Don’t consider the feelings of animals if you want to enjoy your meaty- food

1133:

Why are people so hostile towards the idea of respecting animals?  Perhaps because it means losing the animals-content in our diet, and that’s down to the pleasures we associate with certain delicious dishes.  We rich Western people do love our rich foods.

In comparison, a vegan food regime looks as dry as dust.  To some it must seem close to a living death, in which case it follows that there’s an understandable hostility towards Animal Rights.  “Damn these vegans, who want to close down abattoirs and animal farms, leaving everyone without their food pleasures”.

Our global omnivorous society wants to protect its animal food supply chain.  We have a massive industry, employing millions of people and supporting billions of customers.  Almost every single person on the planet is attracted to at least some of their produce.  Taste-wise it works.  Perception-wise animal foods are still considered good for health - “Meat makes us strong”. Importantly, we’ve been taught that our human strengths keep us in the dominant position, in Nature’s hierarchy.  

We use animals: they don’t use us.  And this nod to self preservation and comfort is reinforced at mealtimes, in every corner of the world, confirming a sense of food-normality, which in itself protects us from feeling guilty about the way we are using animals.  We believe that animal-foods are natural and eating them is normal, and that there’s no need to talk about it any further.

         

The subject of farm-animal protection is tabooed, for obvious reasons.  If you want to eat animals you can’t at the same time want to protect them.  Obviously the guaranteeing of food supplies is important, and therefore there’s no need to throw too much light on farming practices.  Nor is there any need to point out the unhealthy consequences of eating animal protein.  Even doctors have a vested interest in nutritional misinformation, otherwise they’d be having to prescribe plant-based diets to their sick patients.

But with the advent of the Internet where information can’t be censored, almost everyone can break through the misinformation barriers and decide for themselves how best to eat.  Today, in spite of many obstacles, things are changing, and that ties in neatly with a trend towards peace, empathy and compassion.

These days ‘eating normally’ is dangerous, since our hospitals have never had so many patients with food-related illnesses.  Those who have bothered to inform themselves about the poisonous effects of normal food, are saying to themselves, “Avoid the normal and trust your instincts”.