Thought on Vegetarianism

Note: If you are completely set on eating meat or are stubbornly argumentative in the face of sound reasoning, you’d be best to return to whatever it was you were looking at beforehand.

Over the course of two years, I have experienced discrimination for my dietary choices. This discrimination isn’t in the popularly conceived sense of being confined to certain water fountains or sections of the bus, but it does exist. Occasionally it’s a light-hearted jab, which I can find some humour in; but other times it’s not. Like the old condescending, “… oh, that’s right, you don’t eat meat,” as if to imply that it’s me who’s out of his senses.

It is quite rare for me to go out of my way to push my choice to minimize animal consumption on others. In fact, even the light-hearted jab isn’t something I do to anyone that I don’t know well. I don’t question anybody else’s decision to buy the food that they want, but if I’m pressed upon it, then yes, I will give my firm opinion on the subject. And to prevent any of said pressing, my opinion is that people who eat meat haven’t given it enough thought.

(For the sake of fair argument, I will remove moral ethics from my point completely.)

Consider the meat industry. Their chief responsibility is to make money. In many factory farms, the animals are given regular injections of various chemicals to increase their growth. These chemicals continue along through the food chain both by direct and indirect consumption, meaning that in some capacity, you are ingesting the same chemicals. They affect all physiological aspects of your health.

Consider the pharmaceutical industry, which supplies the meat industry with the chemicals. Their chief responsibility is also to make money, and the best way to do this is to keep manufacturing costs low, which includes health standards. These chemicals are, of course, unnecessary, because animals will grow so long as they eat and exercise; however, the main goal of these industries, as with all industries, is to make money.

Consider the environment, this place that we live. The process of farming animals is an incredible source of unnecessary waste. This includes direct biological waste as well as the emissions from the transportation of the animals and products. And while it’s true that fruits and vegetables are also transported, this counter-argument is meaningless since the process of harvesting animals requires seven times as much food.

Consider global economics. The majority of the world’s population is starving when there is enough food on the planet to feed everyone. The problem is, as mentioned previously, most of this food is being used to feed the animals that are subsequently consumed by humans. For the sake of comparison, one acre of land could produce 20,000 kg of potatoes or 110 kg of beef.

Consider local economics. Our country currently spends between $60 billion to $120 billion annually to treat medical problems – such as heart disease, cancer, obesity, and food poisoning – that are by-products of consuming animals.

When I decided to minimize my meat consumption years ago, I did so with all of these things in mind. I thought about all of these points very carefully before I made my personal choice. So when I say I believe that people who eat meat haven’t thought about it enough, I don’t say it to make anyone else feel inferior or myself superior. I say it to highlight the fact that this sort of decision is not as simple as is often implied. I was asked once if it was because I didn’t want to kill animals. The answer is no, I have killed animals in my life. Most people that eat meat can’t even say this much.

I am not out of my senses because of what I choose to eat; I am in more sense than most. The reason people choose to eat meat is not for any logical reason, it’s simply one of those things in life that we’ve come to accept. And believe me, I accept that. I understand that people have their own personal tastes and beliefs. They have the right to that, and I don’t dispute that, and I certainly won’t ridicule someone for it. And for this same reason, I also don’t think that my tastes and beliefs should be blindly ridiculed. I’ve thought about it. Have you?