Desensitization is Learned, Not Inborn

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we’d all be vegetarian.”

– Paul McCartney

I regularly get asked what it was that made me decide to go the vegan route. After all, being a raving lover and supporter of steak and bacon, how could I make the 180? It seems ironic.

I’m not even going to talk about all the numerous health benefits I believe a vegan diet has. Getting right to it, it was for the ethical side of things.

I ultimately believe that having the idea that we are superior and more worthy of life than another being or race is the cause of all that is wrong in this world. It is when people begin to feel this fictitious superiority that we get things like racism and sexism.

And now, we have speciesism.

Animals are huge to me. And I believe everyone deserves a chance and a right to live. I believe that reproducing animals for the purpose of killing and exploiting is wrong, and not only is it destroying the health of many people, it is destroying whatever is left of compassion and empathy in human beings.

It comes to a point where you have to ask yourself: “At what age did I lose my compassion?”

To be quite honest, it seems strange to me when people can see and hear of atrocities going on not only in farming, but zoos, aquariums, “hunting for sport” circuses, fur trade, etc. and turn a complete blind eye to it, or are completely unaffected by the knowledge of it. Since when has killing and hurting innocent beings simply for the sake of taste, “sport”, or viewing pleasure ever been okay?

When I was a kid, I used to go fishing with my dad and brothers when we went camping. One day I caught a couple of small fish (perch, I believe), and was so proud of myself. I put them in a bucket full of water and left them to play. When I sat down to dinner that night, I saw two things: an empty bucket, and a plate of fish.

Putting two and two together, I cried. A lot. I thought I was going to keep them as pets.

I still get made fun of for it to this day by my siblings.

But I didn’t eat fish for quite some time after that. And when I was a kid, steak wasn’t a cow. It was steak. If I would have put two and two together, I would have stopped eating cows too.

Somewhere along the line, although I eventually realized where all my food was coming from, I had been somewhat brainwashed. And of course, this was due to culture and upbringing, but there was a disconnect. If I saw a cow or pig in front of me, I would pet it, feed it, think it was cute, etc. But if it was on my plate, the fact that it was an animal didn’t even cross my mind. I just ate it.

The disconnect was so strong that even though I knew what animal was on my plate, it just didn’t sink it. Not until I really did more research, and realized what went on behind the smiling cow on the front of the milk carton.

Drink your milk, kids! (not)

That’s when I decided to make the switch.

(Can you imagine – some people actually are surprised by the fact that cows don’t just constantly produce milk? It’s amazing how dumbed-down society has become due to constant pressure from the dairy industry. We are lead to believe that cows just need to be milked constantly, and if we don’t milk them they will die from the swelling in their udders. What a load of bullshit.)

The funny thing is, while people are so convinced that eating meat is normal for humans, we pick and choose what is okay and what is not okay to eat. What other omnivore/carnivore in nature does that?

It’s funny how animal abuse is justified if it is done on a mass profitable level, but when it is done as a single act against one innocent being, it is an atrocity.

If you saw somebody on the street, dragging a poor and sick animal by a rope around the neck, and beating it every time it fell to the ground from exhaustion, what would you do? Most would say something, or call someone for help. Some would jump in, and some would watch idly. But I guarantee nobody is thinking, “Wow, I bet that will taste good when it’s dead.” Most of you are thinking, hey – that’s really fucked up.

So ask yourself: what is the difference?

Why is eating a dog not okay, but eating a cow is fine?

Why does raw flesh gross us out?

Why does the thought of eating a dead animal – flesh, skin, eyes, ears, brain, feet, tail, and fur – disgust us?

Why do we have to cook our meat to digest it?

Why are we friends with our victims before we eat them?

Why do we become repulsed when we hear about cruelty and the treatment of farm animals, but still continue to eat them?Why does the thought of killing an innocent being make you uncomfortable, but eating one doesn’t?

 

Just some things you have to think about.

“So why not just buy meat/dairy from humane farms?”

There is no such thing as a “humane” farm. There is no way to humanely kill something. What does that even mean? That you cuddled it and read it bedtime stories before slitting its throat? That you allowed it to live 3 years of it’s life (instead of it’s capable 15-20) instead of just 2?

Really. Come on now.

There is simply no humane way to kill somebody, just like there is no way to humanely rape somebody. So don’t kid yourself. Are the animals steroid/antibiotic-free? Perhaps. Are they somewhat healthier? Maybe. But it doesn’t make it any more humane.

A humane farm is a sanctuary farm. Where the animals are able to live their full lives, give birth to and raise their young, roam free, and live happily.

THAT is a humane farm, and the only kind of farm I would support.

That’s better. 🙂

So far, my switch has been nothing but positive. My training has been going well, my energy is stable and high, and I feel an overwhelming amount of peace with myself and others.

Oh, and the physique hasn’t suffered anything negative either. I was “warned” about losing muscle and strength, but that certainly hasn’t been the case. If anything, I look better lately. So Suck it, non-believers! 😉

 

(A quick note: I do not force my beliefs upon people. I simply answer questions when asked, but it doesn’t mean I have to be completely silent with my thoughts either. If you are offended by the fact that I post vegan recipes, Facebook updates, or things regarding exposure of animal cruelty, then feel free to just stop following me.

People do not stop posting pictures of meat everywhere. People still make fun of vegans and vegetarians to no end. My fiance still eats meat. I do not self-righteously judge – I simply ignore what I do not care for, and try to help when and where I can.

But just so you know, the whole “needs more bacon” or “oh so cute, I want to cook it” jokes were not funny the first time, and they aren’t funny when they are repeated. So shut the fuck up.)

 

I will leave you all with this final, very wonderful quote:

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creatures through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion.

We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man.

In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.

They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth”.

– Henry Beston

———

Hope that clears up the “why”!

Eat well, train hard.