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Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets
  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.


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Wednesday, January 16, 2002
11:08 - Mmmmmmeat

(top) link
Forum this morning on NPR had a chef (Anthony something-- didn't catch his full name) talking about his experiences in world cuisine. And naturally, just as I pulled into the parking lot at work, some guy named Alfredo called in and started reading off what sounded like a rehearsed PETA manifesto: "An animal is a living being, with thoughts and emotions, and I find it offensive and disgusting that you would consider sacrificing such a being for the sake of food." And I had to hang around in my car just to hear the chef's response.

"I agree-- animals have thoughts and emotions, and I do believe that there's very little difference between us and animals in that regard. However, I'm a little faster, and a little smarter."

He clearly didn't want to make enough of a joke out of it to enrage the caller, but I wish he had. See, it's all very well and good to pretend that it's somehow "natural" to live our lives without eating food that our teeth and taste buds and digestive systems are designed to eat. But people who predicate vegetarianism on the idea that "humans are no different from animals" shoot their argument in the foot purely by making the decision to not eat meat. Animals don't feel any such qualms, do they? So why do we? "Well, beause we're more intelligent and sentient--" Whoops! Guess we're not so "no different from animals" after all, are we?

It's like Douglas Adams' disproof of the existence of God:
GOD: "I refuse to prove that I exist, for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
MAN: "Well, the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It couldn't have evolved by itself. It proves you exist, and therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. Q.E.D."
GOD: "Whoops, I hadn't thought of that. <poof>"

If you make the argument that humans and animals are subject to the same laws of nature and have the same (or similar) mental capacities, you have to accept that eating meat is a much more natural part of life for animals shaped like humans than eating couscous and hummus is.

Now, this doesn't deny that killing animals for food sucks, or that veal farms or stockyards are grotesque. But, well, the tigers and the wolves somehow got over the ethical dilemma. I'll bet they would feel remorse over it, but oh wait, I forgot, we're actually mentally different from them after all, right? C'mon. Killing for food sucks, but it's how this planet works. You don't like it, feel free to pack up and leave.

Or if my argument isn't worded well enough, there's always the 2 rant on the subject (warning: explicit language ahead).

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© Brian Tiemann