This blog doesn't see many serious posts, but then again, I take my humour seriously as well. I don't know how successful I'll be, but I've been wanting to write about belief systems, and mine in particular, as they are the irrational underpinnings to even the most rational person, and it's important to acknowledge them. This is the first of (hopefully) more to come:
While I still believe that "Life feeds on Life", and it is in the natural order of things for humans to be omnivorous, I find it hard to accept the cruel and inhuman (irony) ways in which animals are treated before they become meat.
With this mindset, I began quitting meat as a first step to do what I thought was ethical. Since June 2014, every three months, I quit one animal's meat; as of March 1, I do not eat chicken, pork and beef. By June 2015 I will stop eating mutton and lamb, following which I will be a piscetarian (seafood eater). While I may be uninformed, I believe the fish I eat lives a free and unhindered life in the sea/river right until its capture and death, which is the most you can hope for if you're going to be eaten. With a Coorg cultural background of intense non-vegetarianism, I felt three months per meat was a reasonable time to reconcile with this major change in my diet (also, a nice round figure of one year to achieve my aims).
I don't believe my attempt is the most ethical or absolute, but it's part of a sincere attempt to minimise the distance between what I know to be right and what I am doing about it. Since the underlying rationale in this change of diet was the opposition to the cruelty and lack of dignity of animals before their death, an interesting corollary is that I would still eat the meat of animal that I knew was not mistreated in its lifetime, meaning I am not becoming vegetarian. Of course, the more I know an animal in its lifetime, the less inclined I am to eat it (I don't know if the same goes for most people). The ethical questions of the egg and dairy industry remain (among others), but those'll be answered sooner or later ("Sooner!" cried Cow, until she was turned into a pair of shoes).
While this post is no attempt to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude, it is part of a larger realisation that it isn't enough to evolve and experiment with a rational and moral code for myself without letting everyone else also in on it as a viable alternative. While there may be a selfish motive behind it of creating a world I find more comfortable living in, I hope that in this case, most people would agree that a world with less cruelty and more respect for other species (and our own) would be more comfortable for everyone to live in.
While I still believe that "Life feeds on Life", and it is in the natural order of things for humans to be omnivorous, I find it hard to accept the cruel and inhuman (irony) ways in which animals are treated before they become meat.
With this mindset, I began quitting meat as a first step to do what I thought was ethical. Since June 2014, every three months, I quit one animal's meat; as of March 1, I do not eat chicken, pork and beef. By June 2015 I will stop eating mutton and lamb, following which I will be a piscetarian (seafood eater). While I may be uninformed, I believe the fish I eat lives a free and unhindered life in the sea/river right until its capture and death, which is the most you can hope for if you're going to be eaten. With a Coorg cultural background of intense non-vegetarianism, I felt three months per meat was a reasonable time to reconcile with this major change in my diet (also, a nice round figure of one year to achieve my aims).
I don't believe my attempt is the most ethical or absolute, but it's part of a sincere attempt to minimise the distance between what I know to be right and what I am doing about it. Since the underlying rationale in this change of diet was the opposition to the cruelty and lack of dignity of animals before their death, an interesting corollary is that I would still eat the meat of animal that I knew was not mistreated in its lifetime, meaning I am not becoming vegetarian. Of course, the more I know an animal in its lifetime, the less inclined I am to eat it (I don't know if the same goes for most people). The ethical questions of the egg and dairy industry remain (among others), but those'll be answered sooner or later ("Sooner!" cried Cow, until she was turned into a pair of shoes).
While this post is no attempt to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude, it is part of a larger realisation that it isn't enough to evolve and experiment with a rational and moral code for myself without letting everyone else also in on it as a viable alternative. While there may be a selfish motive behind it of creating a world I find more comfortable living in, I hope that in this case, most people would agree that a world with less cruelty and more respect for other species (and our own) would be more comfortable for everyone to live in.
Would your morality allow you to have a farm full of well fed, well groomed animals and Meat them when they are reasonably comfortable in their daily domesticated existence?
ReplyDeleteActually I imagined a hunter-prey model (as morally better) when I was writing this post, but if you want my spot reaction - yes, I would have felt much better knowing the animals I ate lived healthy comfortable lives. This doesn't mean I'd be fully okay with the fact, but I imagine it would definitely have delayed my change in diet by a decade? Who knows. What you're describing sounds WAY better than the norm, and is in fact, the exact system for what we do to our plants in agriculture - grow them in a field, and when they're healthy and comfortable, mow them down. That's also the reason I don't have a burning desire to jump on the vegetarian bandwagon as well.The lyrics to the Tool song linked from "Life feeds on life" in the post make this point in a dark comic way.
ReplyDeletePisciculture ?
ReplyDeleteResearch in progress, but I think most of my fish still comes from the sea/river... Shellfish may be a greater concern
ReplyDeleteIn case of being a vegetarian, one can have food without any 'cruelty' involved. Grains like wheat and rice are extracted from their plants only when plants have completed their life. All fruits taste best when they are ripe and ripe fruits fall effortlessly from the branches. Leafy vegetables can be included in our 'noble' diets by pruning instead of cutting the whole plant down. And pruning helps the plants to grow even better. And I am sure there are other equally ethical ways to have food. Our code of ethics must include of life.
ReplyDelete^Our code of ethics must include all life.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar train of thought when considering the root of Jain practices of avoiding root vegetables. Rather than shaky reasons of aphrodisiac powers, it seemed to be in keeping with their extreme ahimsa to avoid killing a whole plant by uprooting it. Sadly, no Jain I know confirms this reasoning; for example, even the onion-avoiding ones eat carrots.
DeleteBut the code of ethics you have stated is anyway different from mine - I am not against killing, only unnecessary (subjective) pain. Thus, eating vegetables that do not conform to your principle - raw ones, whole plants, root and shoot vegetables are fine by me. I imagine there is a necessary limitation in our understanding of the pain we are causing other living things - otherwise allegations of crowding plants on a field, or caging them in pots would be new points to consider.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I am quite impressed by the depth of your thought in regards to the matter. :)
Delete