Most Meat Eaters Are Good People
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Most meat eaters are good people. There, I said it. Meat eaters are compassionate, caring people just like you and me. They love their families, friends and companion animals. Most of them even love farmed animals and are delighted to play with chickens or pigs or turkeys when they have the chance. Most meat eaters love animals. It’s true. It’s also the main reason I am so persistent in my animal advocacy efforts – because I know that people who eat meat are good people who wouldn’t want to support needless cruelty to animals any more than I did when I was a meat eater.
I know that I may have gone about my animal advocacy the wrong way at times and I may have even given meat eaters the impression that I think they are immoral or even “evil.” But when I look at people who eat meat, I don’t see evil. I see myself. I see someone who would want to know what I know. More importantly, I see someone who deserves to know what I know.
I admit that I have made my fair share of mistakes. And we all know I am far from perfect. I grew up eating animals, loving the taste of meat and even making fun of vegans for being “squeamish” or for not understanding “the food chain.” Contrary to the common idea that we vegans refuse to “consider the other side,” most of us lived the other side for a good portion of our lives. Yet, somehow, it is often difficult for us to remember what it was like to be a meat eater. We sometimes forget how we felt when others accused us, directly or implicitly, of being cruel for eating meat.
It is important to remember that most of us, meat eaters and vegans alike, consider ourselves to be good people. And we are good people, most of the time. The problem with many vegans is that we forget this simple truth and we sometimes treat meat eaters as the enemy rather than as potential allies. And a problem with many meat eaters is that they often spend too much time trying to rationalize their behaviors or defend themselves against the perceived attacks of vegans rather than hearing what we are actually saying.
For me, and I assume for many vegans, it can be difficult not to become frustrated when meat eaters fail to “get it.” Similarly, it is difficult for many meat eaters not to become defensive when we vegans say that eating meat supports needless cruelty. So, in the interest of helping meat eaters “get it” and also in helping vegans to understand that meat eaters aren’t evil, please consider the following:
Let’s start by making sure we are all on the same page. I’ll assume that most people reading this blog are opposed to blatant cruelty to animals. We would never stand by and let our neighbors kick their dog or set their cat on fire. We simply don’t tolerate needless cruelty to animals.
Most people reading this will probably also agree that crush videos are blatantly and needlessly cruel. One might even describe them as “evil”. For those who don’t know about crush videos, I am talking about violent animal porn. Yes, there is such a thing. For momentary sexual gratification, some people will pay to watch small animals crushed to death by women in high heels. Here is a brief description of a typical scene from a crush video. If you are squeamish, feel free to skip past the following paragraph.
“A kitten, secured to the ground, watches and shrieks in pain as a woman thrusts her high-heeled shoe into his body, slams her heel into the kitten’s eye socket and mouth loudly fracturing his skull, and stomps repeatedly on the animal’s head. The kitten hemorrhages blood, screams blindly in pain, and is ultimately left dead in a moist pile of blood-soaked hair and bone.”
Of course, meat eaters and vegans alike can agree that what was just described is blatantly and needlessly cruel and the people who would pay for this type of thing could be called “evil”. But… is there really much difference between someone who would pay to have an animal hurt and killed for their own momentary sexual gratification and someone who pays to have animals hurt and killed for their own momentary gustatory pleasure?
The answer to that question is an emphatic YES. There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between someone who would pay for a crush video and someone who eats animals because they like the taste of meat. People who eat meat do not intend for animals to be tortured to death. They don’t want animals to suffer. They just like eating meat. And there is nothing wrong with that, in and of itself.
Most people who like the taste of meat are simply disconnected, physically, emotionally and mentally, from the animals who suffer and die for their momentary pleasures. If the suffering of animals is brought up, it is usually quickly dismissed or joked about. Our culturally and biologically engrained defense mechanisms kick in. If we laugh about it, it’s not so serious. If we mock the messenger, we don’t have to take him/her seriously. If we don’t think about it too deeply, well then, we don’t have to think about it too deeply.
In the end, when we eat animals, our uncomfortable thoughts about how they may have needlessly suffered are pushed out of mind. In most cases, whether willfully ignorant or not, most people simply do not understand that animals on modern farms suffer at least as much, if not much more, than animals used in crush videos – and for similarly trivial reasons. Unlike many vegans, meat eaters simply do not consider the idea that they are supporting crush-video-level cruelty to animals every time they sit down to eat meat, dairy or eggs – all for the sake of their taste buds.
If you don’t believe me that animals on modern farms suffer more than animals used in crush videos, please take a moment to compare the description of a crush video above with the fate of more than 27 billion animals a year in the United States alone. http://www.meat.org/ Warning. If you are squeamish, please watch this beautiful and non-graphic video instead. http://www.nonviolenceunited.org/veganvideo.html But please consider this: if you can’t bare to watch how animals are raised and killed for food, can you justify paying for it?
So the question is this: how can a person who considers himself or herself to be a good person (a person who would never condone needless cruelty) be confronted with the notion that they are supporting crush-video-level cruelty to animals 3 times a day and not become instantly defensive? Of course they are defensive. I was defensive too the first time I considered this idea. Had it not been my newly vegan wife who exposed me to this reality, I may still be a defensive meat eater today. But because I knew Tammy thought I was a good person, I didn’t become defensive. I listened. And I allowed myself to consider the facts beyond what would help me to justify my own behaviors.
Sure, I went through the litany of questions about “humane” meat and local farms.
“There just has to be some way I can continue eating meat without supporting cruelty to animals” I thought!
But ultimately, it was Tammy’s patience and the fact that she treated me like I was a good person that helped me to “get it.”
She said, “Look into (our dog) Tessa’s eyes. You know you would do anything to keep people from hurting or killing Tessa, yet you are willing to pay people to hurt and kill other animals, who are really no different from Tessa, just so you can keep eating meat?”
When I really stopped thinking about myself, or about those self-righteous vegans, or about the dozens of excuses I could come up with to continue eating meat – when I really stopped and thought about the animals – I got it. And others will “get it” too, if we just give them the benefit of the doubt and have some patience.
In closing, my point is this… as far as the animals who suffer and die are concerned, there may be no difference between someone who pays to have them tortured and killed for momentary sexual gratification and someone who pays to have them tortured and killed for momentary gustatory satisfaction. Either way, the animals suffer extreme cruelty and die needlessly to satisfy desires for fleeting pleasures. But I know there is a big difference between crush video viewers and meat eaters. And as long as I know that difference I can continue to hold out hope for a more compassionate world – if only we vegans can just start treating meat eaters as potential allies instead of as enemies.
Thanks for reading.
P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider going vegan (or mostly vegan) for a month and see how you like it. http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-substitutes.asp It’s easy, it’s healthy, it’s the good thing to do.
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The Author: Matt Rice
This article was originally published with the title: “In Defense of Meat Eaters.”
Superb blog. So true.
Clearly it is possible for meat-eaters to be good in some ways, but I think their choice to eat meat is a very evil one, and, if (vegetarian) food is available to them yet they persist in eating meat well into adulthood, I believe this leaves a big blot on their character. (Of course, I cannot fault children or very young adults for eating meat, as they frequently have little choice in what they eat, and, in the case of young adults, are still very susceptible to peer pressure.)
Excellent essay. I think many vegetarians and vegans seem to forget that unless they were born and raised veg, they were once meat-eaters too. Does that mean they were evil and somehow became redeemed? No. It means that somewhere along the way, they were educated in a way that “took” and led them to change.
I have often written in my blog about how I was an “animal lover” but I was in denial about what happened to animals because, quite honestly, I did not want to give up my food. Eventually, I found that compassion needed to be more than what I said; it needed action and my life needed changing.
I’ve heard people say vegans should not even socialize with meat-eaters (or with vegetarians). What is the point of this? How can we ever hope to educate anyone if we ostricize them and declare them the enemy? If we call meat-eaters “evil,” then I guess most of us were evil too at some point.
Compassion for animals must go along with compassion for humans and for ourselves. Compassion must be taught with kindness so that we can one day live in a fully compassionate world. Pointing fingers and calling people “evil” is not the way of Ahimsa and will only further divide people and turn them away from veganism.
.-= Rhea Parsons´s last blog ..Restaurant Review- Gobo UES Part 2 – Brunch =-.
I liked the post, too.
That said, I belive that animal rights are self-evident and I don’t think people necessarily need to have their rose-colored glasses removed in order to come to the conclusion that veganism is the moral baseline for anyone who wants to truly acknowledge and accept the concept of “rights” in other areas. But I agree that most “meat-eaters are good people.”
I am slightly unusual since I basically grew up vegetarian. At age 6 I realized where meat came from and so I stopped eating animals. It was simple: I don’t eat my friends. So, personally, I have little true understanding or sympathy for adult animal-eaters. And sometimes it’s hard for me to conceal my hatred of their acts, though I’m very capable of doing that “hate the sin but love the sinner” type of thing. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who eat animals.
Regarding Rhea’s comment: I do not think that we should condemn certain methods of activism until or unless they are truly proven to be ineffective or counterproductive. A lot of people throw around the idea that certain forms of activism are “divisive and counterproductive,” but I have yet to see any real proof of that.
I think what we really need are more courageous people to stand up and say something – anything – on behalf of animals. Those people will make mistakes and at times they may actually be counterproductive. But those mistakes are part of the learning process and we should just accept that in ourselves and each other.
In my experience the reproachful preaching method never helps with getting the vegan message spread. Of course, sometimes it takes tons of tolerance and many deep yogic breaths to continue smiling, while the meat eaters in my presence rant on about the flavor and the “justness” of their food chioces.
I then remind myself of the belief system called “carnism” in such situation, which is so well explained by Melanie Joy in her book “Why we love dogs, eat pigs, and wear cows”. She makes the very plausible point that using certain animals for food and others as companions is a learned behavior, and deeply ingrained in this invisible ideology of carnism.
As such, many people may sharpen the kitchen knife in anger over the attackers of the kitten in the crush movie – while they would use that same knife to slice their beef steak during dinner time.
The beautiful thing is that learned behavior can be “un-learned”, especially as using animals is in no way essential for human life – some just don’t know it yet.
So, I agree with Matt about the educative and evidential approach, spiced up with some sad shockers about realistic every-day animal cruelty, which serves nothing but non-essential carnistic needs.
With regards to the perverts that support crush videos, I have some other ideas that are not G-rated enough for this family friendly blog, but we must set our sight on the vast majority of humans that are inherently good people. It’s an epic workload for sure, but sooner or later they will have to get it!
This was a very intriguing article. I do feel that vegans and vegetarians alike do have a point in the idea that humane meat is almost a contridiction in terms, however I believe that in order to help convert the masses to vegan/vegetarianism there needs to be more emphasis on compassion and education. I feel that many of PETA’s tactics are often extreme and looking for an overnight fix.
I am also curious about how being a vegetarian is shown through other areas in ones life. Such as, if you own pets, what do you feed them? I ask not as an attack, but because I am genuinely interested. If I choose to give up meat completely for the concern of animal welfare I want to make sure that I am giving it up completely. No leather, no animal cat food, etc. Is there such a product as no-meat cat food? Currently, I believe in eating humane meat. I also choose to feed it to my cat as well.
Just curious.
Alyssa,
Why do you feel like you must eat the same food as your cat? You are different species and have different nutritional requirements.
Vegan cat food does exist. But I don’t think anyone needs to feed their cats a vegan diet in order to eliminate animal products from their own diet. I think that’s an odd conception of ethical consistency.
It’s a very odd idea that you’re suggesting: treating some animals like pets, killing them, calling that “humane meat,” and eating that meat because the other animals you treat like pets (but don’t kill) need to eat some meat.
This link might answer your questions about vegans who feed cats and dogs: http://www.vegansoapbox.com/vegan-cats-dogs/
I’ve read this essay several times – in fact I reread it when I find myself getting frustrated in my conversations with meat eaters who insist that they “would never condone cruelty to animals”. When I’m about to get irritated and abrupt in my response I remind myself to come back here and read this essay again. It really helps me to put things in persepctive and remember that meat eaters are all potential vegetarians, who will be far more open to converting if they are treated with respect and understanding.
Your article was beautifully written. I was wondering if I may have your permission to repost it on my facebook page? Please let me know via email ginger02son@gmail.com
Thanks!
You know, most Nazis and KKK and Al Qaeda are good people. There, I said it. Nazis and KKK are compassionate, caring people just like you and me. They love their families, friends and companion animals.
They go to church, they do social work, they help their fellow people out.
Sure, they may like to stuff little chickens a thousand to a cage and cut their beaks off and scald them alive, but they are all decent people.