Next, write from the perspective of someone who holds the opposite stance. Rationalize it from their point of view, based on their discrete circumstances. Write it as if they feel just as righteous as you do.
---
Here we go. Brace yourself. Here's a person who doesn't eat meat getting all sanctimonious about it. I know the obvious choice for this prompt is to write about being an anti-racist and then try to imagine the perspective of a racist, but that feels like beating a dead horse. We all know what a racist thinks, and what they think isn't worth a damn. So sheerly as a writing exercise, let's pick an issue with a more plausible argument for the other side.
I've been a [vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian] in some form since I was 15 or 16. It wasn't a hard choice to make. I always disliked most meats and only ever really enjoyed it in its most nutritionally questionable, processed forms - bacon, fried chicken, liverwurst, scrapple, pork roll...what is the matter with me?
The thing is, I know it's my dietary choice to make, and I try not to make a big deal out of it. I know I'm not entitled to special treatment the way someone with a serious food allergy should be accommodated. I'm grateful to anyone who ever goes out of their way to make sure I have something to eat. I then feel guilty about it, which is par for the course with me, but it leads me to lie about my convictions to make people feel more comfortable. I don't want someone to feel like I'm judging them for eating meat, because I'm really not but also I kindaaaa am?
So I lie and say I just don't like meat. Which is generally true but far from the whole picture. I gave up the gross meat products I oh-my-god seriously still dream about sometimes along with the totally normal pork chops and chicken breasts I could take or leave because there are a litany of nutritional, environmental, and ethical arguments that have persuaded me that not eating meat is the ethical choice. It started out as a knee-jerk reaction to some literature at the PETA tent at Warped Tour one summer, but I've done a lot of reading since then, and writers like Michael Pollan, just to name one since your eyes glazed over two paragraphs ago, have only strengthened my stance.
The factory farming industry makes me feel some feelings. It takes advantage of those least able to advocate for themselves, from the workers who are subjected to unsafe working conditions and unfair wages (and are often all the more vulnerable for being undocumented), to the animals themselves who are subjected to physical torture. It is a major source of pollution, and the cheap fast food produced from factory farmed meat is a scourge on our health as a nation.
So what would a red-blooded, meat-loving American say to that joyless vegetarian in the above text? Well, he'd probably start by taunting, "For every animal you don't eat, I'm gonna eat three." But you know what? I live with a meat lover, and he kind of agrees with most of my positions. It doesn't stop him from eating meat altogether, but since I don't cook it, it's not something he consumes daily. On a meal by meal basis, there's some resentment there, but overall, he's glad because the way I cook is healthier, cheaper, and better for the environment.
What would someone who doesn't live with a vegetarian say? Perhaps someone who relies on fast food because they work multiple jobs and don't have time to cook? Someone who hunts to supplement their food supply out of necessity? Someone who makes a living from the consumption of meat, wherever that falls on the supply chain? They might say, why shouldn't we eat meat? It tastes good, it's filling, what's the problem? What other choice do I have if I need to eat? We didn't create this system, but it's working for us well enough. Why do you want to change it?
Happily, this is the kind of argument where a reasonable compromise is possible. If individuals made it a habit to eat less meat, that would be a good start. If people with the means to do so voted with their dollars and placed a higher demand on pasture-raised, humanely treated meat, there would be less demand for factory farmed meat. The fields used for growing feed crops like corn and soy could eventually be used to produce more actual food. And so on, and so on. Yes, we need to address the socioeconomic issues that give people little flexibility or choice in how or what they eat, and the policy issues that allow corporations to treat employees so poorly, and so on, and so on. But progress is possible, and one step in the right direction is better than no steps at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment