The McNugget Syndrome

I was raised on good, old-fashioned, all-American food.  Meaning that, at seven, my favorite food was a hot dog.  Even now, I would die for my mother's spaghetti and meatballs, not to mention the wonderful aroma of boiled ham and roasted potatoes that is at this very instant causing my stomach to growl unhappily.  Very few of the dinners I eat have no meat.  In fact, the only ones I can think of are ones of solely pasta.  But considering my outrage about the ongoing cruelties done to pets, I have begun to question whether or not I believe they extend to livestock as well.  Not to say that I believe the animal processing industry is being cruel to animals in any way, but these animals are dying.

To investigate the side against slaughter, I researched many different websites holding a surprisingly wide variety of views on the subject of the rightness of vegetarianism/veganism.  The most credible website is by far PETA's, the large, nationwide group against animal cruelty.  By browsing their front page, I was able to learn why someone might convert, so to speak, to a meat-free lifestyle.

First, animals are portrayed as living, breathing creatures, which they most certainly are.  PETA has the cutest picture of a pig on this slide, making me regret the ham I have just consumed.  Poor pig.  But then there is a link to a video showing the realities of slaughterhouses.  Do not click on that video if you have had anything, especially meat, to eat in the past hour.  That film spares no drop of blood, no picture to get their message across; slaughterhouses do not use the latest technology to humanely kill, if such a thing exists, and animals are treated as if they were simply corn or sugar.  How can that be real?

Where I live, it is easy to drive out, say fifteen miles, and see scores of cattle grazing on open fields.  Not being an authority on cows, I can't honestly say if these cows are destined for a hamburger or not.  But if they were, this image is totally inconsistent with the video.  These cows wander up to small streams, stand in the shade, eat the remnants of a corn harvest.  Even so, I can't say for sure what goes on inside a slaughterhouse.  If the images in the video were correct, I never EVER want to eat another piece of meat again in my life.

Second, the PETA website makes the argument that eating meat is bad for our planet.  It seems as though everything, from eating meat to planting a garden could be bad for the environment, simply because you might disturb the world of an earthworm.  But no one really cares about the earthworm, do they?  As humans, it has become inevitable that our every action will affect the environment in some way, although it isn't a prerequisite of humanity for the effect to be a negative one.  The meat industry is said by scientists (although which scientists it is impossible to say, because no studies have been sighted for my pleasure) to release more greenhouse gases - the cause of our environmental demise - than all of our big bad SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships COMBINED.  If this is true (which we will never know for sure because PETA did not cite their resources), then the meat industry is in need of drastic change.  Something I find easy to believe is the enormous 4000 gallons of water it takes per day to sustain a meat-eater's diet.  If you take into account the amount of sanitation, consumed water, and steam needed to run machines, this number sounds right.  But 4000 gallons a day... that would help our world get rid of some of the most widespread diseases in our population.  Most of the world's sickness comes from lack of clean water, but here we are, ready to waste 4000 gallons PER DAY to satisfy our appetite.  Apparently, 33% of the raw materials and fossil fuels we use in this country go to raise animals to die for us, a horrible, incriminating number.  And lastly, the meat packing (including slaughter) industry pollutes the surrounding rivers and lakes more than any other industry.  Which makes sense, if you think of all the organic matter that is in that water.

PETA appeals next to America's need for a smaller rear end.  The entire page says that vegetarianism/veganism is the best thing a person can do for their health.  A weight loss story (complete with shocking photos) and the assurance that you can receive all your vitamins without consuming meat complete the slide.  Well America, your diet of hot dogs and hamburgers, coupled with inactivity, hasn't worked, so maybe it's time to try something new.

The rest of the slides reassure the now disgusted and unhappy reader that making the transition will be okay, the food isn't that bad if you're creative, and vegetarianism/veganism fits any one's lifestyle.  PETA doesn't require money from the people they "convert", so the question is raised why does this organization care?  After searching their website, I believe that these people care simply because they believe that eating meat is going against something intrinsic in humanity, something that raises our species above others.  We can love, we can empathize, and we can be compassionate, so PETA is wondering why we forgo our humanity when the dinner bell rings.

But it's so much more complicated than that.  Choosing this lifestyle is more than an individual decision because it affects every aspect and every person in your life.  For instance, if I were to become a vegetarian, none of the rest of my family feels the way I would, so obviously we would clash.  In addition, the vegetarian lifestyle is more expensive than the popular diet.  Produce costs more than potato chips, and not as many things come already-packaged (which may be a good thing if you consider the amount of preservatives and additives you consume a day- it's frightening).  If a person were to consider a meat-free or an animal product-free lifestyle, they should know that this decision is not to be made after seeing a shocking video.  It is not to be made because they want to lose weight.  As with any decision of beliefs, a radical diet change should be considered long and hard.

Animal cruelty is something that makes me sick to my stomach.  However, before these last few weeks, I could only understand it as it related to pets and livestock outside of slaughter.  I always believed slaughter was done in a humane fashion, although I still remain unconvinced that cruel practices are normal.  Saying that, I have no experience inside a slaughterhouse and cannot say for sure what happens inside their walls.  I feel as though I'm five years old again, sitting in the back seat of our family minivan, savoring some McNuggets while I ask my mother what McNuggets are made of.  I remember seeing her hesitate and then tell me they're made of chickens.  I had seen chickens in my farm books that made special farm noises, and eating a chicken, especially if there was a possibility that it had been fluffy, gave me a pang of guilt.  My five-year-old mind soon suppressed the upsetting information and I moved on to eat more McNuggets.  Somehow, I don't want to continue that state of nutritional agnoticism.  Above all, I want to know the truth of the world, no matter how hard it is to hear, because truth, however revolting, will in any circumstance point to the right decision.