Well this is a (at least partially) vegetarian blog so its time I post something for my vegetarian followers (hehehe maybe one or two of you…)
I realize that many non-vegetarian people kind of know that something is wrong with how the animals they eat are treated, but they often say they don’t want to know details. To them I say, ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power! Power and moral responsibility that is. I think it is just more conscientious and shows a stronger moral character to not turn a blind eye. But that is just me… upsetting my friends one post at a time 🙂
Currently I am more public about my eating habits than I ever have been since becoming a vegetarian about 5 years ago. I used to be pretty self conscious about telling people because they always had questions and I didn’t want to go into details. There was no way to concisely explain all of my logic quickly so I would rather they just didn’t know anything. I am getting better at this. Lots of people now know how I eat and not a meal with friends goes by where I don’t get questions and comments. I am learning to roll with it…
One of the most common first questions I get is, “it’s not for the animals or anything is it?” This question is usually mostly an insult. It really means something more like, “those people who care about animals so much they don’t want to eat them are crazy and you aren’t crazy like them I hope.” The questioner usually says it with an inflection of conspiracy and pity for me. Like they will keep my secret and not tell people if it’s true that I am crazy. So here is my answer: My diet is partly because I don’t want to eat animals. It isn’t so much the eating of animals or animal products that bothers me per se, but it is the means by which those products are produced. I don’t want to cause lives of pain and torture for animals just so I can eat them. That is the truth! And I don’t see why that is so weird? Why is it considered extreme to care about the suffering of other living creatures!? But I have talked about their suffering enough on other pages. I just think this question and where it comes from is so weird. It seems to be the norm is to go against the common innate decency we are mostly all born with. If you stand up for the poor animals and your instinctive feelings about their welfare then you are labeled crazy. Most people would care if they saw the lives of the animals they eat. At least I like to think so.
The answer to this first question often leads to another question. “So are you saying that if animals didn’t have to suffer to bring you meat or milk or eggs that you would eat them?” The answer to this is a qualified “yes.” Qualified in that I say I would once in a while probably eat some animal products. I don’t believe animal products to be healthful, but I do eat things once in a while that aren’t healthful. If it didn’t cause the animals any suffering to eat their products I might once in a great while eat something with milk in it. I really never crave meat, but maybe I would try someone’s dish at a restaurant. These answers are all hypothetical of course because all animal products are produced with suffering. Some suffer less than others, but all at a higher level of suffering than I am comfortable with.
This question also comes up in my own mind when I read things like in the second chapter of Exodus where the Promised Land is referred to as the land of milk and honey. I always doubt my ideals when I read stuff like that. But I can always talk myself back into my way of eating 🙂 Good on me right? For one, this ‘”milk and honey” may just be metaphorical. It could mean sweet things and that the land is nurturing to the people- like they will live the good life and be well taken care of. For another, the lives of people in biblical days were vastly different than ours now. They had less access to various nutrients and protein foods. They didn’t have a grocery store with foods shipped in from around the world. And, the big one, they cared for their animals more humanely. The animals lived good lives and then were slaughtered humanely. The goats weren’t forced impregnated and their babies taken from then in continuous cycles until their death. The animals acted out the behaviors important to them- looking for food, building their nests, caring for their young. Goats were milked only when they were naturally producing milk for their young anyways. People then ate a lot less dairy and meat than people do now. They ate meat on special occasions and most of their milk in cheese form. So maybe if we went back to this way of treating animals I might eat milk once in a while. Maybe. But that would make milk and meat much much more expensive and rare than it is now. Most people would be forced by cost to eat it only on special occasions.
Maybe if meat could be grown central nervous system free in a test tube or beaker I might eat it once in a while. (Incidentally, according to the intensive studies referenced in the book The China Study meat protein is safer and more healthful to the body than milk protein…And I spent all those years as a vegetarian increasing my dairy intake to get all the health benefits once I was off meat….) But this hypothetical system is still a few decades away. I don’t worry about it much. But I could see it happening. They are already working on it.
What I can’t see happening is a return to more humane ways of collecting milk. Dairy cows are some of the most abused animals out there. They spend about 3-5 years continuously living in a stall they can’t turn around in, kept inside, being subjected to back to back rounds of artificial inseminations. When their babies are born they are quickly taken away so that the cows milk will go to humans. The females are made into dairy cows (on a diet of artificial formula milk) or the females are slaughtered for casein. Males are kept in crates for a few weeks before slaughter to become perfect veal! The mother cow will cry for days for her baby while being given steroids and antibiotics (to increase her milk supply and keep it clean enough to not kill us.) The mother will produce milk in huge unnatural quantities for about 9 months and then her production drops off and she is inseminated again. The whole cycle is really gross if you ask me. After the cows big producing days are over, her life is cut short and she is sent to slaughter. The trip from her stall to the slaughterhouse may be the only time she sees the outdoors.
Changing this dairy system to a more humane system is not sustainable. It would be hugely expensive to just milk cows when they are naturally producing milk for their calves. And to not slaughter the cow afterward is not an option either. No company retires milk cows to live out the rest of their 20 year life span in pastures of green. And no one is looking for an extra baby cow to take home as a pet. These details were spelled out for me by a friendly worker at a major ‘humane’ and organic milk producer. I emailed this and many other companies when I was researching milk and trying to justify still consuming it. The emails are posted on my “animal lovers” page.
So maybe if things got better for the animals I could see myself taking in limited amounts of animal products on occasion. But those changes aren’t happening anytime soon! Until then, I will just stick to my ideals as hard as it can be at times. (And I don’t say it is hard because of the diet, but because of the peer pressure.)
And speaking of ideals, why don’t more people stick to their ideals?! I hear this all the time, “I wish I could eat like that. I really believe in it.” To you people I say, just do it! It is a lot easier than you think. And there is something very rewarding about trying whole heartedly to follow your ideals. It is freeing. It leaves you little to be ashamed of or to hide.
In my psychology it is easier to be an all-or-nothing person. This is just true of me in all areas of my life. As a Mormon I have never had a beer or some coffee. When these things are around I don’t even think twice. They just aren’t options. Ice cream and most desserts at social events have become the same way for me. They just aren’t options. It is easy to not think twice about them. But I am no dieter. Ask me to limit my consumption and use wise judgment in how much I eat and I will invariably fail. “Eat a few French fries” more often than not turns into “eat all the French fries I can find and then hope to start again tomorrow on a better diet- all with a side of self loathing.” So all or nothing really works for me. It is more peaceful on my psyche. I don’t like to have to think about my decisions- just know they have been made and stick to them.
For some of you who may find you have more control than myself and want to try and do something different in how you eat, there are many options. There is somewhat of a movement toward VB6. This means vegan before 6. It is for people who eat health conscious vegan meals before 6 and then have a non-vegan dinner. This could work if you find being vegan at a restaurant to be difficult. Of course you would never get all the health benefits to your GI track of being vegan. You’d continuously be messing up the cleanse. I’ve also heard of those who have one vegan day a week or those who eat vegan at home and the “standard American fare” when out to eat. Any of these is a step in the right direction. Did you know that one vegan day a week does more for the environment than driving a hybrid? But no one publicizes that too much…. We wouldn’t want people to actually have to make some sacrifices and changes for the health of the environment. (Not that I necessarily believe in all they tell us about global warming, its causes and impacts, but I do definitely believe in taking the best care we can of this Earth. I think that is our duty.)
Okay, I think that is enough for today. Some shameless vegetarian indoctrination to follow:
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