Megan McArdle on Veganism
Posted on August 1, 2008 - Filed Under Animals, Life-In-General |
One of the Atlantic blogging team explains why she blogs about her vegan diet from time to time, and how being a vegan or a vegetarian does not automatically mean that you hate meat-eaters:
Is it possible to be a vegan without judging other people? It had better be, because I just don’t have time to pass judgment on the overwhelming majority of people in the world who eat animal products. Obviously, having decided that it’s morally wrong to eat animal products, I can’t exactly say that I think it’s perfectly okay for other people to do so. On the other hand, I recognize that the universe is a complicated place, and my moral judgements are imperfect.
Or maybe a better way to say it is that there are moral judgements, and then there are moral judgements. I wish more people would stop eating meat, but I also think it is possible to be a perfectly good, moral human being and still eat meat, in a way that I don’t think it is possible to be a good moral human being and still rape twelve-year olds. I have judged the behavior and found it wanting, but I do not judge, in any way, the people who indulge in it. I think there’s something wrong with eating meat, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with meat-eaters.
Elsewhere in the post McAdle remarks that:
Like most vegetarians, I suspect that my angriest critics are those who, like me, feel that eating meat is wrong–and therefore want me to do it too, so that they don’t have to think about their own choices.
I entirely agree. It seems to me that it’s usually people who I have a lot in common with (yes, they do exist) that get most agitated about my decision not to eat meat, in large measure, I think, because they’re not much happier about killing animals to eat them than I am, but don’t want to stop eating meat because it tastes nice.
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2 Responses to “Megan McArdle on Veganism”
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Hmm, I come down on the side of Hugh thingymajig (River cottage chap). I have no problem eating meat, but I do think it is necessary to respect and acknowledge the animals we eat. Grabbing a chop in the supermarket and cooking it up completely removes the animal from our minds (how did it live? in what conditions? what did it eat?), which I don’t believe is right. I’ve been right there skinning and gutting rabits, not nice (esp. given that they are gamne and so had hung for a couple of days), but you gain an appreciation for what happens to your food before it gets to your plate.
i appreciate the meat, but really dont care too much about killing the animals. I take issue with you because i think its stupid. Nothing else. I dont secretly dislike killing animals. I dont give a goddamn as long as they werent tortured to death.