ilona the pest

insecurity + narcissism = awesome!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

poor little pigs

the NY Times has a scary piece about the terrible inhumane conditions in which most pigs in this country are kept. as a major consumer of pork products, i feel particularly guilty. i don't have any moral objection to eating animals, but it seems obvious that we owe it to them to prevent unnecessary suffering.

crap. i guess i better start seeking out cruelty-free bacon. does that even exist? :(

* * *
postscript: niman ranch looks pretty good. and wins all kinds of taste tests. of course, i only looked into their products because the company was founded by the husband of the author of that NYT piece... wait a sec -- am i being played? oh well. they're still good to their pigs and make (allegedly) delicious bacon. that's what's important.

9 Comments:

  • At 10:15 AM, Blogger wt said…

    http://www.goveg.com
    /factoryFarming_pigs.asp

    Advances in veggie bacon are more sophiticated than you might think given how bad some veggie meat products are. Try the morningstar bacon.

     
  • At 12:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ilona, I don't see how slitting the pig's throat an dying from loss of blood is going to be anything but cruel. No matter if they feed the pig grapes with supermodels and fan it to cool it down, it dies a horrible death because YOU want to eat it. Morningstar farms bacon is good.

     
  • At 1:07 PM, Blogger wt said…

    I tend to think that being nice and encouraging to meat-eaters is a better tack than being angry or condescending.

    A dude in my Barbri class a couple years ago would wear these shirts that said "Go Vegan: The animals don't need your excuses." I think it's a poor tactic to change anyone's mind.

    I-dogg, you will reach your own conclusions about these issues, and I'm proud of you for considering the options in front of you. One of which, as you know, is abstaining altogether and finding a palatable veggie option.

    I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

     
  • At 3:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I don't understand why you would suggest using better tact than being angry or condescending. It's not YOUR neck that's being slit and your blood gushing out onto the floor until you die, so it's easy for you to say that... What every meat eater should do is go to a slaughterhouse, and watch how their food is "made". So Ilona, I recommend you visit one, or watch videos of animals being slaughtered so you can eat your unecessary good. Those are the same kinds of people who demand that all sharks be killed after there is one accidental shark attack, despite humans killing 500,000 sharks per human killed by a shark.. And the sharks are the bad guys. Whatever..

     
  • At 10:00 AM, Blogger wt said…

    Anon 346: I was with you until the sharks thing. That made no sense.

    Our argument isn't easily resolved, but I think there's a saying that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Hopefully that honey is organic and produced by bees that aren't systematically overfed or genetically manipulated.

    A hostile message places emphasis on the speaker. And I am a flawed messenger. I wear leather, I eat milk products and eggs, and I occasionally purchase meat for others to consume. And yet I think I've been responsible for moderately decreasing meat consumption amongst my friends and relatives.

    Why? Because they listen to my arguments as someone they know and trust. So much of a person's diet depends on whether they think when they eat. When you come at a person with "Meat is Murder," they block out your entire message and stop listening. That doesn't help anyone.

     
  • At 10:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    wt:

    But your logic is like what we're doing about Darfur. We know there's a genocide going on, but don't want to be too agressive against the arabs for fear of their reaction, but meanwhile, people will continue to get slaughtered, when only immediate action can stop it. Any delay, and weak handed tactic will only let death continue. Same with eating meat. The longer you delay, thousands of animals are slaughtered every day... Each one is a life, imagine if your one chance at life was a chicken destined for slaughter? You will never live again... You wanna continue sacrificing someone else's life because you want to take things slowly?

     
  • At 7:57 AM, Blogger wt said…

    Like I said, our debate isn't easily resolved, so I think this will be my last comment on the subject.

    The Darfur example is terrible for you. Yes, there is a death. No, sending in troops to forcibly stop tribal warfare is not the solution. I would say that us fearing Arab "reaction" is a pretty sensible thing to do right now given our relationship with the Arab world now. Not to mention our failure at stopping death in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc.

    Not to lose my point -- the full-blown aggressive response (whether in Darfur or with the very similar situation of American dietary habits) is not always the right answer to a problem. Sometimes incrementalism actually creates the most happiness over the long run. And since you can't send in troops to stop Ilona from eating bacon, I suggest that you work to persuade her and others from a rational and sane point of view.

    Your yelling is getting in the way of your message.

     
  • At 7:51 AM, Blogger ilona said…

    So, are you jewish or not?

    not yet, but i aspire to be.

     
  • At 4:22 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    On a related note - thanks again for the Daily's Bacon advice. I figure I have eaten half a pigs worth by now.

    OLG
    "Stocky and Sexy"

     

Post a Comment

<< Home