YAA Vegges Out: Where does your meat come from?

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, “Why are you a vegetarian?” I would probably have enough money to pay my university tuition. Now, all jokes aside, there isn’t one simple answer to this question; there isn’t a simple answer for anything in life. Today, I will try and present some of the reasons for my decision. This conversation isn’t easy to have. Meat eaters attack vegans/vegetarians, and vegans/vegetarians do the same to meat eaters, on a daily basis. I’m going to ask, if not plead, that you keep an open mind while reading this post. If at any point you feel that you absolutely disagree with me and want to click away, nobody (including me) will judge you. I’m not trying to blame anyone for anything; I just want to provide information regarding the animal farming industry. This post is not trying to convert or make you feel bad about yourself. The purpose of this post is to allow people to become educated and aware of what they are taking part in.

It’s hard to present statistics and form an argument for an entire belief system/way of life when the meat and other animal farming industries operate so differently from country to country. Thus, it is very easy for people to simply say that it doesn’t happen where they live and therefore doesn’t concern them. And I get that. But there is one argument that always bothers me in debates about veganism: “Of course I won’t want to eat meat after watching those documentaries. They’re basically propaganda.” To me, this opinion is a rebuttal within itself. Humans have complex emotions as a result of our nifty brains and, unless you exhibit psychopathy, obviously you would feel sympathy watching these animals being tortured. So I must make it clear that neither I nor these films am attacking you for eating meat. Hopefully, I have now stalled enough for you to mentally brace yourself and you are now ready to take your first steps on this epic journey.

The first video that opened a crack in the door for me was Food, Inc. I’m sure many of you have seen this documentary; I’m sure most of us have brushed it off. I’ll admit it, the first time I saw this film, I didn’t think twice about it afterwards. (If you have not seen Food, Inc. and wish to, you can find it on Netflix.)

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Strangely, it wasn’t until I started getting interested mental health and body image that I revisited the topic. We all know by now that the beauty and fashion industries attempt to manipulate our minds through advertising. After making this discovery, it was then obvious to me that every industry uses clever marketing to cover up what they don’t want you to know. So, I imagine that it doesn’t come as a shock when I say that the food industry does the same thing. The video that really got me thinking was this one below, presented by Compassion in World Farming.

What I love about this video is the ironic turn which takes place a few minutes in. At the beginning, the speaker is very cheerful and cracks jokes which the audience laughs at. As her presentation progresses, the speaker remains just as cheerful and jesting, but the audience is no longer laughing with her. The camera highlights the disgusted, confused, disbelieving, and perhaps even angry or defensive faces of the crowd. When the speaker is finished, no one claps for her. After this video, I started doing some more digging and happened upon this other video: Glass Walls by Paul McCartney. I will warn you now, this video is very graphic and I do not recommend it for those who do not handle gore well. Yet, if you can, I recommend that you watch it all the way through as it does hit some key points.

The information being presented in this video is extreme, and I can’t say that I’m on board with the almost aggressive manner with which this video delivers the information. When I watched it for the first time, I gagged repeatedly and wanted to look away. But I do believe that it gets the (scarring) point across. Now, in order to avoid going on for 5,000 words I’m going to link a blog post by one of my favourite YouTubers, Kalel Kitten. (Warning: Mild adult language content, it’s really only one or two swears, but I still encourage that you read it. I literally have not found anyone else who voices their opinions so passionately or with so much detail.) Kalel’s blog is approximately 5,000 words, but every word is worth your time. Her blog contains a rebuttal for almost every argument one could make against vegan/vegetarianism. I don’t know where she got her information from, so I can’t promise you that it’s 100 per cent accurate. Nonetheless, the points she presents are believable and valid. Though, if you do want more information from an official source, visit this post by the Organic Consumer’s Association.

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Along with Kalel, two films that really hit the message home for me were Food Matters (which you can watch on Netflix) and Earthlings (which you can watch through the link I provided). We have all heard the phrase, “You are what you eat,” and Food Matters showed me just how scary that phrase actually is. Very rarely are we aware of what we’re putting into our bodies. (Honestly, when was the last time you read a full list of ingredients?) It’s easy not to pay attention these days, especially for youth who live with their parents and don’t cook their own meals. In fact, as you saw with the short video above, the industries take advantage of the human burden which is laziness. Food Matters shows us how marketing cleverly averts us from changing our diets.

Thus, despite popular belief, eating clean doesn’t have to be hard. Nobody is saying that you have to go all vegan within a day. For me, I made the choice to go vegetarian in late June. A year from now, I plan to become fully vegan. Because yes, I do have my excuses for not being completely vegan at this current point in my life. But any time I have cheese or an egg, I understand what my decision means. And I’m not proud of my decision, but I am making progress. I can’t stress enough that it’s all about progress. Many people can say that they live with a guilt-free conscience eating meat even after they have educated themselves. I can’t hope to understand that, but I do try my best to not scorn these people. If you have read my previous blogs, you know that I’m very vocal about my opinions and that I can’t just sit back and not advocate for a cause. I have contemplated writing this blog for a long time and I finally gained enough courage to put myself out here. Whatever you believe in, I hope that you can respect where I, and many others, are coming from.

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Earthlings has a simple cause: to get us to see animals and humans as equals. This film is sort of an extended version of Glass Walls; if you were not able to make it through those 13 minutes, I can’t guarantee you will be able to make it through this film. Earthlings answers the question of “Where does your meant come from?” most explicitly, and covers the myriad of other ways humans exploit animals for our own benefit. To be honest, this film left me nauseated and in tears. We grimace when we see household pets being abused, but we are indifferent towards the sheep who have their wool (literally) ripped off for rugs and coats. We turn a blind eye to the chicks who have the tips of their beaks seared off or the elephants that are abused at the circus. Why do we value common pet animals so much more than other animals? Why do we value humans so much more than any other life on earth (and sometimes even fail at doing that)? All humans and animals are Earthlings; we all live on this earth and have the right to survive equally. Currently, the ways we abuse animals displays our lack of restraint or empathy as a species.

“Surely, if slaughterhouses had glass walls, would not all of us be vegetarians? But slaughterhouses do not have glass walls. The architecture of slaughter is opaque, designed in the interest of denial, to insure that we will not see even if we wanted to look. And who wants to look?” – Earthlings

The torture of an innocent life that cannot fight back does not only apply to the mistreatment animals. Many groups of people (rapists, sexists, racists, and murderers to name a few) exhibit the behavior of taking enjoyment in the abuse of those who are powerless. It is arguable that the animal farming industry has long surpassed human “needs” or “wants” and has become a distorted way for us to exert control or dominance over the weak. “As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.” I will leave deciding whether that quote is true or not up to each and every one of you.

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At this point, I have provided you with many hours’ worth of information. You might be feeling overwhelmed, but what I have given you isn’t enough. When I say that I want everyone to be educated, I don’t mean simply reading this blog post, any other blog post, or watching any one documentary. I mean going out and really digging, accepting the information you find for and against veganism, and forming your own opinions. Despite my tone (I get very passionate about this issue) and the fairly one-sided (yes, I am aware that it’s one-sided) information I have provided, I am in no way trying to force this lifestyle down your throat.

Nothing is perfect; veganism does have its flaws. At the end of the day, we must all make our own decisions about which sacrifices mean the most and which benefits outweigh the repercussions. With this being said, instead of finding reasons why you shouldn’t, I really think that people need to start considering why they should. To those of you who have made it this far, I congratulate and thank you for your time and open-heartedness. To those of you who watched and read everything I mentioned today, I want to give you a big hug and a party hat because it takes a lot of strength to have made it through all that and still be here. Lastly, I want everyone to know that you all matter in this time of crisis. If I’ve challenged thoughts or changed your beliefs in any way today, I encourage you not to brush it off as I foolishly did so before. If you were onboard with the cause before reading this post, then I encourage you to share this blog post or do something on your own to affect change. It is only together that we can fight against the injustices in our world.

FTC: This is not a sponsored post, and all opinions are completely genuine.