Tees for Animal Lover
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Have you ever wondered why we treat certain animals like friends and others like commodities or food? For example, dogs and cats are considered members of the family, but we slaughter and eat cows and pigs. Because we think there is a distinction between the animals we love and the ones we eat, we do not think twice about what has to happen to cows, chicken and pigs before they arrive on our plates as food.
In her TED talk, psychologist Melanie Joy, explores the reasons why we are disgusted by the thought of eating Golden Retriever, but happily enjoy beef, pork and chicken. All animals are equally sentient beings, but because we think that eating farmed animals for meat is, “normal, natural and necessary,” we never question our choice to mass slaughter and eat them.
By looking into how our society has normalized the consumption of meat, Joy contends that we all have a choice to remove ourselves from this cruelty, but the first step is awareness. Thinking critically and carefully about the roles we’ve assigned farmed animals versus our pets, we can see beyond the constructs of “carnism” and work towards a more compassionate future.
I have also always wondered why people make a distinction between animals that are edible and those that are not. But I look at it from the opposite point of view. Why not add the animals we call pets to the menu as well, including dogs, cats, dolphins, and anything that is made up of meat? I agree with the lack of consistency but not with the overall goal of the vegans. I personally would not eat many cats because I really like them, and would probably eat a lot of dogs because I quite dislike them. But I wouldn\’t be offended if my neighbor preferred a cat cuisine or refused to eat meat altogether. Even if you make the argument of sentience, plant life is still life, so in order to further the human existence, one must consume something that was living in order to continue living. It is not, as one person commented, that people who eat meat cannot face the fact that they are murderers, so they live in denial as they continue to eat meat. People know they are murdering animals but do not find it morally objectionable. Natural law dictates that we do not kill our own kind, the way that other animals generally do not consume their own kind. Whether our bodies digest meat as well as other species is beside the point. Our bodies naturally crave what nourishes us and are disgusted by that which is not edible. Therefore, if some people crave vegetables over meat, then I would not deny them the fulfillment of their appetites. But those who crave meat are likewise fixed in their idea of what is nourishing and cannot be persuaded by arguments to the contrary.