The haunting screeches of a rusty grinder echo around the despondent yelps of a dying calf. This harrowing sound is the prologue to the jangly guitar sounds of Johnny Marr set to the somewhat depressing lyrics of Morrissey in The Smiths’ only number one album Meat is Murder. Having listened to this album many times it was only today that I began to question the album’s premise of whether eating meat is actually murder. It had never dawned on me before. The recent press coverage may have something to do with it for it looks as though, in the not too distant future, there will not be enough food to feed the animals and hence, not enough to slaughter for our pallet’s incessant lust for steak. Meat eaters of the world beware and as a lover of a sirloin or two these appear to be worrying times.
With this in mind, we may be forced to take the vegetarian option rather than making what some may call the morally correct choice. A quick Google search will reveal a startlingly high amount of well known faces who can glare down disdainfully from animal liberation hill onto the wee people who chomp their way through mega tons of beef, chicken, bacon on the way to type two diabetes every day. Some surprising inclusions are Albert Einstein, Belinda Carlisle and the philosopher king himself Socrates. (According to happycow.net) There is an array of impressive names on the list, all of which have contributed, one way or another to the general advancement of society. I include Belinda in this with all sincerity for she has saved many a night out with her vocal aptitude. All joking aside, the impressive list of names makes me think that I may be on the wrong side of the fence and therefore a serious (well not that serious) look at the conflicting arguments is definitely needed.
This will by no means be an exhaustive and in-depth analysis of the given argument’s, I’ll leave that troublesome task to the academics. So off the top of my head; can we get all the nutrition needed for a healthy and active life without meat? It appears so otherwise, there would be no such thing as a vegetarian. Seems straightforward enough! Other apparent benefits of a meat free lifestyle include disease prevention, economic advantages, ecological advantages and weight control. I’m sure all of which could be argued for and against however, for the sake of argument there seems to be some real benefits to becoming a vegetarian. Another perspective worth considering is the ethical aspect of animals for food, do we as humans, have the right to slaughter indiscriminately? Peter Singer would argue that what this amounts is speciesism. Similar to racism where various human races cliam they are superior to another we believe that we are of higher value or of more importance than other animals. Aha! I hear you cry, what about survival of the fittest and whatnot? This may be true but I’m sure that farming on an industrial scale doesn’t fall into this category. Animals are farmed, kept in poor conditions, force fed all for the sole purpose of human consumption which leads me to my next consideration, the process of killing. Is the fact that animals endure or are reported to endure minimal pain when they are slaughtered, reason enough not to condemn the practice? I’m not sure. To my horror I once witnessed a Labrador on a spit being barbecued next to the road in South East Asia. This astonishing sight was frowned upon by me and my comrades but the only thing we were offended by was the fact it was a dog. Dogs are of a higher intelligence so in western culture we give them more weight when divvying up what makes it, and what doesn’t make it onto the dinner table. My point is that what makes it right to kill a cow rather than a dog? Does it have to do with intelligence? If that is the case then I’m sure some members of the adult population will be on a shoogly peg! As mentioned earlier this is not an exhaustive analysis of the point but only some of my initial thoughts and observations.
I am certainly going to give some serious thought to the matter at hand and possibly go vegetarian so fast food establishments of the world beware! On leaving this highly charged debate I return to the mighty Smiths who so eloquently tell us that “the turkey you festively slice is murder,” and answer, somewhat hesitantly, that it possibly is. Oh no! On the other hand, I’m not sure if a hungry lion would be labelled a murderer if left alone with the cabinet, more like a hero!
Happy Munching
