They Eat Their Own
By Mitch Berg
Algore getting beaten up – from the left?
PETA slags Algore’s “Meat Addiction“, via Drudge:
Norfolk, Va. — This morning, PETA sent a letter to former vice president Al Gore explaining to him that the best way to fight global warming is to go vegetarian and offering to cook him faux “fried chicken” as an introduction to meat-free meals. In its letter, PETA points out that Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth—which starkly outlines the potentially catastrophic effects of global warming and just won the Academy Award for “Best Documentary”—has failed to address the fact that the meat industry is the largest contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions.
“No, we’re the People’s Front of Judea…”
March 7th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Not the Popular People’s Front of Judea? Or the Judean People’s Front?
Sorry, I just have to follow the Holy Shoe.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Well, they _do_ have a point. If you’re concerned about energy use, diet is definitely something to look at.
A fact which I hope we can all pretty much agree on: To produce a given amount of calories and nutrients of meat requires a great deal more land, water and food than to produce the equivalent amount of calories and nutrients in plant matter.
A statistic that I have come across, looked into and have not found a significant challenge to: The “average American diet” takes approximately 400 gallons of oil a year to produce (not counting fuel spent shipping it to market).
Now, clearly, if you’re of the opinion that we’re doing OK as far as resource usage (oil and otherwise), putting that fact and that statistic together may be mildly interesting but doesn’t mean much.
However, if you think that we’ve got a looming crisis, then it is certainly something to be mindful of.
Other than their ability and tendency to get attractive women to take their clothing off and parade around in public, I’m not a big fan of PETA.
I agree with them on some things: I think “the average American diet” is overly meat heavy, I think that meat production uses a lot of resources, and I think that the conditions that animals are kept in much of the meat industry is shameful, inhumane, and disgusting.
However, I think I’m an omnivore. Whether by design or evolution, I am meant to eat meat. I can forgo it, but to do so would be more or less a religious/ethical choice. I believe (based on what I’ve heard here and there and what feels right) that the “optimal” level of meat is roughly 10% of ones diet. I philosophically prefer wild game with “free range/grass fed/hippy” meats coming in second but while I have no trouble enjoying a “meat free” meal, I get to missing it if I go too long without some.
Anyway, that’s a lot of background to basically say: While I am not a member of PETA, I think under the circumstances, they’ve got a point on this one.
And btw, the willingness to “eat ones own” in this way is something I respect. To defend someone you feel (or know) is wrong because they’re on your team is an aspect of the “stereotypical right” that I’ve always disliked. I realize its why the right tends to win but I far prefer intellectual honesty. The “stereotypical left” can get a bit carried away with it (when it crosses the line to “you’re a bad person” as opposed to “I think you’re wrong on this”) which is uncool as well.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I’m not really going after PETA on this, Phaedrus. I don’t even eat especially much meat – mostly because it just puts me off my game these days.
No, I’m chuckling over the “purer than thou” aspects of PETA reaming Algore.
By the way, the “stereotypical right” is constantly defending itself against claims that it’s enforcing litmus tests and stifling opposition on the right. The right is no less monolithic or more obedient of higher-level direction than the left is.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Incidentally, Al Gore’s best response to PETA on this would be to insure that he only ate meat that was “produced” without power input – animals who are left to naturally wander and fed through grazing. It uses a fair amount of land (as the cost generally reflects) but that land is “gently and environmentally” used and they would just be part of the cycle and wouldn’t be changing the balance.
Won’t make PETA happy, but it would address their point.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
“I’m not a vegetarian because I love animals. I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.”
— A. Whitney Brown
March 7th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
*nod* that’s why I used the quote marks and the word stereotypical. I’m well aware that its not as monolithic as it sometimes seems looking at it from a distance.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
“I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.””
I’m reminded of Tool’s song about the carrots. Sublime. Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life.
I sometimes like to say that I eat meat ’cause I hate cows.
I worked on a farm as a kid and this cow stepped on my foot. You ever try shoving a cow? When you’re less than 130#, they don’t move. You ever try punching a cow in the jaw? Their jaw is harder than my hand.
It does, however, turn out that if you punch them square in the nose, they move. However, the time required to figure this out is significantly longer than the time one wants a cow standing on their foot.
Every time I eat a delicious bite of rare steak, I think of that cow.
Damn, I love steak.
March 8th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Since cattle produce large amounts of greenhouse gasses, I’m taking a different approach — reduce the population by eating them faster than they can re-produce. Bring on the porterhouses and the prime rib, the grill is ready!