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14 years ago
Why People Who Love Animals, Eat Animals – And What You Can Do to Change That
Image Credit: Image 1, Image 2
Many vegetarians and vegans are confounded and frustrated by the ability of rational, caring people to participate in the irrational, uncaring practice of eating animals. But perhaps most exasperating is the meat-eating “animal lover.” How is it possible for people to both love and eat animals? And how can concerned vegetarians and vegans address this paradox?
The answer applies to all meat eaters, animal lovers notwithstanding. While there are many reasons for people’s contradictory attitudes and behaviors toward animals, most important is the invisible belief system, or ideology, called carnism. Carnism conditions people to eat animals by “numbing” them, psychologically and emotionally, to the truth of their experience—by blocking their awareness of the discrepancy between their values and practices. Whenever a group of people make exception to what they would normally consider ethical (and especially when they are unaware of such an exception), it is indicative that an underlying ideology is at work.
Ideologies such as carnism, which require people to act against their core values, use a set of social and psychological defense mechanisms so that humane people participate in inhumane practices without realizing what they are doing. The primary defense of carnism is invisibility. The invisibility of carnism as an ideology is why eating animals is seen as a given, rather than a choice; and the invisibility of the practices of carnism (the breeding and slaughtering of animals for food) is why people are able to deny and avoid the horrific truths about animal agriculture. However, due in large part to the advent of the Internet and the success of dedicated vegan activists, invisibility—though still a powerful defense—has been sufficiently weakened, so that other defenses have taken on a more important role in maintaining the system. Understanding these secondary defenses is essential to transforming the system that enables animal lovers to be animal eaters.
The Mythology of Meat: The Three Ns of Justification
Exploitative systems such as carnism teach people to justify their actions, by presenting ideological myths as though they were universal truths. There is a vast mythology surrounding eating animals but all myths fall in one way or another under the Three Ns of Justification: eating animals is normal, natural, and necessary. (Not surprisingly, these same arguments have been used to Support the ideologies that have enabled slavery, male dominance, heterosexual supremacy, etc.) Such myths are institutionalized—they are embraced and maintained by all major social institutions, from the family to the state—and they are deeply embedded in the consciousness of anyone born into carnistic culture.
The impact of the Three Ns on meat consumers should not be underestimated. If people truly believe in the Ns (which most do), then by default they perceive not eating animals as abnormal, unnatural, and unnecessary, and so becoming vegan feels threatening (and also needless). For instance, to deviate from the carnistic norm is to take the risk of being socially marginalized (Consider, for instance, how your veganism is received among those who eat animals. Are your choices celebrated and met with curiosity and enthusiasm? Or do you encounter resistance and hostility? Are your dietary needs readily and cheerfully accommodated when you eat with others or travel? Or are you seen as annoying and “high maintenance”?). Deviating from the norm also means eating an “unnatural” and thus unhealthful diet, as natural is considered synonymous with healthful (an irony, given the health benefits of a natural vegan diet!). And if veganism is abnormal and unnatural, then it’s pointless to consider making the change.
The Mentality of Meat: Cognitive Distortions and Emotional Distancing
Carnism uses another set of defenses which Support and are supported by the Three Ns: cognitive distortions. These distortions are the psychological component of carnism; they are automatic, unconscious mental processes that distort our perceptions of meat and the animals we learn to eat so that we can feel comfortable enough to consume them. In short, when we’re born into an entrenched system, we learn to look at the world through the lens of that system; we internalize carnism.
Cognitive distortions cause people, to, for instance, view farmed animals as objects (e.g., people refer to a chicken as something, rather than someone) and as abstractions, lacking in any individuality or personality (e.g., a pig is a pig and all pigs are the same). These distortions also cause people to create rigid categories in their minds so that they can harbor very different feelings and behaviors toward different species (e.g., beef is delicious and dog meat is disgusting; cows are for eating and dogs are our friends). Essentially, cognitive distortions act as a distancing mechanism, distancing people from their natural empathy toward other sentient beings.
Petting the Dog While Eating the Hog
The vast majority of people – including animal lovers – eat animals not because they’re selfish, or evil, but because they’re a part of a system that has shaped their beliefs, preferences, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in profound and powerful ways. And because most people do care about animals, they are threatened by – and are therefore defended against – information that reveals the discrepancy between their values and practices. In fact, animal lovers are likely even more defended against learning how they’ve participated in atrocities against animals, since they are more sensitive to animal suffering.
Moving Beyond the Animal-Eating Animal Lover Paradox
Once we understand carnism, we can recognize that eating animals is not simply a matter of personal ethics, but the inevitable end result of a deeply entrenched belief system. We can therefore dramatically reframe the way we think and talk about the issue of eating animals.
Specifically, understanding carnism can help vegans: have more understanding and thus more compassion for those who are not vegan; communicate more effectively about veganism, as we understand the psychology of those we’re communicating with; avoid the frustration that comes with the expectation that the facts will sell the ideology (they don’t; and it helps to expect some defensiveness when discussing eating animals); and better work toward the abolition of animal agriculture, as we challenge structural, or systemic carnism and not simply reach out to one meat eater at a time. Perhaps most importantly, understanding carnism can help us appreciate that asking someone to stop eating animals – even someone who loves animals – is not simply asking for a change of behavior, but for a profound shift of consciousness. Such a shift will only occur when the individual is ready; as vegans, our job is to help create a state of readiness, by modeling the same understanding and compassion we are asking for.
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Last time I watched Wild Kingdom….. I noticed a few creatures that would have had no problem eating me for dinner.
Yes, vegans need to supplement with vitamin B12, but so what? A large segment of the omnivore population needs to take B12 supplements, too, since some 30 percent of the over-50 population can’t absorb B12 from animal foods. All vitamin B12—whether it’s packaged into pills or cycled through animals—comes from the same source, which is bacteria. The point is that we shouldn’t use animals if we don’t need to for survival. And since we can get B12—naturally derived from bacteria and in a form that is better utilized by humans—we have no reason to eat animal foods.
The point is this: the “natural vegan diet” is NOT natural for humans, unless you wish to argue that psychosis is the natural state for humans. Your argument that we “should” replace foods from the natural omnivorous diet with supplements is fine: it’s your opinion. However, to be intellectually honest, you should be calling it the “artificial vegan diet”.
No offense, but to be intellectually honest, you’ve clearly never studied human anatomy.
When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.
Carnivores have claws, as well as sharp front teeth for tearing, and no flat molar teeth for grinding. Like herbivores, we have no claws, nor sharp front teeth, but we do have flat rear molars. Oh, and before you try to point out that we have canines like carnivores, don’t forget that many herbivores also have canines; (Gorillas, horses, tapirs, hippos, rhinos, wild boars, musk deer, water deer, just to name a few off the top of my head). Carnivores don’t have sweat glands and perspire through their tongues. Whereas we, as herbivores do, sweat through skin pores. Meat-eaters have an intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so rapidly decaying meat can pass through more quickly. We, on the other hand, have an intestinal tract 10-12 times our body length just like herbivores. Carnivores have strong hydrochloric acid in their stomachs to digest meat. We have stomach acid that is twenty times weaker than that of a meat-eater. Humans and herbivores possess well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits- something meat-eaters lack. Also, humans and herbivores have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains. Carnivores do not. There’s also a very good reason why 75% of humanity is lactose intolerant- consuming dairy simply isn’t natural. Notice how we are the ONLY species to drink milk after infancy, and from a different species, no less.
Mammal milks vary in design from animal to animal. Human milk is different from cow milk is different from dog milk, etc. In the case of bovine baby vs. human baby, cow milk is designed to nourish the calf’s relatively rapid bone growth (a calf will gain approximately 40% of its full-grown weight in its first six months, while a human baby will gain only about 10%). A human infant’s brain experiences more rapid growth compared to that of a calf, and logic would dictate that its mother’s milk provides for that. This would explain why mammal milks have different compositions; they are uniquely designed for those who are intended to consume it.
Animal protein tends to leach calcium from the bones, leading to its excretion in the urine. Animal proteins are high in sulfur-containing amino acids, especially cystine and methionine. Sulfur is converted to sulfate, which tends to acidify the blood. During the process of neutralizing this acid, bone dissolves into the bloodstream and filters through the kidneys into the urine.
There are watchdog groups that scrutinize media advertising, looking for false or deceptive statements. When the TV ad campaign, “Milk Does a Body Good” aired, a lawsuit was initiated by just such a group charging that, while cow’s milk does a calf’s body good, it’s questionable whether it does a human’s body good, thus the ad could be deceptive in nature. The case was settled out of court; the milk people agreeing to discontinue the ad if the suit was dropped. The ad was replaced with, “Milk: It Has Something For Everyone”; a meaningless statement if ever I’ve heard one, but one that was sure not to be challenged.
And did you know that: Milk is one of the foundations of heart disease, and an explanation for America’s number one killer? That milk is a reason one out of six American women will develop breast cancer? That twenty-five million American women over the age of forty have been diagnosed with arthritis and osteoporosis, and these women have been consuming in excess of two pounds of milk products a day for their entire adult lives? That the calcium in milk is not adequately absorbed, and milk consumption is a probable cause of osteoporosis? That the countries with the highest per capita consumption of dairy products have the highest incidence of osteoporosis? That milk is responsible for allergies, colic, colitis, earaches, colds and congestion in young children?
It’s also a proven fact that vegans live on average ten years longer than meat-eaters. Not only do vegans become sick less, but they also have less of a chance developing osteoporosis, type-two diabetes, various types of cancer and cataracts.
Ah, yes, veganism is the only “natural” diet for humans because all animals are either carnivores or herbivores… or something. The simple fact is following a COMPLETELY natural vegan diet will lead to irreversible damage to your brain and nervous system, insanity and death. This is due to the lack of vitamin B12, found only in animal sources (meat, fish, milk, eggs), unnaturally fortified foods and unnatural supplements. Humans are evolved to REQUIRE animal based foods (or fortified foods and supplements that did not exist prior to the 20th century). The widespread existence of several different genetic adaptations that allow many humans to digest milk makes it clear that this supposedly “unnatural” inclusion of milk in the human diet is neither new nor uncommon nor unnatural. The vegan garbage about cow’s milk not being produced by the animal for human consumption ignores the fact that — save a few fruits and human milk — no foods are grown by the animal/plant/fungus for humans to eat. Milk, carrots, lettuce, mushrooms, etc. do not grow to feed anything but themselves. Humans evolved to eat a wide variety of foods. While this includes vegetables and fungi, it also clearly involves animal-based foods: meat, fish, eggs and milk.
Clearly you don’t know much about B12 nor today’s agriculture.1)Farm animals are given B12 shots(for example pig and calf).Now,your diet is unnatural.2)There is no answer to some,but very important question that relate to B12.In which conditions B12 is made?(what makes bacterias to produce them?)The land is not the same as it was before(it’s now poor thanks to the modern agriculture) and we have very clean culture.It is hardly possible state for bacteria’s product(aka B12) to stay on plants that were washed and cooked(cooking is vitamin killer,so it is true for B12).And there was no study in which plants were tested to its content of B12 without heating them so it leaves unanswered question if plants contain it(in them or on them).But,I know some examples where plant(wheat grass) contain B12 and algae called nori also contains it.The way the people eat/drink wheat grass is raw state,so maybe it’s why it contains B12.The nori algae have plenty of B12 so the B12 won’t disappear when cooked. If you look at free roaming herbivores,all them eat unwashed,uncooked,fresh plants and unwillingly eat small insect/s with plant matter so it might be the key of their B12 and for people getting B12 before modern way of eating.All I say the research is needed and saying stuff like you said is ignorant.
A “natural vegan diet” (one that does not include supplements or fortified foods) will eventually cause irreparable damage to the nervous system and brain, eventually leading to death. While your average vegan “health” store employee can rattle of a dozen or so claimed vegan sources of vitamin B12, they do not, in fact, exist. The larger vegan/vegetarian organizations cover this and stress that vegan need these unnatural supplements and/or fortified foods in their “natural” diet.
Once upon a time, plants were probably were a source of natural b12. Now, nothing is completely natural in the strictest sense of the word.
What is all natural these days?
Unless you are living in a forest and picking wild fruits and vegetables and eating them raw, then nothing is truly natural.
I’m also a little confused at to what the point of your post was?
I’m fairly sure someone living in a forest doesn’t have access to onegreenplanet.org…
Yeast is natural. I get my B12 from yeast. I don’t see where you see anything unnatural or harmful to our health? Either way, I would trade natural for moral anyday. Acting immorally is not natural except for psychopaths.