NYAZEOn Living, Technology and Art

My hypocrisy may have finally caught up with me. You see, back in college, yes children, even I was tempted by the seductive fad of vegetarianism. Guess it was just one too many kundalini yoga books, too much Buddhism, hanging out with trendy spiritual types, drinking almond milk… I thought it was a phase.

That is until I read this.

Now why is it I am repelled by the idea of eating cute little bunnies? Because they are, as mentioned in the article, part of our entrenched pet culture? Jesus, what the hell is a “pet” anyway?

Does a dog taste any worse than a cow? Why don’t we have parrot stew or goldfish sushi? It’s not like plants, where most will kill or make you sick, and we’ve already sussed out the ones that you can and cannot eat. Meat is meat, it’s all the same kind of stuff, and if you cook it, it becomes edible. So why do we pick and choose the animals that find their way into our plates?

I’m bothered, people. I always thought I was a steely-souled carnivore who could happily slit a lamb’s throat if dinner was riding on it. I told myself it was OK if it was halal or kosher – a merciful killing – but who am I kidding? I’m not killing anything with fur, much less big brown Disney eyes. If I’d been the hunter, Bambi would’ve been a documentary.

But I like meat. I really do. I think… I mean, if you season it right… with vegetable-derived substances. And salt. Which is a mineral. Oh and something good to drink. Like beer. Which comes from barley. But the meat is the entree, without which, it’s not really dinner. Everyone knows that, right?

Out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Like the bodies of our loved ones once they die, they are spirited away from us. The next time we see them, they’re made up and pumped full of chemicals, like a sodium-plumped chicken with food coloring to hide the decay.

Can you be a killer by proxy?

And what is a good death? Right now my immune system is killing millions of organisms to keep me healthy. Do they deserve to die? Am I worth their sacrifice? And the vermin I exterminate with sprays, traps and the heel of my foot; what about them? Will my karma answer for that?

Or is there something going on I can’t see?

I mean, what’s really bothering me about these damn rabbits? They’re going to die anyway, like me, like every living thing. Whether they’re run over on the road or just caught by time, the sand is running out on them and us. No one can escape death, so why do we feel morally superior when we postpone it for others? Is there no difference between the Amerindians who used every part of an animal and us who leave scraps and bones on the plate?

Maybe it’s not the killing that’s bothering me. At least, not the physical dying. Maybe what’s really egging me are the cages. The goddamn miserable fucking cages the rabbits are going to be stuck in. The fences that keep the cows in. The pens where the pigs are trapped.

Cockroaches are disgusting, but I don’t mourn them. They were free and chose to invade. The ants have entire globe-spanning civilizations: I don’t mourn them. They die for a purpose, braving my home to seek food for their colony. I respect them and so I cosign them to death without guilt, as honored combatants.

Rabbits on the other hand, zoo animals, miniature pets, sea park whales… I feel great sorrow for these beings. For being locked up, for having their lives thwarted and restricted, only to end up food or entertainment for human beings who give back to the world, what? Smog, litter, islands of trash, oil spills the size of cities? It’s not fair, echoes a voice deep down, it’s not fair…

The rabbits deserve better than us.