Eating Animals

“We can't plead ignorance, only indifference. Those alive today are the generations that came to know better. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?” 

I felt duped as I plunged into another of Jonathan Safran Foer’s books. His third book, “Eating Animals,” is not a brilliant work of fiction, but an exposé of factory farming.

As usual, his writing is brilliant, and with this tool he tries to justify his vegetarianism, and convince others to follow in his footsteps. He brings in a number of perspectives, from factory farm workers, to family farm owners, to PETA activists. He explores what he is willing to give up, and is fairly thorough. He explains the evils of the fishing industry, of the poultry farms (both for meat and eggs), but when he gets to cattle, his chapter is sorely lacking. He explains that this is the least cruel, in the sense that they live a fairly decent life, and concludes by describing tortuous murders of these animals. I also noted that he did not describe the life of cows who produce our milk- is it possible that he is not willing to give that up, so he will not divulge? Or is it not gruesome enough to waste words on describing?

His argument is that we have the ability to eat other foods, so we should not support industries that have such terrible work ethic. There is no flaw there. The problem is that he is unclear as to whether or not he believes that one can eat solely family farm meat and be morally in the right.

I spoke to a rabbi over the weekend regarding this. Am I responsible to make sure that I do not buy from products that support things I do not believe in? (i.e., terrorism), and he readily said yes. Then I asked him about buying eggs. According to the Jewish tradition, hurting animals is absolutely forbidden, so am I responsible to ensure that I am not supporting an industry that locks birds up into small boxes to create as many eggs as possible. This method is not a secret; there are many books and video exposés on this topic. His response is that there is no way America would allow such a practice. He cannot believe this. I was told to rely on the government to regulate the laws, so no, I do not have to do research. If I know as a fact that this is happening, though, I should buy eggs (or whatever else) from a place without such practices.

This is the attitude I have been seeing lately. No one wants to know where their food comes from, and no one wants to believe that our government can be so corrupt in its dealings with corporations. Well, I have no such naïveté.

I do believe humans are omnivores, I do not see it any more wrong for me to eat chicken, then for an owl to eat a mouse. This is how the world works. I do have a problem in the unhealthy and cruel methods of many of these factories. I have a problem in people pretending that they do not exist.

Mr. Foer: Even though I was hoping for one of your thought provoking novels, you gave me another thing for me to think about.