|
Editorial PETA can bite me |
|
Animals are tasty. If they didn’t want me to eat them they would stop being so tasty. I make no apologies for my carnivorous habits. Humans are designed to be omnivores. We have eyeteeth for the tearing of flesh and molars for the mandibular mastication of meat (that means chewing). Why would you want to go against something as natural as being born with teeth that exist solely for eating of meat? I love steak. A Big juicy steak with a baked potato, chives, sour cream, HP sauce, and heaping piles of bacon bits. The delightful aroma, rich colours, sumptuous textures, and the knowledge that I have indirectly supported the wholesale murder and slaughter of animals all contribute to my feeling of superiority as a human being. The natural order of animals was once drawn in terms of who ate whom, and humans were on top. This hasn’t changed. Just as corporations line us up in front of the televisions for mass consumption and exploitation, we line up countless numbers of animals of all varieties for processing, where they will eventually end up on my plate. There are those out there who claim animals have rights. Activists claim animals have the rights to life, freedom, and even the pursuit of happiness. With rights come responsibilities. Animals are not socially conscientious citizens. Animals live and die. Free animals, surprise, surprise, eat other animals. That’s precious meat that could have ended up in my unapologetic belly. An animal cannot make political decisions and cannot exist beyond its nature, which is that of a creature. Are they self-aware? I doubt it. Do animals feel pain? Of course. I may be a cheerful eater of animals but it does not seem unreasonable to me to kill the quarry in the cleanest, most efficient and painless way possible while ensuring it doesn’t affect human health interests. Animal rights activists range from reasonable to downright, four white walls, loony toons crazy. Campaigning for the painless deaths of livestock is reasonable. Firebombing medical research labs that conduct animal testing in pursuit of manufacturing biomedicines to treat diseases like diabetes, small pox and flu is bat shit crazy. If we look at the order of the food chain, humans remain on top. What is more valuable, human life or the life of a goldfish? These very loony toons have some picture in their minds that animals are self aware, feeling creatures on par with those of human kind. A cow does not have aspirations beyond chewing its cud. It’s easy to make silly connections between pets and people. Animals just seem to have human personalities because we project our feelings upon them, distorting reality. One girl who found out her goat had died burst into hysterics, wailing and making quite the scene. I am sure she felt a strong connection to the goat; it was probably quite sad. But to deny the goat further usefulness by not turning him into food and/or glue products is just a waste of a perfectly good goat cadavre. The goat was not a person. The goat was a goat. Livestock. Probably lacking in any sense beyond bleating and eating grass. If the activists get their way we will be eating nuts, berries and asparagus for the rest of our days. While nuts, berries and asparagus are all part of a balanced diet, so is meat. Soy products are fine with me. Want to be a vegetarian? Have fun with that. I don’t want to prevent anyone from being vegetarian. I just don’t want to hear irrational, sentimental accounts about being a bad person for eating meat and meat byproducts. Animals taste grrrrreat. Matt Barton Acting Features Editor |