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Why Meatless
Feb. 4th, 2008 08:32 pm
Since Ash Wednesday is fast approaching, I thought I would take a moment to discuss my move towards vegetarianism, and why I went meatless the first time.
There's been a long-standing, deeply ingrained sense of revulsion for most predatorial things in me. I don't enjoy watching antelopes get taken down on nature shows. I don't like seeing hunters take down deer and bear for sport or meat. I can't appreciate the grace or speed or power of big cats and wolves and alligators as they fulfill their evolutionary duty of culling the herd of the weak, slow or feeble. I recognize it as a necessary part of the natural cycle, definitely. And I appreciate the efficiency of the way that cycle works, but it's not something I take pleasure in.
I've had this cognitive dissonance in place for the longest time when eating meat. The more processed it was, the better I liked it. I love beef more when it's been ground out of recognition, and chicken is favored when it's in nugget, strip, or patty form. There have been time where I've been unable to finish a chicken leg because I've pulled back the skin and clearly saw how the muscle lays on the bone. When you see a chicken or turkey cooked whole, rotisserie-style, there's no mistaking what it was, and what's what. You know where the legs and breast and neck and wings and everything is, you see how it's put together. When this happens for me I feel slightly disgusted, a little ashamed.
For a long time I've tried to put these knee-jerk feelings into some kind of logical argument, so that when someone asked me I could go, "Oh, reason a" instead of "Eating meat just makes me feel like a giant jerk." At the heart of any argument, though, is this fact, so I have to put it up front.
The logical argument I came up with, though, was this. If I couldn't see myself going out and hunting an animal, then I had no business eating it. And to be completely honest, there's no way in hell I could go out and kill an animal for its meat. Absolutely no way. There might come a time where I'm hungry enough, or I need clothing, or some other post-apocalyptic scenario, but right now I can afford to be vegetarian, so I might as well while I can.
The last thing I want to do is pass judgment on people who eat meat. I find folks who constantly wheedle and promote their enlightened ideals to be some of the most hypocritical, awful people out there. I won't piss on your steak as long as you don't give me shit for my salad, OK?
One of the things I'm already getting bristly about is the carnivorous attitude of some people; the folks who say "If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat." are the bane of my existence. They're the ones who constantly questioned and harassed me about it the first time, trying to find chinks in my reasoning and bring me back to the side of the glorious omnivore. I'm sure that meat eating works for these people, and there are no qualms for them about it, and good for them! I wish them well. But just because I don't want to discuss the finer points of it doesn't mean I'm insecure in my practice. It just means that I find evangelism of any sort annoying and boring.
Now, that being said, if people have questions about it, feel free to ask them. I really don't mind being open about it, and I'm curious about whether or not I can actually stick to my guns on this. I could easily see myself going back to chicken nuggets sometime soon, but I'm hoping that talking about this and really diving into my motivation will help me decide one way or the other with no more issues.
There's been a long-standing, deeply ingrained sense of revulsion for most predatorial things in me. I don't enjoy watching antelopes get taken down on nature shows. I don't like seeing hunters take down deer and bear for sport or meat. I can't appreciate the grace or speed or power of big cats and wolves and alligators as they fulfill their evolutionary duty of culling the herd of the weak, slow or feeble. I recognize it as a necessary part of the natural cycle, definitely. And I appreciate the efficiency of the way that cycle works, but it's not something I take pleasure in.
I've had this cognitive dissonance in place for the longest time when eating meat. The more processed it was, the better I liked it. I love beef more when it's been ground out of recognition, and chicken is favored when it's in nugget, strip, or patty form. There have been time where I've been unable to finish a chicken leg because I've pulled back the skin and clearly saw how the muscle lays on the bone. When you see a chicken or turkey cooked whole, rotisserie-style, there's no mistaking what it was, and what's what. You know where the legs and breast and neck and wings and everything is, you see how it's put together. When this happens for me I feel slightly disgusted, a little ashamed.
For a long time I've tried to put these knee-jerk feelings into some kind of logical argument, so that when someone asked me I could go, "Oh, reason a" instead of "Eating meat just makes me feel like a giant jerk." At the heart of any argument, though, is this fact, so I have to put it up front.
The logical argument I came up with, though, was this. If I couldn't see myself going out and hunting an animal, then I had no business eating it. And to be completely honest, there's no way in hell I could go out and kill an animal for its meat. Absolutely no way. There might come a time where I'm hungry enough, or I need clothing, or some other post-apocalyptic scenario, but right now I can afford to be vegetarian, so I might as well while I can.
The last thing I want to do is pass judgment on people who eat meat. I find folks who constantly wheedle and promote their enlightened ideals to be some of the most hypocritical, awful people out there. I won't piss on your steak as long as you don't give me shit for my salad, OK?
One of the things I'm already getting bristly about is the carnivorous attitude of some people; the folks who say "If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat." are the bane of my existence. They're the ones who constantly questioned and harassed me about it the first time, trying to find chinks in my reasoning and bring me back to the side of the glorious omnivore. I'm sure that meat eating works for these people, and there are no qualms for them about it, and good for them! I wish them well. But just because I don't want to discuss the finer points of it doesn't mean I'm insecure in my practice. It just means that I find evangelism of any sort annoying and boring.
Now, that being said, if people have questions about it, feel free to ask them. I really don't mind being open about it, and I'm curious about whether or not I can actually stick to my guns on this. I could easily see myself going back to chicken nuggets sometime soon, but I'm hoping that talking about this and really diving into my motivation will help me decide one way or the other with no more issues.
