A conversation between my 6 year old sister and I about Vegetarianism
Me: You are evil because you kill chickens and eat them.
Keeka: We don’t kill them (speaking on behalf of the rest of my family while they’re listening), somebody else kills them and we just get them from them, cook them and eat them.
Me: Yeah but the fact that you “get” them means that you are asking for them to be killed.
She paused, looked up at the ceiling with a very scrutinizing look on her face and said “you are right, but what if somebody really likes eating chicken? What do they do then?”
Me: Well, you can’t kill the poor animals just because you like eating their meat!
Keeka: Yeah but how do we get our nutrition?!
At this point her voice got louder, her eyes widened, and her lips were more tightly pressed as if she just had won the argument.
Me: you can have a healthy diet eating fruits vegetables and all sorts of nuts and grains.
Keeka: You can eat that. We, on the other hand, are still going to eat meat.
Me: You are still going to be evil then.
Keeka: (screaming now and running towards me to scare me with a fake angry look on her face) WE ARE NOT EEEEEEVIL!
My sister’s first argument is precisely what I think is wrong with how our human civilization handles the production of meat. Animals are systemically killed somewhere far away, and then are brought to our dinner tables as delicious and nutritious food. There is no connection, no link and no relevance to who that piece of meat was. Out of sight, out of mind is of course what is best for the comfort of our collective conscience.
The halal rule in Islam have succeeded somewhat in preventing this commodification of animals. By putting all these rituals around the killing of an animal, it is keeping the sacredness of the life that is being taken away. It is preventing the killing from being mechanized and being cruel and emotionless. People have still managed to systemically kill animals though…
My argument is that if you must kill animals, their death must be appreciated. Someone has to feel sorry for doing it. That way, people are not going to kill animals just to satisfy their taste buds. And since, we can have a healthy life without having to kill animals, why do it at all?!
goingupsidedown 