So why have I started a blog about vegetarianism? Primarily, because I want to increase consciousness and discussion around the issues of animal rights, and also to distract myself from work.
There have been various phases in my life where I have had a nagging conscience that eating animals was not right. I either ignored it, justified my lifestyle through various vague arguments or even attempted vegetarianism. Most of my attempts at vegetarianism failed because I lacked conviction and because noone else around me was vegetarian. The main reason why I lacked conviction was due to the fact that I enjoyed eating meat considerably. Roast lamb, bacon, salmon... yumm! And it was too difficult to give up such a pleasurable activity.
It is easy to disconnect ourselves from the act of killing animals that brings tasty meat to our dinner plates, since we have nothing to do with it. And generally, the animal is nicely chopped and presented to us, hardly resembling the cute little lamb or gentle-eyed cow that it used to be. But though ignorance can be bliss, unwillingness to consider the truth behind a matter is not an excuse to continue with a bad habit or tradition. Since I know that I would not kill an animal myself, nor do I require meat to be healthy, I realised there was no way I could justify eating meat at the expense of so many poorly treated animals. My attempt to become vegetarian in 2004 still failed however, but fortunately in 2005 my partner indicated his desire to become vegetarian. With the support of him and my mother (who also became vegetarian at the same time) we have managed to be fully vegetarian since July 2005 and with no regrets.
Becoming vegetarian does require a little research into eating properly and some courage to face sceptical and offended friends and family, but it all smooths out over time.
Consider: Does specism exist? Like sexism or racism.
More on that next time....
3 comments:
good post! will follow the blog with interest!
Johann, I choose to eat free range eggs, because battery chickens really go through hell, living in cramped, unnatural conditions. I didn't know that free range eggs are fertilised. Are you sure of this? (I'll try to find out.) Just because the chickens roam outside, doesn't mean the cock is allowed with them. But even if the eggs are fertilised, the momentary suffering of the unborn, probably unconscious chick, cannot compare to the long-term suffering of chickens living in batteries.
i really dont think that an unborn chick suffers at all. you need to be concious and it probably helps to have an active nervous system before one can suffer. besides even if the occasional egg is fertilised, most are not.
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