In Tyee's book review by Michael LaPointe the week of June 23 an article entitled Vegans vs Meat-Lovers: Truce? caught my attention.
I commend The Tyee for trying to bridge the gap between those of us who are plant eaters and those of us who ingest flesh.
But in my opinion it isn't going to happen any time soon.
As a strict vegetarian, I don't like the label "Vegan" to begin with. Self-named vegetarians who consume dairy products, eggs, fish or fowl are not vegetarians!
Some people might say the vegetarian/vegan distinction is merely semantics. But semantics is the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning. A "vegetarian" who accepts that label and eats anything other than plants is being dishonest; he or she also misleads, intentionally or otherwise, those who are less knowledgeable about the herbivore movement.
Getting to "know" your animal, as suggested by LaPointe, before it is slaughtered, bled, disemboweled, butchered and brought to your table is ludicrous, at best. It is akin to eating the canary, horse, dog or cat that you have raised from its infancy.
As long as there are carnivorous experts condoning the inclusion of meat in our diets provided, they argue, it has been butchered humanely (how do you kill with benevolent compassion on such a large and constant scale, anyway?); as long as mainstream society continues to mindlessly consume meat, thinking it is good for them, then a truce between the true vegetarians and eaters of animal products will never be reached.
Recommend this post
