Calling animals "meat"

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Comment by CheL on September 10, 2009 at 2:47pm

good point, gil.
also, you crack me up. :)

Comment by Bethany on September 10, 2009 at 12:37am

Interesting clip.... I love the point that Dawkins was making.

Comment by Gil on September 10, 2009 at 12:06am

Love that clip Charles

Comment by Gil on September 9, 2009 at 11:59pm

Oh...the point! I forgot about the point! I guess what I wanted to say that although originally those word substitues may have been okay because people where connected and conscious of their food...now, those words have become dangerous because people lack that hands on meat connection. Everything is packaged and neat..far removed from the original context. I fear future generations may not even know what animal beef or tuna;) comes from...

Comment by Gil on September 9, 2009 at 11:55pm

The Spanish is carne...which can mean flesh too. The carn root says a lot to me...like carnage, carnal, carnivore. It reminds me of destruction for whatever reasons.

I dunno why, but this all reminded me of that infamous Jessica Simpson clip where she asks Nick if Tuna is chicken or fish. Yes, we have become that disconnected.

I would say that originally there may have been nothing wrong with using word substitutes like beef or pork as back in the day many more people had a closer relationship with their fellow animals. I remember going shopping with my mother as a kid and it would be a full afternoon because we had to go to one shop for fruits/veggies, the butchers for meat (and no the irony of the term butcher is not lost on me), and then we'd go to the fish market. Mind you, I was born in raised in Manhattan - "the city that has it all." My mom even had a manual meat grinder at home...so u can imagine that you are always conscious of what you're eating that way.

I remember the butcher and fish market combining...then supermarkets came and did away with those. Fast food chains didn't help much either. Now, I am still fairly young but I am glad that I can remember different times. Also, I don't think it is weird that someone calls meat by names like Bessie. My grandpa had a farm in the Dominican Republic. I had many pet chickens that I loved. I remember the first time I saw a chicken slaughtered, I was 8...it put me off chicken for a long time. But, oddly, it was as humane a death as can be had under the circumstances. I think it is because people respected the animals more because they were conscious of taking it's life.

BTW, there is a "vivero" (poultry slaughter shop, yes I say shop because u can go there to get "fresh" meat killed while you wait) around the block from where I live in Manhattan. Which I am guessing is legal? But u can find them in hispanic neighborhoods out here...I think the smell alone is enough to make anyone a vegetarian but...

sorry, and God bless you if managed to read all of my lunatic ramblings:)

Comment by Charles on September 9, 2009 at 11:54pm

Douglas Adams wrote about a cow that wanted to be eaten in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Comment by Erin on September 9, 2009 at 11:52pm

Thanks, Chel!
Sometimes I think about the animal and I feel that if I were the animal and I knew I was going to be eaten, I'd hope that whoever was going to eat me would appreciate my sacrifice and I'd be serving a purpose- not just an appetite!
PS- I really want to read that book too!

Comment by Persephone on September 9, 2009 at 11:48pm

I read that book :)

Comment by CheL on September 9, 2009 at 11:34pm

i think your gratitude is beautiful, Erin. :)

i'm reading a book right now about plant consciousness. "the secret life of plants". very long story short, plants want to live too. they only like their fruit to be eaten when fully ripe so we (or other animals) can spread the seeds. i think about this because when i eat, say, watermelon, and swallow some seeds, i don't spread them since i go in the toilet. also, i bought a few seedless watermelons, which to me, seems like the plants' purpose has been taken from it. the seedless fruits don't taste as sweet to me. i think that's why...
even with plants i think it's important to have the utmost reverence and respect for the contribution the plant has made.
no diet is a free pass.
gratitude is the most important meal. :)

Comment by Erin on September 9, 2009 at 11:15pm

I think it's fine to call it by it's name.
I do eat some meat (after being vegetarian for 16 years). Shocking, I know. I have no problem thinking of the animal I'm eating- in fact, I can't NOT think of it and so I am doing it very consciously and giving thanks to it. I didn't go back to meat eating willingly or eagerly and I don't take it lightly at all. I consider it almost a sacrament- a sacrifice on the part of the animal and a sacrifice on my part of having to suspend my idea of what was right. It was not an easy choice and I'd go another route if I felt I could heal that way.
I am at peace with it, though. If the Dalai Lama eats a small amount of meat for health reasons, I can be at peace, spiritually, with the practice.

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