'Hear! Hear!' Interjected George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), 'Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends.'
I have been looking into vegetarianism and whether or not it is a good idea for me to be one anymore, as my health seems to just keep deteriorating because of it and that's never a good thing. I figure though that I would need to be fully comfortable with the fact that the animal I would be eating sacrificed it's life for me, and so I want to make sure that it was given the best life possible and was killed in a way that caused it no distress or suffering. Therefore I want to see it for myself and what it is like for these animals, I feel like I need to, we are so ignorant of the killing itself and completely detatch ourselves from the whole process. After the animal has been killed, cut up and given a new shape and name we no longer see it as an animal. For me, when I see meat, I see the flesh of a dead animal and I find it hard, with raw meat especially, to see it as food. However I feel that if I was able to witness the whole process, from life to death to food, that would be able to make an informed decision for myself and not rely on what others tell me so much. I am about to contact an abattoir after this post and I'm hoping they will let me come and do some photograhpy there.
As well as researching why I should and shouldn't eat meat, I have also been looking into almost everything to do with animals and the abuse and welfare of them. This has led me onto animal ethics and all the ethical dilemmas surrounding animals (including vegetarianism) such as the fur trade, hunting, animal testing, dog and cock fighting, nurse mare foals, industrialised farming etc.
I've been looking at two authors who specialise in animal ethics - Peter Singer, who dramatically increased public concern over the ethical treatment of animals after his book Animal Liberation (1975), and Carol J. Adams, a lesser known feminist-vegetarian ethic who links species oppression and gender oppression.
Did you know Hitler was apparantly a vegetarian? Read it in a book the other day, insane.
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Hi Carey,
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in a couple of posts by Jenny Hood:
http://jennyhood.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-food-fight.html
J
Hey just another quick comment from me. You mentioned above that your health was deteriorating because of vegetarianism. I don't want to sound preachy but being on a vegetarian diet doesn't mean that your body is missing anything. It is a bit more difficult to get protein and Iron but there are many many vegetables and pulses etc that can make up for this from the loss of meat. I recently put my body on a major health detox and I completely eliminated meat (along with A LOT of other things)from my life for a good 4/5 months and although I had to go through a horrible process of getting all the shit out of my body, once I was over the 'detoxification' I was actually in the best health I have ever been in my life. I also went to see the naturopath Jan de Vries who gave me herbal supplements to support my detox which helped a lot. If you would like any more information then come up to the studio and I will happily have a chat with you about it all. I used to work in Lush with lots of vegans too so I have a bit of background knowledge on that too. A lot of people think that they are going to be deficient in so many things when they leave meat behind but if anything I find it makes you more inventive with meals and can actually lead to much better health (if you do it right!). I hope this came across in the right way, I think what you are doing is great.
ReplyDeleteSophi
Heyaaa, yeh I understand where you're coming from and my health would be fine if I was able to maintain a proper vegetarian diet but for some reason for about the past year, whenever I eat savoury foods they makes me feel really sick so I now have to bascially force myself to eat. I'm on anti sickness pills while the doctors try to figure out what's up. I was on iron tablets for anaemia however they made me even more sick haha so i've come off them because I just can't handle it, even with anti sickness pills! Because of my anaemia I also have low blood pressure which causes me to suffer from vasovagal attacks where I black out and I'm tired all the time which is fairly annoying! Basically I have to choose between my health and what I believe in. If I was able to eat properly and could make proper meals for myself I would never consider eating meat again, however it's not always possible for me to do so and so it is something I do now have to think about. Thank you for your advice though, you may find me coming for a wee chat soon!
ReplyDeleteCarey