Anyone who has hunted, and/or raised the animals one has eaten knows the
realities.
Urban America doesn't really know where meat comes from.
But the fact that one must slaughter animals to survive does not make one a
monster.
Much of my family are farmers and indeed also livestock folks.
We recently for example ate turkeys that oe of my brothers raised this summer
and fall.
They were a source of amusement to my folks who watched them raised from the
sun room.
By the way they were quite delicious.
----- Original Message -----
From: Alice Dampman Humel
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 10:20 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Apocalyptic Capitalism
yes, this is the ultimate in intellectual dishonesty…as long as the animal,
be it chicken, cow, lamb, rabbit, is all sterile and protected by plastic, it’s
not really an animal…how easy it is for people to delude themselves…
For several years of my young life, I could not eat meat, because I could not
stand the thought of animals being killed and, worse, killed in horrifying
circumstances. I eventually got over it, and I eat meat now. But I don’t kid
myself about where it comes from, and I believe that I could kill my own
chicken if I had to, because I already admit that somebody killed the chicken,
so what difference does it make?
BTW, I loved your descriptions of how it was in your mother’s kitchen...
On Dec 11, 2015, at 2:10 PM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Bob,
I've been listening to the coverage of COP 21 on Democracy Now for days and
reading many articles about climate change and Chris Hedges is the only
person, so far, who has written that we could solve the whole problem by
not eating meat. For years and years I have been reading articles that
promote vegetarianism and give various reasons for its adoption. Certainly,
the industrial farming and the industreal meat industry are harmful. But no
one has yet convinced me that eating meat is bad for people. As far as I am
concerned, we are biologically, carniverous animals and eating meat is
natural. If people don't like eating meat or feel physically better when
they avoid meat and dairy products, if they have moral objections to eating
other animals, I accept their personal choices. But I don't appreciate their
missionary zeal in attempting to convince others to adopt their position. I
do think, however, that there should be changes in how the animals that we
consume, are raised, and in how they are killed. I also hate the idea that
we have to kill animals in order to eat them. Actually, I think that people
like to think that all meat drops from the sky, neatly wrapped in plastic
packages. This was brought home to me when, on Thanksgiving, I was
describing how, when I was a very small child, my mother would buy chickens
from the kosher butcher. She brought home a whole chicken with all its
feathers and its feet. Only the head was gone. She removed the feathers by
hand, and then removed the pin feathers by holding the chicken over the gas
flame of our stove to burn them off. I remember that these chickens had
undeveloped eggs inside them, the yokes without shells. She boiled the
chickens for chicken soup and the little eggs were part of the soup, and
were deliscious. She skimmed the fat off the top, rendered it with onions to
make chicken fat which was used in cooking and also, spread on rye bread. My
older daughter was horrified by the foregoing description and said, "I don't
want to think about a real chicken. I just want to get packaged parts in the
store". So, perhaps Hedges is on to something. Perhaps if people had to see
the cow slaughtered, steaks and hamburgers wouldn't be so appealing.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 1:34 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Apocalyptic Capitalism
Hi Miriam,
Reading this brought to mind the criticism I get from a few of my vegan
friends and colleagues. They rightly label me a hypocrite based upon the
fact that I complain about climate change and the deleterious effect of
greenhouse gases while continuing to eat meat, eggs and dairy. Many of my
favorite foods fall into these groups and boy do I love to eat. The gut
around my middle is purely based upon diet as I get a good bit of exercise.
I politely eat vegan meals at the homes of friends, but could not picture
myself changing to a vegan diet. Even reducing meat consumption would not be
easy for me. This all makes me wonder if meat and dairy are addictions like
drugs, sugar or caffeine.
Bob Hachey
