Tribute

Hello all!

This week I’ve decided to do a bit about my newfound favorite blogger, “Wayne Yuen.”  His blog, “Piles of Philosophy,” which updates every few days, explores a bit of everything, but all is influenced (obviously) by his own practices and attitudes.  The topic that he talks about mostly is the relationship between ethics and the way we eat food.  Whether you be a carnivore, omnivore, “demi-vegetarian,” vegetarian, or vegan, you will probably be intrigued with what he has to say.  

Because there are so many ways to confront the ethics of eating, it seems almost daunting to pick a slant…should I pick one with a political slant? Social? Health related?  In my blog I want to explore all of these sides of the aspect and more, but Yuen usually talks about the ethics of food production and how it influences his own dietary choices and why.  Why does it even matter what I ingest on a daily basis you say?  Well for starters Wayne looks at the mass-produced method of factory farming, and the morality of killing, confining, and keeping animals in inhumane circumstances.  Is this how we really want to treat these animals?  I really liked this post, but thought there was a lot more detail was necessary to get the point across, so below I’ve tried to expand on the argument against factory-farming as well as for vegetarianism. 

In his blog post “Why I am not Demi-Vegetarian,” Wayne argues for the case that it is impractical (and almost impossible) for morally-minded omnivores to find out where their meat has been and how it was treated before it got to their plate.  In most all instances, if the label doesn’t say where the meat has been, it has probably come from a factory farm, where animals are piledohsoclosetogether, on top of each other.  They are usually feed inorganic feed and usually ingest superfluous amounts of hormones to fend off the diseases that come from living in too-close-proximity to each other and their filth.  And yet most people still accept this as just another way of life for these animals.  Why? Because this type of farming is profitable.  Because in the “industry,” animals are not regarded as such, and are instead seen as money. 

It gets worse…Wayne introduces the idea that even though a package might say “cage-free” or “organic,” doesn’t mean that the animal was treated humanely.  This was something that hadn’t occurred to me before…when they say cage-free for chickens, the farm can still take the liberty of crowding the animals in too closely, or still practice “beak searing” and selective genetic mutation…what good is a “cage-free” label when the chicken has been so genetically mutilated in search of enhancement of specific traits (such as breasts and thighs) that they cannot even stand up or fly?  I was honored this thanksgiving by getting to spend it with both sides of my family (thought it was A LOT of food!).  My uncle on my dad’s side, being quite environmentally and health conscious, decided to get a turkey that was breed on a small farm in Washington state.  After researching the farm himself, he ordered one for thanksgiving…and in comparison to what my grandparents on the other side served, it was shocking.  Though I don’t actually eat meat, just seeing the two birds side by side (in my head) was enough.  The one that ran free looked like an animal, it had big legs, a smallish breast, and plenty of dark and white meat, while the run-of-the-mill supermarket turkey had the tiniest legs and hugest breast I have ever seen…there is NO WAY that thing could have ever stood up on its own. 

And even when the package boasts all these humane labels, Wayne points out that who is to say they are telling the truth or that the meat is even safe to eat? (think about how many E. Coli and Salmonella infections from beef you’ve seen recently…)

What does this boil down to? I agree with Wayne when he says,

“There can't be a middle ground on this until the meat industry is willing to make food production transparent.  Only then can we really be assured that the animals we're eating are humanely treated, and a middle ground, demi-vegetarianism, becomes reasonable.  Until then, the argument for demi-vegetarianism is a good one, but not one that is practicable by the majority of people.”

Being a Philosophy (Ethics) major myself, it delighted me that in some of his posts, instead of random philosophical musings (as philosophers are wont to do) Wayne Yuan actually uses different teachings of philosophy to better understand the relationship between ethics and food.  In his post “Will the Real Nietzsche Please Stand Up,” he is hypothesizing what Nietzsche would think about vegetarianism and if he would approve…

Long story short Wayne thinks it’s a wash…if being vegetarian is what breaks you apart from the crowd in terms of morality and rules, than good for you.  If you can justify your behavior in eating meat, that’s also ok, but I think I agree with Wayne when he argues that in some ways (especially in American culture) the more difficult path to define yourself is vegetarianism…but as he says.

“When it comes to food, we really only have two present choices, an omnivorous diet, or a vegetarian diet.  I think there are plenty of reasons for saying the vegetarian diet is the more ethically responsible, healthy diet than the omnivorous one.  Does that make a person a morally bad person for eating meat?  I don't think so, but I think we can be better people by not eating meat.”

See you all next week!