upon you from the pesticides used on vegetables. People that eat meat aren’t savage, filthy, unhealthy animals. We just choose to eat meat as a vegetarian chooses to eat vegetables. There are great health benefits to being a vegetarian as there is health benefits to eating lean meats in moderation.
So yes, meat can be considered murder, and if that is more than just an expression in your eyes then I’m a murderer as you are a murderer of vegetation, which is a living organism as well. It’s not the best comparison, but it’s not the worse. Some of the practices used to process animals for butchering are inhumane and even grotesque, but if you think the whole world is going to stop eating meat because you hold a different standard in life, then you are living a pipe dream and just may be a little too sensitive.
If everyone stopped eating meat the world may be over run with animals. And if everyone stopped eating vegetables the same thing would happen with vegetation. It’s the ecological balance of nature. You say eating meat causes global warming but you’re eating valuable, oxygen producing plants. See how silly that sounds? So we all just stop eating meat and what happens to all the live stock we have? Should we euthanize them to stop this global warming or let them run free? What IS the solution?
Don’t think this is an attack on vegetarians. If that’s what you choose, then more power to you because I honestly don’t think I could live like that. Does that make you better than me? You may think so, but no. I would just like the vegetarians that think people that eat meat are savage, Neanderthal caveman, with flesh between our teeth, stomping bunnies and such to see that we are not bad people because we eat meat.
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No, I don’t think it’s an attack on vegetarians, but I do think it’s a bit one sided.
If 99% of the people who eat meat don’t care if I’m a vegetarian or not, then the 1% who do care must all live, work, and play in my area, ha. Since becoming a “hardcore vegetarian” I’ve been laughed at, made fun of, told my brain was going to shrink, and told I was “financially irresponsible.” The folks who looked incredulous when they asked me “Why on earth?” were among the less discriminatory.
Not once have I ever set out to intentionally make someone feel guilty about eating meat. I’ve never called anyone a name, laughed at them, started an argument, or told them I hoped they died from some animal meat-related disease. If the documented cases of animal abuse I pass along, soy burgers in my fridge, and vegetarian dishes I bring to Thanksgiving dinners do make others feel guilty, that’s not my fault.
Many people who become vegetarians don’t do so with the idea that they’re actions are going to be the sole changes needed to fix everything that’s wrong with the meat market. They do so because they’re actions are the only changes they can be responsible for making. So, when people tell me, “Just because you don’t eat meat doesn’t mean you’re actually making a difference” (as you feel would be the case if you stopped eating meat), they’re wrong. I’m making the only difference I have the control to make, and I can say that at the very least I’ve stopped my money from going into the pockets of the companies that allow such abuse.
(And, if everyone refused to give their money to such companies, those companies would be forced to better regulate the treatment of the animals raised for food – and I promise you, those changes are the only changes many vegetarians wish would be made in regards to others’ eating habits. We’re not all out to rip meat from your plates. Some of us just want the factory workers to stop pissing on the chickens.)
GoVeg.com is owned and operated by PETA, and while I’m a member and support much of what PETA does and tries to do (especially when they publicly thank meat-serving restaurants like Burger King and Canada’s KFC for making changes), I’m not ignorant to their sometimes very harsh ways of trying to reach out to and educate folks about the benefits of vegetarianism and the hard reality of animal cruelty. This is a mistake in many ways, because lots of folks are turned off altogether, and avoid reading about the GOOD things. Too, many people end up grouping all vegetarians and animal rights activists into the same category, which is ridiculous (and discriminatory). Vegetarians and animal rights activists are, like every other “group” of people, a multifaceted bunch. :)
Thanks for the interesting convo, Scott!
Man…If my brain is gonna shrink I’m NEVER going to be a vegetarian… I don’t know if it can get any smaller!
I just had some Bojangles before I read the part about pissin’ on chickens.
I wrote this while I was a little ticked at PETA2 for a rather misleading petition campaign at a recent concert. They offered a free DVD with “Bands” on it and asked that you sign a petition with your email addy and say its all about stopping cruelty to animals. I say, that’s cool. I don’t like cruelty on anything…except emo kids (But that’s a different story). So I say cool, sign it, take my free dvd and a stupid sticker of a pig saying (woof). So a few days after I get home from the concert I pop in the DVD and it’s just video clips of band members speaking out about all this Meat Is Murder and all this other stuff that I don’t completely agree with. There is probably thousands of pissed off metal head kids out there who feel mislead by PETA2.
Yeah, PETA has that effect on lots of folks. (My uncle actually scooted away from me at a holiday dinner last year when he found out I’d joined, ha! Of course, he’s a hunter, so…) As with all organizations/missions/groups/etc., there’s stuff that’s going to apply to people and really get them motivated, and then there’s stuff that’s going to just turn them away. I take the good, and leave the rest.
You may be in the clear (literally, ha) with Bojangles ;) Tyson and KFC are the two biggies under fire right now.