I know that somehow, we're saying basically the same thing here Brian . . .let me see if I can clear up what I'm trying to say. I agree that on the whole, this society has a meat imposed diet put upon them. I hate this concept, and understand that this imposition has little or nothing to do with our health and almost everything to do with greed and profit of the meat industry and those people associated with it. As an activist ecofeminist socialist vegetarian, I never (or rarely ever anyway) get much satisfaction of accomplishment from telling individuals what they should or should not do with their lives, what they should or should not put in their bodies, how they can and cannot life. I have had to put up with this discrimination as a woman and as a person living "alternatively" within this system (well, not truly alternatively, but being a veggie is a small minority in these parts) and while I don't believe that reverse discrimination is a reality - for how can a minority group with little or now power discriminate against their oppressors - I don't think that reducing our movement to that of the majority is the right solution either. I'm not saying that I don't actively share my views or my opinions with individuals. I'm just saying that I try very very hard to not judge them or think less than them (not saying that you do Brian) like many vegetarians (for example) that I know do. Two wrongs, don't make a right. I feel that it is better to direct my anger at the system at the system rather than at individuals who are players in it (not that they are innocent victims, but educating them rather than condemning them is my approach.) If I want to live in a vegetarian society, it seems that fighting the meat industry while teaching the benefits of a vegetarian diet to others is better than fighting against individuals. Again, I'll restate that I feel that there is a difference between eating meat which one purchases at the grocery store and hunting/providing for oneself. Perhaps you're right and every single individual who has ever killed something feels a tremendous amount of guilt for the slaughter, but a person in touch with nature, who knows nature, and who kills for survival probably either (1) doesn't feel as guilty or (2) feels more guilty, but understands why and accepts it . . . I suggest that you read some Native American folklore (I have many titles at home) that shows the interconnectness of all nature - how we as humans are one with the deer and vice versa and killing is not viewed as an unnatural thing, but an accepted practice harmonious with the natural world. >To what extent do you think that the feelings behind your vegetarian >lifestyle are special to you, NOT felt by others such as men or people >in other cultures? I guess I don't really think about things like that - perhaps you became a vegetarian for exactly the same reasons as me, perhaps for totally different reasons. Nobody TOLD me to be a vegetarian, it was something I discovered on my own, through education, through self-exploration. All I meant by that statement was that it's really nobody's business why I became a vegetarian and I'm fed up with people trying to judge me or catch in the act of doing something non-vegan-like (such as wearing leather shoes, which, BTW, I still do since I found it pointless to throw away all my leather goods when I vegged out four years ago. I didn't stop buying leather products until two years ago) If you became a vegetarian for the same reasons as me - that's great. If you became a vegetarian because you dislike meat, that's fine too. If you became a vegetarian because little green men from Mars showed up on your doorstep with Vegan propaganda, okay by me. (I'm not being rude here, just trying to lighten the mood a bit) On cats . . . do we truly know whether or not cats can feel emotions such as guilt for killing another creature? If we are truly equal with all animals - as we are all animals - then I see nothing wrong with drawing parallels between different species. And, I never "insisted" that people kill with the grace of a cat. I merely stated that, IMO, if a person kills with the grace of a cat, I see nothing wrong with that. Big difference. My whole point is to not insist that anybody do anything. While I'd like it if everyone was a vegetarian, as our relatives the gorillas are, this is not going to happen if I walk around screaming at my human family about the destruction they're causing. Something tells me that nobody would listen to me. Tj.
