5
Mar
Calling One a Pet and Another Food - the Big Paradox
- posted at 2:19 PM
- Permalink
- Comments (2)
There suddenly seems to be a lot of media attention surrounding animals saved from the clutches of death by kind-hearted farmers. Hang on, farmers saving animals’ lives? In one day’s worth of news stories, we see that Winnie the Pig, the pig farmers’ mascot forced to join a ‘better pay and welfare’ rally in London yesterday; and Eve the one-legged chicken who will undergo some very expensive cancer treatment to save her life. It does seem odd that so many people make a clear distinction between pet/friend animals and ‘other’ types (i.e. for food) – even when they’re the same species.
I have a suggestion: for all the farmers who love Winnie the pig – stop killing pigs and selling their carcases. Winnie is an individual, sure, but what’s the real difference between her and the thousands upon thousands killed in the UK just so people can munch on their flesh? I also can’t help but wonder if the chicken couple are vegetarian or whether they happily tuck into chicken and meat every night at the dinner table.
And then you land yourself in the ‘humane meat’ debate. Is it ok to eat meat if the animal was treated a tad better before slaughter? Eating corpses is a bad idea. It’s not that different to eating human corpses when you think about it, is it? The end result is still murder, and as the well known Morrissey song goes: ‘Meat is Murder’. Organic, free-range or any so-called ‘humane’ meat is not a good alternative to factory farmed meat. Sure it’s a step in the right direction, but we should always be questioning how we can take it that one step further and consume no meat at all, pledging to go veggie for life. Now that’s what I call ethical and humane.
Image: The DJ Link Domain / Creative Commons
HI,
I totally agree with this - it’s common sense. However, as a vegetarian I decided to beome vegan most recently - avoiding all animal products, including diary products and eggs, as these products are still from factories that involve great sufferings for the animals. To my surprise I realised just how many foods are made of eggs/milk. I cannot have anything made out of butter (Crossaints), cheese, pasta (made from egg), pastries etc (Basically nearly everything apart from vegtables & fruit). So taking ‘not eating meat’ a step further would be to exclude all products from animals AND it is really difficult (nearly all but a couple of crisps include either milk or cheese as well).
If it were possible (if I had the money) I would invest in my own cows & chickens for milk & eggs - unfortunately things are no longer the way they use to be (when nearly everyone had there own land with thier own little farm).
Kind Regards
Shaz