The distorted mentality of killing animals

http://www.andrea-schroeder.com/VCeelen4a.html

So I was sitting in the car last week, coming home from the grocery store, and going over a recent debate about animal cruelty and veganism. i was ranting against the illogical and sometimes just plain mind numbingly stupid arguments for meat eating that I often get. These arguments tend to be:

• Animals don't have a concept of death.
• Animals don't know what's going on when they feel pain.
• Animals aren't as intelligent as humans.
• I enjoy eating dead animals therefore it surely must be morally justifiable.
• The animals are killed quickly and humanely.
• I eat free range animals which makes it morally justifiable.

Being a mother, the thought suddenly struck me- animals aren't much different on an of these levels than a baby or a young toddler.

• Babies and toddlers don't have a concept of death.
• Babies and toddlers don't know what's going on when they feel pain.
• Babies and toddlers aren't as intelligent as adults (or even as some animals)

The other arguments, when applied to babies and toddlers are.. just reprehensible. Beyond disgusting. From the meat eater's perspective this would be: I enjoy eating the flesh of babies so it's okay, babies are killed quickly and humanly, I only eat free range babies (although in most cases people eat animals from factory farms which could be comparable to beating a baby every day and then finally killing it after a year or so).

Now, people will say this is extreme thinking, but stay with me for a moment. Can you logically give me one actual difference between a pig, who is certainly more intelligent than your newborn, and a human newborn? You could argue that the pain caused to the family makes it less morally justifiable so assume the baby is an orphan and no one would care- or that the parents themselves wanted to kill the baby for various reasons (have you seen the news? It happens people).

The one and only argument left is: because humans are superior to animals. Except that we're really not. If you have a single intelligent brain cell in your head you know that we evolved. In evolution nothing is superior to anything else. You evolve to fill a niche, you evolve in the way that best benefits your survival. So great, humans evolved in a particular way (that we'd better be incredibly grateful for!) and animals evolved in their own way, for their own niche. Evolutionarily speaking we're equals (and no, the ability to kill doesn't make you superior.. if it did we'd be praising  murderers, not locking them up).

It goes without saying that none of the arguments for meat eating are logical or morally justifiable, but it just really struck me how brainless they actually are. It's sort of like that light bulb moment you have when you realize that religions make absolutely no sense. You knew it before but suddenly you really know it.

On certain levels we apply this same brainless callousness to other humans as well. Babies, as much as people are horrified by the examples I gave and would genuinely be horrified if these things happened in real life (do you really want to think about a baby having it's legs broken, strung up, then being skinned while still alive after having it's throat slit? I didn't think so), babies still tend to be thought of as less than adults. Less important, having less needs, less deserving of many things. We genitally mutilate our baby boys here in America routinely, we leave our babies upset and crying out for love and attention for hours in their cribs because we somehow think babies need less human contact than anyone else, we physically assault our children - something we'd go to jail for doing to another adult.. sometimes you have to really wonder what is wrong with the human species. For all of our superior attitudes, can we really claim superiority when this is how we treat other animals, both human and non human?

On Apathy And The Self Centered Universe

I'm just one person, what I do doesn't matter anyway. 


So what? it's not my problem.


I overcame it, so can they and anything else is unacceptable and despicable. 

Why should I have to pay to take care of someone else? 

These phrases are common- to a depressing degree. I hear it most from local college kids who are usually libertarians, or from privileged, healthy, and driven individuals. They tend to have an "every man for himself" type of attitude that seems to be void of any type of human compassion. Why? Because they are the center of their universes. Generally speaking this is true of everyone. Human beings project their own feelings, thoughts, and expectations on others. We expect people to react to situations the same way we would, to share our world view in similar manners, and to have the same basic goals. People also tend to have different sized monkeyspheres. We intellectually know that people are different in a variety of ways, but that doesn't seem to often actually sink into our thick skulls.

Let's use a common example- infidelity which is, unfortunately, something that almost everyone experiences. This is a common type of abuse and one that people react to on vastly different scales. Girl A grew up in an abusive home and was constantly made to believe she was worthless and no person could ever love her. Person B grew up in a stable home where she was taught she can be anything she wants and she's full of worth and beauty. Let's assume the circumstance of infidelity are exactly the same- that guy/girl C purposefully seeks out an alternate partner for sexual reasons that are not in any way virtuous, accidental, or anything less than detestable. Miss A is going to be devastated.. everything she was told is confirmed.. she wasn't pretty enough, thin enough, smart enough, or just enough of anything. This ties directly into her psychological makeup and experiences. Miss B reacts with anger at the abuser and realizes she doesn't deserve to be treated that way, immediately leaves and moves on with her life, being glad to be rid of garbage.

Now, the people mentioned in paragraph 1 would likely see Miss A's reaction as her own fault. Her feelings as her own fault as well as her inability to get past it. This is a bit like saying a rape victim's PTSD is his or her own fault (not the rape itself, but the resulting emotional and psychological damage that resulted). Miss B would be the "I overcame it why can't you?" type of person, not even taking into consideration that everyone will not and cannot react in the same manner as she did.

This is what I mean by the self centered universe.

Apathy is a whole different story and ties in mostly with the monkeysphere mentioned above. People who simply do not have the ability to see others as equal human beings to themselves and those within their monkeyspheres (which may include family, friends, co workers, etc). These people are also very self centered, only really caring about those who directly impact their lives. While we certainly can't personally care about everyone (perhaps about 150 people at most), we can certainly expand our compassion. Many people need to learn to put themselves in another person's shoes which doesn't simply involve "in this situation I know I'd do..." but rather "if I did and saw things the way this person does with all they're experienced and feel then how might I do things?".

My first recommendation if you wish to become a better, more compassion person is to go vegan. Yeah yeah.. I know you are probably rolling your eyes and heaving a big (if internal) sigh. But when you go vegan, even if it's for health or environmental reasons, then you automatically begin gaining compassion. It's far easier to judge people when you're already used to subjugating, torturing and killing others just for pleasure. We know that this is why children who abuse animals are marked with red flags for things like anti social personality disorder (sociopathy), narcissistic personality disorder, and a host of others. Why is it a red flag for kids but not for adults? Well, it really isn't different for adults, we just stop caring because we all do it.

The second thing I suggest is that everyone take at least an introductory course in psychology and sociology. If you are in high school or college this should be simple. If you are not, then visit psychology forums and read as much as you can. Familiarizing yourself with neurology and biology (even if only on a basic level) helps greatly too because both tie in greatly with psychology and sociology.

The third thing that I'll suggest is making friends you would never talk to before. Surround yourself with people who are different from you. The mentally ill, people who have a history of drug use or alcoholism, fat people, thin people, rich people, poor people. You don't have to be best friends, but getting to know people on a personal level you will not only begin to see things from their point of view but, more importantly, you'll begin to see how they all differ and why.

We have to realize that individual people make movements. If everyone decided that what we do doesn't matter, if everyone decided they'd rather live for themselves, then where would we be? What would have become of civil rights movements? Blacks rights, womens rights, gay rights, childrens rights.. one voice can be silenced, it's true, but a million cannot.

Fat Vegan- You're Bad for Business

How hard is it to find a fat vegan? Not as hard as you may think. Though there's never been a study done on the weight of adult vegans, adult vegetarians are only 10 to 20 pounds lighter than their meat eating counterparts. For many people that's enough to get a slight pudge down to a slim belly, but what does that mean for the obese vegan? If you are 100 lbs overweight and going vegan makes you lose 20lbs- guess what? You're still 80lbs overweight. You're still a fat vegan. And, apparently, you're bad for business.

According to Dr. McDougall, " Fat vegans, however, have failed one important animal: themselves. Furthermore, their audiences of meat-eaters and animal-abusers may be so distracted by their appearance that they cannot hear the vital issues of animal rights and the environment; resulting in an unacknowledged setback for a fat vegan’s hard work for change." So sorry fat vegans- apparently everyone's too busy looking at your belly for anything you say to be valid. 

Now, McDougall isn't all wrong- it's true that there exist many bigotries concerning fat people all over the world. - most of them simply untrue, but people will judge you based on how you look. Let's also be clear that those people, the ones who only care about the most superficial topics, aren't likely to go vegan anyway- especially since they're likely already thin. 

I went vegan for the animals- not my waistline. I eat well, I exercise, but I'll be damned if I'll let someone tell me that I'm too unattractive to be vegan- or that I'm so unattractive that I put others off of going vegan. I know dozens of vegans and every single one of them looks about the same as they did before going veg. 10 or 20 lbs makes little difference if someone's natural body shape is bigger. 

The bottom line is that I shouldn't have to torment myself to be thin just because someone else doesn't like how I look. These types of sentiments- encouraging vegans to obsess over their waistlines and the number on the scale isn't a healthy out look for anyone. Yes, we should try to be healthy, but not everyone even cares so why make them? It's their body, let them be. And for those who do- they're already trying to lose weight and eat as healthfully as possible, so why barrage them with messages that they're not good enough? 

I planned on making this a much longer blog post with  much more scathing and relevant comments, but considering i'm bipolar and borderline suicidally depressed at the moment, I'm going to go eat some fucking cookies- and if you think that makes me bad for your image then screw you.

Steps to better health. Part 1

Obesity is an epidemic in America today. Studies show that 70% of children 10 years old have a 33% blockage in their arteries. That's a percentage used to not be seen until adulthood. Diabetes is no longer classified as adult onset since it's more and more common in children. What can we do about this? What can I, as a parent, do about this?

For starters, I and my son are vegetarians. Is that healthy? Is that safe? Yes. We get all of our protein, all of our vitamins and minerals.. ALL of our daily nutritional needs without eating dead flesh. Many people say, but people are meant to eat meat! We're naturally omnivores. To these people I say you are only partly right. In the early days of man, gathering was much more common than hunting. During most of the year a vegetarian diet sufficed with people only relying on meat during the winter months. Some recent studies show that early man may very likely have hunted very little on their own, mostly scavaging and even then they would cut the flesh from the bone and discard it, favoring instead the nutrition filled marrow in the bones. Even assuming that this is wrong and man did actually kill most of his own food during the winter months (and we know they did at least some of the time) the human digestive system never evolved to be able to handle this type of protein. Meat is one of the hardest foods for our bodies to digest. It sicks in our digestive tracts for up to eight hours. If you know anything about digestion, you know that this is a horribly long time. Is there any good reason NOT to be a vegetarian? If you have one, please, i would love to hear it.

I've also heard people say that they've never heard of a vegetarian doing anything great. Here's a short list of great vegetarins:
Einstein
Van Gogh
Da Vinci
Pythagoras
Hans Christin Anderson
Susan B Anthony
Buddha
Elvis
Charles Darwin
Ganhdhi
Whoopie Goldburg
Sarah McLachlan
Plato
Jesus- may or may not have been vegetarian. there's much debate on this subject and it's hard to know for sure since so much of the bible is either altered or later added parables., however, some other books such as the dead sea scrolls contain passages where jesus supposedly preaches about a vegetarian diet. (http://www.essene.com/GospelOfPeace/index.html)
Just to name a few

Mind, being a vegetarian means eating properly in order to get all of the nutrients you need. (note: eating meat does NOT mean you're getting all of your nutrients) so do your research.

The health benefits of a vegetarian diet is vast and many. Vegetarians all have lower risk of obesity, hert disease, kidney disease, mental degenerative diseases, cancer and stroke.