by Sharon Seltzer
Robert Grillo, who wrote 5 Reasons Why Meat Eating is Not a Personal Choice, reviewed many of the comments raised by Care2 readers about the story and wrote a follow up intended to address the most common concerns and counter arguments on the subject.
How many times have you heard someone justify their behavior based on the illogical premise that history somehow makes it right and assures its ethical legitimacy into the future? In fact, throughout history influential leaders and thinkers have used this same troubled logic to defend slavery, genocide, the oppression of women, racism, and discrimination based on a whole host of irrelevant criteria including sexual orientation, religion, color and now species.
In my discussions with people both online and in person, I find this interpretation of history and evolution to be one of the most common “apologies”for meat eating I hear these days. I see it as yet another way to avoid honestly confronting the moral issue of using and killing animals for food in an age when it is not necessary. Some actually sympathize with the position of vegans and vegetarians, yet still default to this argument which explains perhaps why 95% of us continue to blindly follow the cultural norms reinforced in us since childhood.
But when we are open to taking a critical look at what we have been taught, the modern myth of man evolving to eat meat can be challenged on several levels. Here are a few of them:
1. Because we are highly evolved moral beings, averse to violence and suffering
If evolution teaches us anything at all, it teaches us that our moral consciousness and our emotional intelligence are a result of highly developed areas of our brain that afford us these faculties. ”… humans are the only animals that can intentionally structure the patterns of our lives according to a basic set of self-aware moral ideals, “writes journalist and professor James McWilliams.” This ability, which is generally premised on reducing unnecessary pain and suffering, happens to be the foundation of human civilization.”
2. Because Einstein said so
Ironically the idea that man has somehow evolved to eat meat stands in stark contrast to the evolutionary and ethical theory of one of the greatest scientific minds who ever lived, Albert Einstein. Einstein argued that mankind would need to evolve to vegetarianism to essentially save himself and the planet. “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
So if the argument from history carries so much weight for most of us, will a mainstream move to vegetarianism as Einstein predicted ever occur? I think so. For one thing, the interpretation of history that meat eaters use to justify meat eating is selectively referenced from those historical sources that support the practice of meat eating, while ignoring the rest. They also go only as far back into history and the origins of hominids to support this position, while once again ignoring our close ancestral relatives who were primarily or entirely herbivores.
3. Because so called progressive should think progressively about animals too
Even more ironic still is how otherwise progressive-minded people today continue to support the oppressive forces in our society with their food choices, the same forces that they have adamantly opposed in other areas of their life - in their political leanings, in their religious and spiritual beliefs, in the kind of media and entertainment they seek, in the kind of books and magazines they read, etc. Still the oppression of animals remains unexamined for most progressives, and their food choices perpetuate a deep denial of this oppression. But this too appears to be changing. Victoria Moran, author of Main Street Vegan, recounts of her friendship with Michael Moore who she describes as “anti-vegan” at one point in his life. Now, she reports, he is on the vegan path.
4. Because glorifying the history of man’s baser instincts thwarts evolution
Yet even in the face of these exciting new developments, groups like the Weston A. Price Foundation continue to frame history in a vacuum, building their case for meat eating and consequently the more covert goal of promoting the animal products produced by their membership. Other variations on the theme include the ever popular Paleo diet fan sites where you’ll find a vast ancestral mythology on the rituals of eating animals, referencing allegedly scientific, anthropological and cultural studies to prove it. Upon closer inspection, however, many of these sources are little more than widely held opinions rather than empirical evidence that substantiate the claims about the diets of our ancestors. There is yet much to debate on this subject and few hard and fast facts.
5. Because by focusing on our potential to do good now, we overcome the oppressive tendencies of our past
All of this talk of what is right for us to eat based on past example distracts us from dealing with the here and now for which we have complete control. No one is arguing that we don’t have a long history of hunting and eating animals. The timelier question is why in an age when meat eating is unnecessary (for the vast majority of the human population) would we want to focus on what our ancestors ate some 10,000 years ago or more? To paraphrase author Colleen Patrick Goudreau, why would we want to base our ethics for eating on our paleontological ancestors whose lives were dictated by a vastly different set of circumstances and for whom we still have many unanswered questions? Certainly there are lessons to learn from history on many levels, but in relating historical facts to present circumstances, context and relevancy is everything.
6. Because the lessons from history strongly support the opposite
When confronting the argument from history, I say, first, agree with that person wholeheartedly. Then explain how the history and evolution of other social justice movements can instruct us and galvanize us about the future of the vegan / animal rights movement. One common thread that runs through all of these movements is that they were ultimately successful in permeating mainstream culture and society.
They may have begun as fringe movements whose followers were ridiculed and dismissed as extremists, but their leaders ended up being canonized in the history books and described as pioneers who popularized their social movements. And many of these leaders clearly articulated the need for both human and nonhuman animal rights, including Cezar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., and Alice Walker. A modern-day case in point is filmmaker and activist James LaVeck who makes a compelling case for how the British anti-slavery movement serves as an example and inspiration for the contemporary animal rights movement in his presentation, Let’s Not Give Up Before We Get Started.
7. Because our appetite for justice is far stronger
In the words of Victor Hugo, “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” It appears that we are standing on the threshold of an era when the tyranny of history is about to be dealt yet another serious blow. As the vegan / animal rights movement continues to gain momentum, mankind’s deplorable and largely unchallenged legacy of treating animals as property, currency, objects and cheap, disposable pieces of meat is coming under greater scrutiny than ever before in our history. This makes the infamous statement, Man Has Evolved to Eat Meat, seem even more hopelessly out of touch and reactionary, revealing an attitude that clings desperately to the past and fears change, even when that change promises to reconnect us with the most fundamental and universal principle of justice and respect for all. And I believe justice will ultimately prevail in the end.
