I’ve been obsessed with the idea of vegetarianism for a few years now. When I say “the idea” I really mean that, as the decision to not eat meat is not something I have been thinking too much about. I have been thinking about how intellectually obvious the decision is.
I recently read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer in my search for a clear discussion of the topic and it certainly delivered. I don’t remember every point that Foer makes verbatim but my version looks like this.
- Farm animals are capable of experiencing cruelty.
- Factory farms administer great cruelty to animals.
- The only practical way to eat meat is to directly support factory farms.
- Our physiology does not require us to eat meat to be healthy.
I don’t think that any of these points have room for debate today.
To put it simply, we eat meat because it tastes good. But unlike an argument advocating for a long-term benefit to health, this reason applies to something short-lived. Think about sitting at a table and enjoying a steak to celebrate a milestone or forcing yourself to eat some turkey on Thanksgiving. How many total seconds are you actually enjoying the taste of meat? I think it would add up to a few minutes at best.
In other words, we look past prolonged cruelty to animals just so we can feel a little bit of pleasure.
We don’t do this because we have to. We do this because we can. Which is to say, we can stop doing it.