To be honest, I have a problem with PETA advocates; their messaging is often contradictory and (from my point of view) informed by a kind of unreflective self-righteousness. But I don’t use them as a standard to avoid or embrace. To paraphrase John Prine, they are what they are and they ain’t what they ain’t.
As far as wellness goes, the healthiest I ever felt was when I based most of my meals on a Szechuan cookbook, which emphasized a large portion of fresh vegetables and smaller portions of meat / fish (plus white rice!). Still, I think the health thing is difficult to pin down. You may feel healthy after eating a certain meal or diet, but the long-term consequences are difficult if not impossible to measure.
The most logical argument for vegetarianism or veganism to me is the cruelty aspect.
Those who hunt wild game sometimes argue that killing a wild animal is actually an act of compassion because an animal in the wild is likely to have prolonged suffering before death from sickness, old age, or being eaten by a predator. A quick death by bullet is much less painful.
How do we know this is the case without being able to ask the animal in question? Some people would choose euthanasia for themselves in certain circumstances, but others would not. I’m almost 70, and like a good Boomer, I could spend hours chronicling my various ailments. But I’m not ready to prefer a quick death by bullet.
What about a human being in a persistent vegetative state? Since we can’t ask them, is it ethical to harvest their organs for humans who are more sentient? Can we use these human “vegetables” for food and still be a vegetarian?
The simplest response, it seems to me, is to give our potential dinner guests the benefit of the doubt. And no, I don’t think plants feel pain, but Jains have developed a kind of diet that doesn’t require the termination of the plant’s life, so for those who pretend to be concerned about “plant pain” as an excuse for eating meat, that defense doesn’t hold much water. (Is water sentient? Who knows, but I hope bourbon isn’t.)
So far I have argued more for the sake of simplicity than for the sake of kindness. My argument for a kind diet is more complicated.
I believe that all humans (and I can’t speak for any other animals) are on a journey toward the elimination of cruelty. The path of each of us is unique. It is our personal journey and no one else’s. As sentient beings, we have been on that path since we evolved, “slithering and squelching,” from single cell amoebae.
Some of us move in a line (straight or curved or jagged) toward the elimination of cruelty (though the speed of that journey and pitch of that line vary from individual to individual).
Some people move forward then backward then forward again.
Some people move forward then backward.
Some people don’t move at all.
Each of us is on our own unique path.
I can’t speak for you, Meredith or any Medium readers out there, and I’m in no position to judge your progress (the PETA people will do that in any case). My own course has been inconsistent and erratic. But I would ask you to stay mindful as you continue on whatever path you follow. The end result, in my opinion, is a kind and cruelty-free future for all sentient beings in the eternal present that is our shared existence.
God (or whatever guiding principle you choose for your journey) be with you.
