On Carnism
Once upon a time, inhumane oppressive belief systems that support the widespread violent subjugation of other races, of women and of homosexuals, among many other marginalised groups, were considered completely normal, natural, and necessary. Once upon a time, fatal public lynchings, total dehumanisation and enslavement of black people were considered normal every-day occurrences. As our collective consciousness continues to evolve, most of us now look back at these past behaviours - the way we used to treat other races, women, homosexuals, and so on - as being insanely senseless, barbaric, and primitive. Today, although the battle for equality and compassion is far from over, most of us who are rational and caring human beings can recognise the barbaric absurdity of such behaviour.
However, today, for the most part, this compassion, awareness, and understanding selfishly extends only so far as it applies to fellow humans. Most of us, when asked, would readily proclaim ourselves to be animal lovers. Many of us live among beloved dogs and cats whom we love and whose souls and intelligence we cherish and readily acknowledge, and direct our utmost anger and disdain towards cultures who normalise the violent consumption of dogs and cats (unaware that we ourselves are part of cultures that normalise the violent consumption of “farm” animals). Many of us would even pet the beautiful cows and pigs at petting zoos with love and adoration. Yet we continue to subscribe to meat-based diets that propagate a widespread, extremely brutal, holocaustic system of oppression against our fellow, sensitive beings, running counter to our core human values of justice, truth, and compassion. Although they are often kind, caring, and rational human beings, meat-eaters depend on a set of defence mechanisms to excuse their violent behaviours, such as denial of the brutal truth, ill-founded and selfishly based justifications, cognitive distortions of our perception of meat as food rather than as our fellow, beautiful animal creatures, and the widespread systematic normalisation of the farm animal holocaust.
Most people would not willingly support the unnecessary, abject torture and the most brutal forms of violence and cruelty imaginable that we as a species currently inflict upon trillions of animals belonging to the unlucky species selectively chosen to be our “food” every minute - living beings much like ourselves with beating hearts, lungs that breathe, eyes that see the sun rise and set, and bodies and minds that feel the same sadness, connection, love, and pain we do. Sentient, conscious beings that can be as intelligent as 3-year old humans, beings that develop deep and lasting bonds with their family and friends and cry for weeks when taken away from one another, that enjoy the sunshine, massages, and the company of loved ones. Beings that we, through our selfish and irresponsible lifestyles, are now enslaving, torturing, and slaughtering by the millions every minute. Even further, most of us would not willingly support a system that is rapidly destroying the environment and our climate, our only earth and home, our health, and our connection with the natural world, with which we are one.
Yet, despite all this, most of us willingly play into the hands of the meat industry that, for profit, deliberately propagates the myths that eating meat is “normal” or “necessary,” that deliberately renders the system and innocent victims thereof (animals, the earth and its environment, and even our own health) invisible from public consciousness, and that distorts our minds to the point where we perceive “farm” animals to be nothing more than objects of consumption to be tortured and violently slaughtered at leisure. By eating meat, we are supporting and making rich one of the most evil and greedy industries known to man; we are supporting the extremely brutal destruction of the environment and of our health; we are supporting the most cruel enslavement and torture imaginable against trillions upon trillions of sensitive and beautiful animals. Is that who we are? Is that who you are? Only when our core values line up with our actions can we call ourselves morally responsible human beings. It’s time to take a hard look at ourselves and bring into our awareness exactly what it is we are doing, and what the consequences really are. It’s time to expose and say no to the harrowing cruelty of the meat industry, to stop turning a blind eye to needless suffering, and to stand up for the voiceless, for the innocent tortured souls. If not now, then when?
The following, extremely informative and eye-opening video has scenes of torture that are extremely hard to watch and may make you cry, but that is nothing compared to what the animals endure each and every second. If it’s too harrowing to watch even for a minute, then it is certainly far too harrowing to support throughout a lifetime with a meat-eating lifestyle. As human beings, we have a moral responsibility to face up to the consequences of our actions, especially if these consequences are on the level of extreme, unimaginable pain, mutilation, and torture. It is my hope that some day in the nearest possible future, we will look back on our normalised farm animal holocaust days with the same anger, disdain, and disbelief that we do when we look back on our days of normalised extreme sexism, racism, and homophobia.
Subscribing to a plant-based diet is extremely easy, healthful, delicious, and even fun. It will light up your conscience and your soul, will over your lifetime save dozens of thousands of animals from abject torture (a vegetarian saves between 371 and 582 animals per year), and will connect you back to nature like nothing else. Wake up, free your mind, and be the change you wish to see in the world. It’s time to choose kindness over cruelty.