Food for Thought on Whether Human Beings Should be Carnivores

[krsna]

Food for Thought on Whether Human Beings Should be Carnivores

 

www.washingtonpost.com

 

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2006:

 

Writer William Saleton has given readers food for thought on the practice of eating meat. He mentioned the ability of a person to munch away on a burger and then pet the household dog. Psychiatrists call this behavior "cognitive dissonance." Saleton questions whether we really have the right to ignore the habit of eating meat in view of all the evidence that shows animals may be our fellow creatures.

 

He explains, "The case for eating meat is like the case for other traditions: It's natural, it's necessary, and there's nothing wrong with it. But sometimes, we're mistaken. We used to think we were the only creatures that could manipulate grammar, make sophisticated plans or recognize names out of context. In the past month, we've discovered the same skills in birds and dolphins. In recent years, we've learned that crows fashion leaves and metal into tools. Pigeons deceive each other. Rats run mazes in their dreams. Dolphins teach their young to use sponges as protection. Chimps can pick locks. Parrots can work with numbers. Dogs can learn words from context. We thought animals weren't smart enough to deserve protection. It turns out we weren't smart enough to realize they do."

 

Scientists seem to agree that at one time meat was necessary in the diet for human beings to survive but that was thousands of years ago. Now we know that we can get all the nutrition we need to sustain a healthy body from a vegetarian diet. So Saleton questions why we keep eating meat. He adds, "If we were just beasts, that would end the discussion. But we're not. Evolution didn't stop with our lusts; it started there. Food gave us brainpower. Technology lifted us above survival and gave us time to think. We began to understand the operation of living things, even ourselves. We saw what we were, and we saw what we could be. That's the paradox of humanity: Our aspirations transcend our nature, but they have to respect it. To become what we must become, we have to work with what we are."

 

In the very same way present society now condemns animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, slavery and the subjugation of women. Saleton points out that at one time this was the norm and that 300 years from now, when our descendants look back at slaughterhouses the way we look back at slavery, they won't remember the benefits to us but they'll want to know whether we saw the moral calling of our age.