Veggie-tari-N-ism

I've recently decided to become a vegetarian. I wrote this list to explains my reasons. It sounds nerdy, but hopefully it articulates my reasoning well...


Reasons for Vegetarianism:

1. Ethical-The way animals are horrendously [mis]treated, as well as the terrible conditions they are subjected to, is unethical. (Too put it nicely.)

2. Moral-The mistreatment of animals, as well as the sheer number of animals eaten, which forces them to be treated as commodities, devalues animals and is immoral.

3. Environmental- The meat industry is the biggest contributor to global warming. Even if you don't accept man-caused global warming (that's another discussion), there is no arguing that factory farming has lead to significant and extensive environmental degradation and pollution.

4. World Food Supply- As the world's population expands and the growth rate accelerates, and more developing countries can afford meat-intensive diets (like China and India, for instance), diets that include eating meat are simply unsustainable, and will lead to an increase in food shortages and global poverty.

5. Ecological Destruction- Besides the negative ecological impact of factory farms, aquaculture is destroying thousands of species of fish, mollusks, and algae, as well as causing significant destruction to the world's coastal and oceanic ecosystems.

6. Concerns over Food Safety
a. Concerns over many of the possibly harmful chemical substances, growth hormones, pesticides, antivirals, and preservatives used in meat production and storage.
b. Concerns over the presence of dangerous bacteria (especially enterobacteria, such as ecoli and salmonella), in meat, as well as the high possibly of the creation, mutation, and spread of such viruses as Swine Flu, Avian Flu, and other strains of influenza, prion-produced illnesses and diseases such as Mad Cow Disease, and other bacteria produced and foodborne illnesses.
c. Concerns over antibiotics used in animals, and the possibly of resulting reduced consumer immunity.

7. Worker Danger-
a. The majority of workers in the meat industry (i.e. factory farms and slaughterhouses) work in extremely poor and dangerous conditions, which numerous human rights organizations have designated as human rights violations.
b. Numerous mental health organizations have documented concerns over the psychological impact of contemporary factory farming and slaughterhouse methods on workers.


8. The Destruction of Family Farming- The growth of factory farming and the increased consolidation in the meat industry has forced a great number of "family farmers" out of business and has negatively transformed the meat industry.

9. Health- There are many studies that have concluded that well-planned vegetarians diets can actually be more healthy than diets which include meat consumption.

10. God's Ideal- From a religious perspective, I believe God's ideal, per Genesis (specifically Genesis 2:29-30 and Genesis 9:2), as well as many other verses throughout the Bible (such as Isaiah 11:6 and 65:25 most prominently), is for animals to not be predators, or preyed upon and killed for food.

11. From a merely personal standpoint, I find it difficult to reconcile eating animals with my belief in the Consistent Life Ethic. (In fact, some include vegetarianism in the Consistent Life Ethic, which is why a large segment of the estimated 400 to 600 million vegetarians worldwide is comprised of Buddhists, Hindus, and Quakers who subscribe to this type of belief system.)

Reasons against Vegetarianism:

1. Eating meat is more socially accepted.

2. From a functionality standpoint, a carnivorous diet is unquestionably easier, despite what some vegetarians may say. (Though maintaining a vegetarian diet is becoming easier everyday.)

3. Meat is rather tasty. (Depending on which kind of meat you're eating.)


I don't agree with a good amount of the philosophy and methodology of the more "liberal" stream of the animal rights movement, which is largely based on deep ecology theory and/or ecofeminism, both of which I have significant disagreements with. I'm not attempting to answer the question, or even ask the question, "Has eating meat always been wrong, or is it always wrong?" I have no good answer for that question. However, I do believe that in the context of the way meat is currently raised and slaughtered (i.e. factory farming, as stated)), as well as viewed in the context of the current poverty and environmental crises we face, the number of reasons to NOT eat meat far, far, far outweigh the number of reasons TO eat meat. , which is hopefully demonstrated through my list.

Things I Love About Fall

Deliciously good things about the autumn season:

The changing color of leaves (of course).
Hot Chocolate (or hot cocoa if you prefer).
Football season.
Halloween, ghost stories, tales of all things haunted, and everything that comes with it!
A hot car on a cold morning.
Hot Apple Cider. (Or the even tastier carmel apple cider at Winans, made courtesy of the fine baristas there.)
The Baseball playoffs.
Bonfires.
Warm cookies.
The nearing of the holiday season.
Any good new fall movie or tv show.
The chilly feel in the air.
The start of the basketball season.
Long nature walks that you have to bundle up for.
A good book on a cold day.

A Few Thoughts during Channel Surfing

I'm a habitual channel surfer, and last week when I was flipping through channels I stumbled upon Rachael Maddow on her MSNBC show complaining about the protesters of Obama's healthcare reform plans, and Glenn Beck, invoking the word "Nazi" in the argument. I agreed that the word has no place in American political discourse. However, I have seen very few protesters using the term. It's the media who emphasizes the one or two people with Nazi signs at these protests and talks about them. Do you ever notice that they also talk about the few angry people at the town hall meetings, instead of most who are calm and respectful? (Of course that wouldn't be much of a story.) Furthermore, this is a blatant, and very annoying, case of hypocrisy. For eight years, people called George W. Bush Hitler, a war criminal (if GWB is a war criminal, then comparatively so are the majority of U.S. presidents), and every other nasty name possible. Yet it's not until now Maddow and so many Democrats are calling for civility.

Maddow specifically singled out Glenn Beck for labeling Obama a Nazi. But the couple of times I've seen Beck lately and seen him talk about health care reform, he's explicitly said the health care reform, as well as Obama, are not Nazi-like. (I still don't understand how Nazism has anything to do with the health care reform plans Obama and the Democrats have.)

After I watched that segment, Maddow talked about how nutty Glenn Beck is. She discussed his recent show which he talked about the FEMA concentration camps that many believe the government has set up to imprison citizens and illegal aliens. The discussion made it sound like Beck believes that these camps exist and that the government is ready to use them. Except that Beck stated over and over on his show that the idea was idiotic and it was crazy to believe that there are these camps.

Then she had a Sarah Palin quote read with an annoying voiceover, clearly meant to demean Palin. That's how to promote civility and rational discussion, to mocking someone and acting as if they're stupid? Like many people I've seen lately, they talk a good game about not being hateful or dishonest, but then they do the exact same thing they claim they're trying to stop.

I like Maddow, and she seems like a she's probably be a cool person to hang out with, but I wish she'd be unbiased for once and get her facts straight. There is no difference in the games Democrats and Republicans play. Both play nasty. Instead of only telling half of the story, let's call it how it is.

After I watched that for a couple minutes, I flipped down to the next channel. Sean Hannity's Show; Hannity, was on. The former Miss California, Carrie Prejean, who caused such a stir in the spring, was on, talking about her views on health care reform. Are Republicans really that desperate? Have they really stooped that low? I don't have a big problem with Prejean. She seems like a nice person and I respect her. (Though I think it could be questioned whether she, as a Christian, should have been in a beauty show and gotten breast implants to get ahead.) She handled herself well for everything she went through. But what authority does Ms. California have to talk about health care reform? And why would her opinions interest me?

Speaking of Glenn Beck, I hear a lot of people make fun of him and paint him to be some idiot, because he does some crazy stuff and cries a lot. I disagree with him often and think he's repetitive, just like most radio and talk show hosts; I'm no homer. He's definitely over-the-top, which is sometimes annoying, sometimes a little weird, but usually a entertaining. He's not an idiot; he went to Yale. His life's been filled with tragedy. What person, who's a recovering alcoholic and heroine addict, who has a daughter with cerebral palsy, and had a mother and brother commit suicide, another brother have a fatal heart attack, would not be a little crazy and overly emotional? Most people in his situation would probably be dead. At least he tries to bring some humor and fun to dull political topics. Yet it's alright for Democrats who disagree with him to make fun of him and act like he's stupid. It's good for promoting civility in political debate and surely good for the country.

I saw Tom DeLay, the former House Majority Leader, was recently announced as one of the participants for next's season's Dancing With the Stars. (To show you that I don't follow the show, I don't know anyone who's supposed to be on the year in the upcoming season, and I couldn't name the winner of any of the previous seasons.) Delay was ousted from office for allegations of bribery, and I'm wondering who he bribed here. It seems very strange that he would be on the show. I don't know why anybody would be interested in having him on there. He's not exactly a hot celebrity, or paparazzi material, and he's not very well-liked by a large segment of the population. Strange.

After a minute, I proceeded to flip on down to the Reds game, where they were losing what must have been their 500th consecutive game. ...I soon settled in on the Discovery Channel.

Places I'd Like to Visit

One thing I love is visiting new places and seeing new things. I've traveled to the majority of the states in the United States, but I've traveled outside the country only once. And sadly that was only right across the border into Canada for a look at Niagara Falls for a few hours. There many places I'd like to visit, but here's a top ten. Like David Letterman's Top Ten list, without the laughs. This is in no particular order.

United Kingdom (especially Scotland)
Brazil
Australia
Greece
Spain
Egypt
South Africa
France
Italy
New Zealand

Germany, Portugal, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, India, Jamaica, and Belize would be next on the list.

Jordan would be nice to visit just because I like the name.

I've rediscovered my interest in blogging...more posts coming soon. (With lower prices and better quality!)

If I Wasn't Going into Education...

I was thinking about it, and If I weren't going to be a teacher, these are the careers I would really seriously think consider. Maybe someday.

Filmmaker
Artist (painter)
Musician
Art Historian
Pastor
Marine Biologist
Cultural Sociologist
Chef
Comedian (if only I was funny enough)

My two cents on the swimming pool controversy

I see there is some huge controversy in Philly that's been all over the news because a private pool was allowing a daycare group to use their pool once a week, but after one visit the daycare group was told they wouldn't be able to return and had their money refunded. The issue here is that the daycare group is primarily black and now they (along with a few other civil rights leaders are crying racism. The pool says the issue is safety. Apparently, they only have three to four lifeguards working their two pools, one which is a 110, 000 gallon pool and a smaller pool. This daycare group has approximately fifty-five students, many more than the pool thought they were bringing. The group thinks it's racism because they heard one customer (no adult heard the comment, a child actually reported it) at the pool say "something about there being alot of black kids at the pool that day".

LIke so many of these cases, it sounds like more paranoia about race. Because I've managed several pools before, I do have some background knowledge. A 110,000 galloon pool is pretty good-sized, but with fifty-five students PLUS all of the other customers, that would be an extremely crowded pool. And, of course, the more crowded the pool is the more dangerous it is. A 110,000 pool with so many customers would be very difficult to monitor with such a small staff. The daycare group argued that they had eight staff members on hand as well, but unless they have water safety and rescue training (and of course CPR, First Aid, AED, and oxygen administration training and certifications) they wouldn't be very helpful. The group might think if they bring a few extra hands it's just like them bringing their own lifeguards, but they are entirely wrong. This doesn't even mention the extra discipline problems the staff would have to deal with.

Arlen Specter, the Senator from Pennsylvania, sent a letter to the club urging them to invite the group back saying "racism has no place in the country". I'm sure he was caught up in the hysteria, but he should have been a leader and checked out the facts first.

It seems completely plausible, and likely, that it was unsafe for the club. It makes sense they would apologize and refund the group. Two other daycare groups, which were primarily white, were also told they would not be able to come back. The group might complain, but I wonder how they would react if a kid would have drowned. They probably would have found a way to make that racial too. What I found really sad is that there were kids interviewed on the tv crying because they had been told by the leaders of the daycare center that they were kicked out because the people at the club were racist and didn't like them because they were black. No doubt there is still racism in this country, but it is very, very sad when people look through blind eyes, looking at everything as a racial issue. It's sad when people want to blame race for their problems, instead of taking responsibility or taking a second to understand the situation. It's easy, and lazy, to simply have a problem and say it's a race issue and just say the other person is racist. But it's very damaging and until people stop thinking that way, and more importantly, stop teaching their children to think that way, we will never have a society with healthy race relations.