this

is what karin said in response to my post "barbaro"

i thought it was very insightful, so i wanted to post it.

thanks k :0)


"I’ve struggled to understand the many people I know with pets who are so emotional about them and yet they eat meat. I’ve always found it to be really mind boggling. And I think they think it’s funny that I am not really very sentimental about animals but haven’t chosen to eat one in fifteen years. I’ve bought purses and shoes and various other leather products, and I think this is why I would feel hypocritical being more empathetic. I think, for me, vegetarianism is largely a dry, ethical choice. For you, it was emotional. That couldn’t last. I think you are right in the way you describe people in your closing paragraph. It’s smart. We like them when we want to like them. We breed them, buy them, sell them, neuter them, feed them…it’s really controlled. We have such bizarre relationships with
animals. Symbolically, we adore them, worship them as creatures who know what we won’t or can’t. But we destroy ecosystem after ecosystem, upsetting balances in order to dominate what we can’t really control. But we will never give up our struggle for domination.

There was a story on vegetarianism on NPR the other day. http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/02/20070202_b_main.asp

I like animals, some animals, the same way I like some people. I don’t want to eat any of them, nor do I particularly want to keep them as pets. I think pets for the most part are sad animals, especially those without any autonomy. But, at the same time, I knowingly buy products made from them. I think it’s the same way I buy things I know were made through sweatshop labor. It’s far away, indirect. Not the same as dead flesh in your mouth. It’s a byproduct, doesn’t go inside me, not so personal."