Letters to the Editor
PaulBC
Published Letters: 242 Editor's Choice: 24
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@lucienrau
[Read the article: Belly of the beast]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, sure, it is worthwhile to be aware of how everything works. Actually, I have a bigger issue with technology, because the mechanisms are now so hidden that we're in danger of treating it all as magic. I sometimes feel that the peak of rational thought was when most of the day's wonders could be understand by examining an exposed gearbox. I have little patience for someone who cannot at least understand, say, that their TV converts images to linear signals that it displays by means of a raster scan, and so on. You don't have to be able to analyze the circuit, just convince yourself at a high level that it is not magic. That's all I ask. But I'm afraid every generation, though immersed in technology, and increasingly skilled in its use, is less likely to really understand it.
This is also why we have second hand knowledge. I cannot work a day in every occupation. I think it is enough (and more than many are willing) just to learn about it. I also think that even that might be unnecessary. So many of us go around in utter ignorance but the world keeps spinning.
Animal slaughter is not entirely equivalent because of the morality we attach to it. The assumption is that somehow if we only experienced what really goes on in animal slaughter, that this would not merely educate us in the process, but enlighten our moral outlook. Is that really true? The claim is generally made by those who have hunted and dressed their own meat, or worked on a farm. If the opportunity comes up, I'll help slaughter a pig or whatever. I mean, it would be hypocritical if I said I wouldn't. I have seen whole pigs hanging in a local Asian supermarket, so it's not like I think bacon comes from little plastic pouches. It's just not something I would claim is essential. Either it is right or wrong to kill an animal for food, and doing it yourself changes nothing about that.
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I'm thinking "Pork Week" is some kind of sociology experiment
[Read the article: Belly of the beast]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I admit I fell for it, just as surely as Groundskeeper Willie fell for "Scotchtoberfest" in that old Simpson's episode. I think I have posted more on this than any Salon topic to date.
The whole idea is ridiculous to begin with, and the articles are clearly headed off the deep end. First we have a silly article about America's love affair with bacon (which is news to me, but OK, maybe I'm out of it). Then we continue with a confessed "self-justifying and over-imaginative fantasy" about cured meat that I originally stopped reading when it was revealed out that the boyfriend was a serial duck killer with the evidence stashed away in the freezer.
Let's see, three more days... living with pigs is next. Naturally, you can't really eat them till you've shared a home with them. Then, well, let's not even go there... I think it has to end with some kind of drawn out New Age reflection in which the author feels that they have become a pig, are one with their pigness, and are not merely justified but sanctified by the consumption of pork.
That's when the hoax will be revealed. I think it may be a tie-in to the "The unbearable whiteness of being." because they clearly did a good job bringing out the the foodie/vegan dichotomy.
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Spurious comparisons
[Read the article: Belly of the beast]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The point that animals get killed inadvertently in agriculture is not a logical rebuttal to vegetarianism. In an imperfect world, you cannot stop anything fully. It is still a worthy goal to minimize what you see as wrong. It's also true that you have to eat to live, and few people have the ability to grow all their own food. Plus the reduced economies of scale would make it a terrible idea anyway. Before eliminating every possible negative consequence of industrial agriculture, you might as well go for the big ones first.
My main problem is that I'm too lazy to be a vegetarian. I never understood what people think is so special about meat. The appropriate mixtures of fats and proteins will produce a savory meal without meat. I am lot more focused on the spices anyhow. But you go to a restaurant, and unless you're lucky enough to find an exceptional vegetarian restaurant, you're stuck with a few items on the menu. I don't feel good about eating meat, but I suppose I have many worse sins of complicity in all the injustices of modern living. I cannot get into the whole culture of reveling in cuts of meat and their preparation, so articles like this one strike me as coming from another planet (but get me going on my pet topics and we'll see who's from another planet).
Suffice it to say I'm not a foodie. Most of my food adventures come from daring to eat food that has gone beyond its shelf-life, since if I'm fanatical about anything it is avoiding waste. Do I get points for that. I'm of the view that if the animal was already dead, there is no obvious injustice in eating it. But obviously the purchase of meat encourages more production, so that argument does not go very far.
I respect woodviolet's views. I don't think the point is to appear superior, but just to assert a strong belief. We're all entitled to do that, right? The beef marketing board gets to assert their view that beef is going to be your dinner and nobody accuses them of shoving their morals down your throat.