Animals and the people who eat them

Ok, get ready. I am so tired of seeing part-time animal rights activists. This Japanese dolphin shit is about to wear me out. You either care about animal rights or you don't, it is very simple. This post might be too much to handle, if you are not fully in tune with the realities of the meat that you so dearly love, please do not continue reading.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to go vegan or vegetarian, I'm making a point that you are a hypocrite if you are upset about animals being killed and eaten in another country when you consume animals here at home. I have no problem with people who can be strong in their conviction about eating meat. I do have a problem with people posting articles about faraway animal abuse when they are ignorant towards the animal abuse they cause by eating factory-farmed meat. 

The arguments I typically hear:

"God intended us to eat animals." Uhhh so God envisioned factory farming and horrendous slaughters of His creations? God wants some factory worker who doesn't care about animals suffering or humane conditions to have control over killing (or half-killing, some animals are alive while being skinned and chopped up) your food? Also, please don't try and lecture me on "God's Intent" as 98% of Christians in America completely ignore 3/4 to 4/5 of the Bible's very clear rules about living. 

"We shouldn't kill the more intelligent animals." Are you serious? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life. So now we get to decide which animals are smart enough to live or dumb enough to die. Who the hell left you as the arbitor of intelligence amongst the animal kingdom? Pigs exhibit an intelligence level equal to chimps. 

"We birth and raise domesticated animals for the sole purpose of eating them, so it's ok". Perfect! Since we are using the logic model that "intention negates result", why don't we birth children to be slaves? What if you have a child for the sole purpose of torturing and raping it? Talk about a slippery-slope. Do you really think this makes it ok?

"We are the top of the food chain." This is a *facepalm* moment. First, when was the last time YOU actually killed the animal that YOU ate? Second, let's look at the range of predatory carnivores in nature, do you really think that you could fight a tiger one-on-one and win? No unnatural weapons, just the body that nature gave you. Try biting a lion and see how well that goes. I recognize that intellect and opposable thumbs (which allow for the use of tools) are what makes us superior, but imagine you didn't have access to any of those tools or weapons. Are you still at the top of the food chain?

Point being, we live in a modern age. It truly isn't necessary to eat animals in order to have a complete life. When I was growing up in the country, we had all sorts of animals at our house and around us. Goats, dogs, cats, birds, cows, chickens, etc. I grew up loving animals and believing that they were ALIVE just like I was alive. When I discovered that we ate them, I was horrified. It broke my soul. I stopped eating meat as a teen, this year marks 20 years since I have consumed meat. It was the single most unregrettable decision I have ever made. I have no guilt about violence towards animals, I don't carry the weight of the dead on my shoulders. A lot of people can't understand how I could possibly stop eating meat and I honestly don't know how meat-eaters can sleep at night. 

Look, do what you want. I don't judge you for making your own choices, even when I don't agree with them. What I do judge is someone who is publicly indignant about violence towards animals in other countries while they are chowing down on a double bacon cheeseburger. Every time there is some animal atrocity in the news, my Facebook feed is flooded with people linking articles and expressing anger at the horror. What sort of fool does that? Because you have normalized the violence perpetrated on domestic animals, you really don't see that they have a life worth saving? But put a dolphin from Asia or a camel from the Middle East in the news and you are suddenly an animal rights advocate?

Please be smart about the causes you decide to support publicly, otherwise you will look like an uninformed nitwit. :)