Letters to the Editor
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actually, techguru,
I posted it for a few reasons:
1. I am fond of Carol Lay's work, so I guess I just feel protective of her, not that she needs my protection;
2. I'm not always the most civil person (I guess you and I have that in common), but I really didn't see the necessity to call someone an idiot, just because they got something wrong;
3. Sometimes I am reminded (by your post, in this case) how the only way to ensure any peacefulness in the world is to be kind in day-to-day life. Not that I have that accomplished.
So, fuck you, techguru, or whatever your name is.
I bet you use a PC.
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Irony is healthy! Thanks for the toon
However, a meat eater I remain. Certain vegetables and fruits cause my mouth and throat to swell up and sometimes, I can't breathe.
Since I have adhered to the Blood Type Diet (I'm an O which is a meat-eater) I've been alot healthier and my Type A spouse is doing great on a mostly vegetarian diet. So, whatever, may we all find a happy way to live.
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Superior or not
I'm baffled about the assertion that vegetarians have a superiority complex. Most of the vegetarians I know realize that there's no way to convert or even enlighten the carnivores, so why bother making an issue of their eating habits and being subjected to their pointless justifications. We've heard them all before, and they don't get any more interesting or original with repetition.
I'm not baffled by the excessively hostile reaction from carnivores everytime there's an article about vegetarians. I think eating blood, flesh and growth hormones makes some people aggressive and oblivious to other beings. Do you think we'd have a war in Iraq if Cheney and Rumsfeld were vegetarians?
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Hitler was a vegetarian, so I don't think that works.
But I'm a vegan, and I'm nice! And my boyfriend, family, and kitties all eat meat and they're nice too. It's a crazy world.
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"I'm baffled about the assertion that vegetarians have a superiority complex."
But then you spend the rest of your letter bashing people who eat meat. Oh, the irony.
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I don't want to be uncivil...
... but since eggs certainly aren't dairy products, I have two questions.
1. What would have been a better illustration than an egg for that particular thank-you? Any thoughts? and,
2. Don't cartoons get looked over by an editor for basic howlers like this, just like other items for publication?
I'm just curious. I realise it's the sort of mistake that some people don't think matters very much. Anyway, where does the confusion come from? Are people so citified these days that they get their distinctions from supermarket aisles instead of knowing what happens where on a farm?
Hmm, I guess that's four questions.
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Great - good luck!
Just started down that road myself, and it's not as hard as I thought. Lara bars and vegan Smart Balance spread are good; and oddly, I've discovered the vegan healthy cheeses are actually better than the dairy-but-lactose-free healthy cheeses. But you have to shop around to find the right ones for you. I'm lucky; I have a friend who's been a vegan nearly two decades and she's helping me balance things.
Another plus for going vegan is that you end up eating less chemically-laden food. It's hard to put MSG into lettuce. The more I read about MSG, aspartame, etc., the more I'm convinced that eating chemicals has been the root of most of my health problems. Whether you eat meat or not, people should try to avoid these. Think about it: for millions of years we've eaten natural foods; for millenia we've cooked or baked natural foods; for the past century or so we've suddenly exposed our bodies to artificially-created chemicals they never evolved to digest. So the body reacts allergically, it tries to hide potentially dangerous substances in fat, the digestive system works harder, cancer gets triggered—it just makes better sense to avoid things that aren't actually food.
A good tool is nutrawatch.com, which (for free!) allows you to track your protein, carbs, cholesterol, fat, etc.... If they don't have a food in their database, you can enter custom foods. Protein can be a challenge, so for me this is good training.
I've done the lacto-ovo vegetarian thing much longer. With llsheridan, I've heard the bizarre questions like "Do you like animals better than people?" and "How do the plants feel about it?" To answer the former, I think to choose a diet that's healthier for me demonstrates that I care for at least one human, and gives me more energy to be able to care for other humans. To answer the latter: oh, come on! Surely you understand the difference between a creature with a nervous system (and pain receptors!) and a plant without these. Such a disingenuous question is neither funny nor clever, it merely demonstrates a lack of thought.
Good on you for being good to both yourself and the critters!
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About the teeth issue
Someone said human teeth were made for tearing and grinding meat. Not very well made, if that's the case. Having taken vertebrate zoo. I can tell you we're a lot closer to herbivores than to meat eaters. Look at a tiger or wolf's mouth; those are teeth designed to (a) pierce and (b) tear flesh. Now look at a horse's mouth, or a rabbit's. There you see flat incisors and molars, just like us. Flat incisors are perfect for grasping and tearing foliage, or carving off chunks of vegetable matter from fruit, vegetables, or nuts.
We're not even very omnivorous in our teeth. Omnivores tend to have some more fang-like teeth in their mouths than we do, and more separation between individual teeth. The cuspids are the closest thing we have to meat-piercing and -tearing teeth, and they're not very pronounced. Canines are not associated with carnivores, but with omnivores. The teeth that define an animal as a carnivore are the carnassials. They have three roots, and humans don't have anything like them in our mouths.
A link to a herbivore's teeth:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Andrea/teeth2.html
A link to a carnivore's teeth:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Andrea/teeth1.html
A link to an omnivore's teeth:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Andrea/teeth3.html
Carnassial teeth:
http://rawfed.com/myths/carnassials.jpg
Personally, I think this is why the image of vampire fangs is eerie; it's in the uncanny valley of human appearance, and it implies a more carnivorous nature than we are designed for. Dogs, btw, are technically carnivores and not omnivores, however adaptable they may be in what they will eat (a lot like us in that respect, I suppose ;-)