SHOULD WE EAT MEAT?

Michael Pollan poses some very interesting about the ethics of killing and eating meat. Humans have been eating meat since the beginning of time and there was not very much uproar about it. I think as time progresses the ways of killing animals are more barbaric than in previous years. I however, love some meat. I no longer eat pork, and don’t like beef. I only eat chicken, fish, and ground turkey. Maybe this is also my defense mechanism on eating very little meat. Michael takes a stand on making everyone accountable for their own actions. Whether, you eat a lot of meat, very little meat, or certain meats, you are still contributing to the cycle of animal cruelty. “It may be that as a civilization we’re groping toward a higher plane to consciousness. It may be that our moral enlightenment had advanced to the point where practice of eating animals-like our formal practices of keeping slaves of treating women as inferior beings-can now be seen for the barbarity it is, a relic of an ignorant past that very soon fill us with shame.” The demand for meat has increased a great deal and the number is going to higher. The more meat people consume would mean higher prices of corn and soy.

“The meat industry understands that the more people know about what happens on the kill floor, the less meat they’re likely to eat”. The only problem is that many companies will see this as a positive and negative. It’s a positive because the business will continue to grow. It’s a negative because the prices will soar and they will look for ways to serve the economy by cutting costs and making things difficult for the average person. This is when people get careless and start to genetically modify meats and sell them without notice to all omnivores and meat departments across the world. The thought alone is enough to make me sick. Genetically modified anything is probably one of the many reasons that cancer, diabetes, and other diseases plague people. If people know EXACTLY what they were eating, they probably would think twice as to what they eat. I watched a pig slaughter and guess what “NO MORE PORK!” I watched cattle of beef caught and cut and off the manufacturers and guess what “NO MORE BEEF!” I cannot bring myself to watch the demise of chicken and fish because I like them. So I can wholeheartedly admit that I avoid the thought but it does not make it better. I am still contributing to the cruelty of animals.

The right to passage to become a vegetarian seems like a lot of work. Everything that is healthy for you always is way more expensive than everything that is bad for you. There is more work involved to being a vegetarian but that is the price you pay for wanting to be healthy. In the end it will be better off. You will spend way more money on trips to the dentist and doctors offices than you will spend if choosing an alternative to eating unhealthy foods. “Vegetarianism doesn’t seem an unreasonable response to the existence of such an evil.”

“If I believe in equality, and equality is based on the interests rather than characteristics, then either I have to take the steer’s interest into account or accept that I’m a speciesist.” I don’t think we should eat meat because of steps that are needed in order to please your taste buds. If humans were treated the way we treat animals where would the world be? I know no that I can’t ignore the treatment that animals receive. I am going to have to come to turns with the “truth” and look for other alternative things that will fulfill my needs and wants.