DARE to Face the TRUTH!
Few weeks ago, my brother told me that he decided to become a vegetarian. At first, I thought he did it for his health, but that's not the reason. The reason is simple - he doesn't want to involve in animal killings.
When I was ten, the inquisitive me asked my aunt (who was then a dedicated Buddhist) why do we eat meat when the teaching of Buddha prohibits us to kill? She simply answered, "because we are not the ones who actually do the killing." If I have the chance to meet her again, I will tell her that she was wrong. How do you get to eat those animals if you don't help killing them? Make sense, doesn't it?
But still, many of us ignore the fact that the animals that we "kill" everyday is due to daily human consumption of meats. According to animalcruelty.com, we kill over ten billion of animals annually for our meals. Or maybe we are too "chicken" to face the fact that animals are actually suffering from the act of humans?
One of my colleagues told me that it's "natural" to eat animals. I wonder, does that mean all those who don't consume meats are considered un-natural, weirdo and abnormal? Another girl said it's all about circle of life. She commented, "I eat those animals, and when I die, those bacteria will eat my body too." Yeah, but are you forced to die for the sake of those bacteria? Will you be suffering for those hungry eating micro creatures? Sometimes it's all about common sense.
Some may argue that eating plants, vegetables and fruits is also considered as killing, but we have to survive to continue living in this world. There's no scientific evident stating that cutting a celery will cause it to suffer. Cutting a chicken at its throat is a whole different story.
It's up to you to judge what is right...and what is wrong. Pictures are courtesy from all-creatures.org
Double beef burgers, anyone?
If these pictures make you sick, think about it when you eat those burgers/steaks.
Imagine yourself in its position. If I were you, I rather eat salad.
Animals are NOT meant to be experimented! Just because they can't voice out their rights doesn't mean that they should be tortured and suffered in pain.
The next time before you purchase any animal products, such as fur, for the sake of vanity...think about those who suffer and die for the sake of you.
Cats are waiting to die for bowl of soups in Korea. Imagine that's your own pet dog.
Dogs are being tied and suffocated before being hung and slaughtered for meat in Korea. Dogs are men's best friends? Or men are dog's worst enemies?
What's so great about kosher or "halal" beef? One thing for sure is those animals suffer more than normal slaughtering.
Sorry for making your stomach upset because those pictures are meant to do that. They are also reminders for all of us that animals have the right to survive in this earth. The only person to stop these cruelty begins with you. Here are some tips to help those animals and help yourself:
- Go vegan or vegetarian!
- Participate in local animal support such as SPCA.
- Stop buying animals from pet shops! Adopt animals instead!
- Get your pets "fixed", especially dogs and cats.
- Sign a petition to urge Korean government to ban consumption of dogs and cats!!! Your 30 seconds signature will help save thousand of dogs and cats in Korea. (View video on dogs slaugthering)
- Spread the words to every person you know & spread LOVE to all the animals.
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." ~ Alice Walker
posted by mikey at 12:28 AM
15 Comments:
I have this thought myself too when I realised that we are barbaric to consume another to live. But realising the fact being a Vegan, you actually do eat plants too and plants are still considered as another living thing. Another life, equally as precious as a human's or an animal's. Just because they can not exhibit their emotions like we do, doesnt mean that they deserve any from us.
But my point isn't a full rebuttal to whatever you wrote but just a mere idea i wish to share. It's true that we have to eat animals. yet sometimes they say that we are forbidden from killing. However, to consume is a must for us and also another means for our survival as we are holozoic organisms... which means that we have to eat another to live and we cant make our own food out of air and energy.
And here you forbid yourself from eating another living organism yet, if they survive from being eaten by you, will they survive being eaten by other types of carnivorous/omnivorous animals?
We have to eat to survive. We need the protein that they give or we will die. But the only thing that is not appropriate is to abuse that little right we have to consume another. Killing for pleasure is wrong, like hunting. killing more than enough for our own consumption is as bad as an abuse.
Sorry to say, but we kill when we have to. What we can do is to reduce killing. And killing a plant is STILL killing another life. A fruit is a plant's child too...
It's how the life circle is. But I'm just expressing an opinion and hoping that you would consider these little things.
-Just a Passerby-
agree to what you've said. i'm a vegetarian and it was the reason after seeing a truck load of white chickens soaked in wet rain, cramped in cages being delivered to slaughterhouse.
ermm ok.
Nice post. I really liked it.
Have you read Fast-Food Nation? I belive there's a movie version coming out too.
Another interesting link: www.meatrix.com.
You raise many good points. However, from a biological perspective, we ARE an omnivorous species. There are parts of the world where vegetables barely grow for two months a year and there are parts where they don't grow at all. The entire Inuit population would be wiped out if they went vegan, for example.
Having said that, does someone in Southern California need to be on a meat and potatoes diet? Probably not. We have more choices, and we must excercise them. We have a choice to be vegetarian or vegan, or to control the amount of meat in our diets. It's a personal choice.
I think its great you have taken a stand on this issue! As much as I love animals, I believe all things should be done in moderation. And we all should have the free will to choose. Fortunately I am having a carrot for dinner as I read this post....
Go read the other side of the story
http://mtd.com/tasty/
Thanks for the all the comments.
Firstly, I wanna clarify that I'm not forcing anyone who's reading my post to become a vegan or vegetarian. Instead, I just wanna inform and persuade you all about the reality of life when you consume, buy, or support animal products. Besides, there are so many benefits of becoming a vegan/vegetarian, which includes a better health. (Imagine leaving raw/cooked meats over night on the table...that is exactly what's gonna happen in your digestive system when you consume them.)
Secondly, there are way too many foods in this world for us humans to consume besides animal products. You may argue that other larger animals consume smaller ones for the sake of circle of life. This applies to animals because they are not like humans and most animals cannot use their brains for higher critical thinking (they use their instincts for survival).
Thirdly, I wanna let everyone understands that animal cruelty is actually happening for the sake of human beings, either for consumption, purchase or pleasure. WE KILL ANIMALS FOR THE SAKE OF OURSELVES and we are taking this granted. Yes, we have to eat for survival, and yes, eating plants/vegetables/fruits is considered killing as well. But if you look closely and make comparision between killing an animal and a plant, there are huge extremes between them. There is no scientific evidence that killing a plant will cause it to suffer like animals. Killing a plant may destroy its cells, tissues and organelles, but killing an animal causes pain and suffering to it. In order for us to survive, we have the choice to select the lowest form of livings for our consumption, if possible. Yes, we have the choice to choose what we eat, but REMEMBER, WE ALSO HAVE THE CHOICE TO STOP THE PAIN OF OTHER LIVING CREATURES.
And no, we don't need animal proteins to survive...we can get that from plants, although plant proteins are lacking a few types of amino acids.
And yes, I've read a few sections of Fast Food Nations. In fact, I used that book as one of my sources in my research paper.
i didn't dare look at the pictures you posted. such pics freak me out. i am vegan and it's one of the best choices i've ever made.
nice one!! keep it up!
interesting blog,
I respect for vegans or vegetarians...
The facts are that human beings evolved in a situation where animal protein was a part of their diet. So that animal protein is now an essential part of any diet, especially in the diet of young rapidly growing children.
A diet without animal protein will result in stunted growth and reduced physical and mental development.
So that aiming at a completely vegetarian diet for the reasons outlined is nonsense and dangerous
The photos you have published altho true are inflammatory and not a representational of how animals are humanely slaughtered for human consumption in developed countries.
You would be better off directing your efforts to the more humane slaughter of animals in third world countries
The law of nature is such that what is a prey must also be a predator to maintain the balance. So I don't quite view the killing of animals for food as barbaric even though I am a big proponent of vegetarianism.
As for the other inhuman 'truths' you cite, there's is no condoning that, no matter what the justification.
Here's another thought provoking post on animal rights that you might want to read:
article
Pain is only a reflex mechanism for animals to sustain our life, just like our five senses. Just because plants don’t have pain as one of their senses, why should they be treated with lesser passion than that of animals?? Life is life, whether we like it or not, be it a plant or an animal, be it somewhere ‘high’ in the food chain or something as primitive and as ‘low’ as a microbe.
Again, I’m not actually on any side, be it being vegan or otherwise, I’m just wondering, why the second class treatment to another being and not consider their existence in this planet?
When we all became vegans and we consume them. Does it mean that their purpose of existence caters only for human being? With their existing role of maintaining the carbon cycle and giving us air to breathe and now being human’s major diet?
When that happens, are we just as fair and not cruel if we are to consume solely on plants?
Again, I’m not rebutting your intention to be a vegan, but just a question of ‘why the need of a second class treatment to another group of living being’ I’m just saying, be fair.
-Passerby-
MY dear your blog looks AWEsome! See how left out i'm. been quite a while didn't blog and hardly visit others. sigh, should come back more often.
What an eye-opener. Even I, as a lifelong vegetarian, did not know about the cruelty involved in meat products. Thanks for your post.
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