eating animals

Ägnade sista veckan av tågluffen åt Jonathan Safran Foer's fantastiska bok om att äta djur/ätande djur. Eller ja, fantastisk i det att den grundligt och till och med underhållande på vissa ställen går igenom de flesta (negativa) aspekter av vårt köttätande idag, kanske inte lika fantastisk i det att bilden som ges är fruktansvärd, och på många ställen nästan illamående-framkallande. Nåväl, särskilt två passager tyckte jag kunde vara intressanta att nämna här, där de rent filosofiska tankarna kring köttätande behandlas. Läs och begrunda.

"If we are at all serious about ending factory farming, then the absolute least we can do is stop sending checks to the absolute worst abusers. For some, the decision to eschew factory-farmed products will be easy. For others, the decision will be a hard one. To those for whom it sounds like a hard decision, the ultimate question is whether it is worth the inconvenience. We know, at least, that this decision will help prevent deforestation, curb global warming, reduce pollution, save oil reserves, lessen the burden on rural America, decrease human rights abuses, improve public health, and help eliminate the most systematic animal abuse in the history."


"What we know is that if you eat meat today, your typical choice is between animals raised with either more (chicken, turkey, fish, and pork) or less (beef) cruelty. Why do so many of us feel we have to choose between such options? What would render such utilitarian calculations of the least horrible option beside the point? At what moment would the absurd choices readily available today give way to the simplicity of a firmly drawn line: this is unacceptable? 
Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific isn't motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the mosts serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn't enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say 'not now', then when?"