From Animal-Loving Child to Meat-Loving Adult - Why Do We Lose Our Compassion?

I've always been an animal-lover. I was very young when I decided to become vegetarian, and loved to draw pictures of animals. I made anti-animal cruelty posters and stickers spouting slogans such as "Animals aren't hurting you, so why do you hurt them?"

I was aware of the mistreatment of animals from a young age. This was both good and bad for me. On one hand, I was able to recognise why it was bad to eat meat, but on the other hand, I was very confused about why most people ate it anyway. Many of my friends and their parents seemed to be animal lovers too. They all had dogs and cats and fish and birds, and they loved them, cuddled them, and treated them like family. They thought lambs and piglets and bunnies were adorable. So, I thought, if they loved animals so much, why did they chop their delicate bodies into little pieces, pick the pieces up with a fork and shove them into their mouths? It made no sense to me then, and still confuses me to this day.

"If we look at the children's entertainment industry, we can see just how prevalent animals are in their lives. The majority of characters in children's TV shows - especially those made for very young children (5 and under) - are anthropomorphic animals."

If we look at the children's entertainment industry, we can see just how prevalent animals are in their lives. The majority of characters in children's TV shows - especially those made for very young children (5 and under) - are anthropomorphic animals. Peppa Pig, Kipper, My Little Pony, Sesame Street, Looney Tunes, Spongebob Squarepants, Arthur and Franklin the Turtle come to mind. There are many film examples as well: The Lion King, Bambi, Chicken Run, Babe, The Aristocats, The Land Before Time, Shrek, Over the Hedge, Finding Nemo. . . the list goes on.  There are plenty of books out there too. The Berenstain Bears, Charlotte's Web and The Cat in the Hat are just three examples.

All of this just about proves it. Kids love animals! It seems, even, that they see animals as thinking, feeling creatures with unique personalities. The way they are portrayed in children's entertainment demonstrates this idea.

Most of us have fond memories of playing with our childhood pets; heading off on grand adventures, referring to them as our very best friends in the whole world. Many of us would have screamed, kicked and cried at the thought of our animal friends being harmed in any way.

When did she change from "friend" to "food"?

So where did it all go wrong? When did we decide that animals were objects for human use and consumption? When did we stop calling them our best friends?

"When did we decide that animals were objects for human use and consumption? When did we stop calling them our best friends?"

Most people, it seems, were influenced by the culture they grew up in. Their parents ate meat, their grandparents ate meat, their friends and extended family ate meat - so, they thought, it must be normal. To them, animal death may be sad, but it's just the way things are and, in their eyes, there's nothing they can do about it. Perhaps they see it as a "necessary evil." Meat-eating is such an enormous part of our culture - entire holidays seem to revolve around it (i.e. the traditional Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas ham).

And then there's the advertising. In my own country, where (to some) meat-eating is considered an imperative part of Australian culture, there are some very in-your-face advertisements encouraging the Australian population to eat more meat. If you don't eat it, they say, you're un-Australian. You're strange, unusual, not normal. Here's a particularly ridiculous example of one such advertisement:

For many people, it's difficult to stray from "traditional" family dinners of meat-and-three-veg. It's hard to stray from the strongly-ingrained ideas that meat, dairy and eggs are necessary parts of a healthy, balanced diet. Fortunately, however, it's not impossible. We just need to give these people a little bit of "veg-spiration"!

"For many people, it's difficult to stray from 'traditional' family dinners of meat-and-three-veg. It's difficult to stray from the strongly-ingrained ideas that meat, dairy and eggs are necessary parts of a healthy, balanced diet."

Some people, unfortunately, just don't care about animals at all. Eating meat is much more important to them than the lives of animals, and there's not much we can do about that. The majority of people, however, do care about animal suffering. They haven't necessarily lost their childhood compassion - they just haven't yet tried to break free of the idea that meat-eating is necessary for our survival. All these people need is a push or two in the right direction. Education is the best way to go about this - show people recipes, cook for them, help them learn just how healthy and fulfilling a vegan lifestyle can be. Make sure they're aware of the suffering animal products cause - help them remember how they felt about animals before they were lead to believe that meat is a necessity.

People are drawn to animals from an early age. For the most part, we love them, and they love us. Most people could never lay a violent hand on an animal. Most people could never slit a cow's throat or violently castrate a piglet, but this is exactly what many helpless animals must go through to end up on our dinner-plates. If we work together to act compassionately and free these innocent animals from their violent fates, the world will be a much better place for all of us. I guarantee it.

My Response To "Veganism Is a First World Luxury. There, I've said it."

I'm sure most of you have seen the Mamamia article currently doing the rounds on Facebook. It's popped up all over my feed over the past few days. Interestingly enough, I've only seen it shared by vegans who want to discuss how ridiculous it is - I haven't actually seen any posts agreeing with the author. I suppose that goes to show just how incorrect Maya's argument is.

First off, I think it's important to mention that we shouldn't get too worked up about this article. It's just one person's (uniformed) opinion. It doesn't change the fact that veganism is rapidly becoming part of mainstream culture, it doesn't change the fact that new vegan brands, stores and restaurants are popping up, it seems, each and every day.

Essentially, this article is click-bait (as many of Mamamia's articles are). It was intentionally written to stir controversy - and here I am, jumping on the bandwagon and adding more fuel to the fire. Oops!

We should take articles like this with a grain of salt. Although the writer may have been expressing her honest opinion, it's clear that the title and tone of the article were skewed towards two main audiences: vegans and 'anti-vegans'. It was written specifically to ignite maximum "share-worthiness". Vegans will share the post around to encourage other vegans to dispute Maya's claims, while 'anti-vegans' will share the post around to let everyone know just how hypocritical those crazy vegans are!

"Although the writer may have been expressing her honest opinion, it's clear that the title and tone of the article were skewed towards two main audiences: vegans and 'anti-vegans'."

And so, to reiterate: don't take click-bait articles too seriously. If you're happy to take the time to dispute this article like I am about to, go ahead, but it's also totally fine to completely ignore silly stuff like this.

Should we eat meat instead of greens because we're privileged?

Now I've got that out of the way - let's discuss the content of the article itself.

Although the tone of the article is unfairly accusing, it does hold some merit. Being able to choose what you eat is indeed a luxury. Severely impoverished people have little choice in what they eat and drink. Sometimes they must use animal products or risk death. Most of us more privileged folk, on the other hand, have the wonderful benefit of being able to choose what we eat. Now, the author of the Mamamia article seems to suggest that we should feel ashamed about our ability to choose; that we should not choose to do what we feel is right because some people don't have that privilege. Honestly, this is a really silly way to look at things. Why shouldn't we take complete advantage of the choice we have to make the world a better place?

Having enough money to make donations and enough energy to run charity marathons could also be considered "first world luxuries", but the Mamamia article conveniently makes no mention of this. Charity work certainly isn't something we should stop doing simply because we must be privileged in order to do it.

All of this tells us that Mamamia's article is simply a poor attempt to take a stab at vegans. It's a troll article, it's full of misleading information, and we shouldn't concern ourselves too much with it. And I haven't even begun to touch on the fact that the grains used to fatten up farm animals for Western consumption could instead feed the starving people of the world. But that's a different story.

Now, here's an adorable picture of a piglet to lighten the mood:

P.S: Mamamia has posted another article in response to the original post. If you're interested, find it here and please tell me what you think.