Predators

Today I'm watching a TED talk by Jacey Reese Anthis, the social scientist I mentioned in my previous post. It's titled The End of Animal Farming.

Jacey asks the audience how many of them are vegetarians or vegans. It was only about 5% (I'm a vegetarian). Then he asked how many had read or heard reports of all the downsides of factory farming - almost all had. That's pretty depressing because it means, at least to me, that people don't care about facts - they just want what they want.

Jacey believes this can change with a better way of informing people of the cruelty of factory farming, and of the benefits to the environment, to health, to our economy, of going vegan or vegetarian.

I am not optimistic. People eat meat for a number of reasons .... they like the taste of a pork chop, or they believe eating meat is more healthy. Those reasons can be worked around. But I believe there's a much more disturbing reason people eat meat ... they believe it's their right, they believe they are the apex predators of this planet and that animals are here for them to dominate or exterminate. I don't know how else to explain behaviors like hunting in a world where hunters don't need to kill for nourishment.