7 posts tagged “metro”
Just got a call from my editor over at The Metro.
Although it's not quite called that.
My editor at the Metro emailed me on Thursday. Seems they're doing a special section on organic and sustainable meat production this week, and suddenly realized they might want to get an alternate view to what must be a lot of self-congratulatory "we're so moral and cool" attitudes about it.
Could I whip out an article by Monday?
Well, how could I resist the opportunity to at least remind people that slaughter is slaughter, right?
So, here's a little sneak preview for my Vox peeps...her's the column I plan to turn in. (It's actually about 15 words over, but I figure it'll squeak by.)
Meat and My Cousin Vinny
One of my favorite movie lines comes from My Cousin Vinny. Joe Pesci’s character is fretting over what to wear on a hunting trip. Marisa Tomei’s character paints a picture of a deer in the forest, stopping to quench its little deer thirst at a little babbling brook, when out of nowhere: It’s shot in the head by a hunter. As the character puts it: “Now I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?”
This scene leapt to mind when reading Michael Pollan’s conclusion to his tome, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. After handily making a case for veg*nism…ethically, environmentally, health-wise…he decides he likes bacon too much to hack it. So he comes up with a pseudo-spiritual, show-gratitude-to-the-pig, circle-of-life way to justify continuing to eat meat, but feel better about not following the logical conclusion of his own arguments.
Now I ask ya: does the pig give a fuck if you’re grateful to it?
Let’s be clear: “Organic” doesn’t mean “humane”. “Free-range” isn’t a regulated term. Chickens are excluded entirely from the Humane Slaughter Act. The existence of a few bucolic locations which might provide a nearly-guilt-free meat-eating existence to a privileged few doesn’t mitigate the fact that it’s the products of factory farms that are accessible to the vast majority of non-veg*ns in this country. Most of all: Slaughter is slaughter whether 10 or 10,000 are killed per day.
And it’s so unnecessary.
To quote a column I wrote two years ago:
I started to consider vegetarianism because I felt sympathy for the conditions of factory-farmed animals, antipathy for the violence of slaughter. But what sealed the deal for me was thinking it through: there was no reason not to be a vegetarian. I am not physiologically required to eat meat. I am not constrained in any material, important way by my vegetarianism. Do I sometimes whine about restaurants not serving me enough high-quality vegetarian food? Sure. But I don't starve. Is vegetarianism healthier for most people? Yes.
People say, "Animals eat animals—it's a food chain thing." They do. They are driven by instinct and physiological requirement. Unlike us, I doubt they have the thought processes to judge it. Nor do I think they feel guilt or regret.
But we do. If we want to hold ourselves up for our wonderful ability to reason and our finer feelings, then we should use both reason and emotion to make the more humane choice.
That would really separate us.All I would add now is: Most non-veg folks I talk to don’t want to think about what they eat, where it comes from, and most urgently: What it might have gone through on its way to their plate. I’ve heard “I don’t want to know” or “I don’t want to think about it” a lot.
The current trendy focus on sustainable and organic meat, coupled with the recent horrific revelations about Westland Meat Company, indicate that people are thinking about it more than ever. That’s a good thing.
Killing sentient creatures for pleasure, gustatory or not, still isn’t.
Any suggestions. I don't have to turn it in until Monday morning, so I'm open to feedback.
For the last couple of months my Silicon Veggie columns have been dedicated to compiling and reporting on reader suggestions. these suggestions were designed to help me in my quest to go vegan, and ranged from recipes to restaurants to mental imagery.
This month I returned the favor by compiling my favorite online resources for vegan and vegetarian recipes, products and information.
They can be found in this month's Silicon Veggie column in the Silicon Valley Metro.
Enjoy.
And since I live in San Jose that would be all restaurant recommendations from the Peninsula and South Bay.
Still, for my local readers, there are about 6-8 restaurants listed, so it's worth checking out.
Enjoy :)
A 400-word review of my first 30 days as a Vegan.
Next month's column will start diving in to all of the suggestions I got from my Metro readers, from restaurants to recipes to mental images of veal calves in every glass of milk. Seriously.
BTW: at left is the caricature that accompanies my column both in print and online. It. Does. Not. Look. Like. Me. At All.
Does it?
In case you're interested, here's the picture I gave them to draw the caricature from. (Because I've never actually met anyone at the Metro.)
