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Omnivorous Blindness

1K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  amaroque 
#1 ·
I was watching a show on TV today (Come Dine With Me, the Brits will know it) and somebody on there said how fur is cruel, while tucking into some flesh. I used to be exactly the same, thinking fur trade shouldn't be legal but thinking it was perfectly fine to eat meat.

Why could I not see that both practises are equally reprehensible? Is there some part of the brain that is shut off from equating livestock reared for food, and cute fluffy animals?

It's strange, and it was a moment at which it all clicked for me, the point of no return.

Has this happened to anybody else? Do any of you look back at your attitudes as an omnivore and wonder why you were like that?
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by holnrew View Post

i was watching a show on tv today (come dine with me, the brits will know it) and somebody on there said how fur is cruel, while tucking into some flesh. I used to be exactly the same, thinking fur trade shouldn't be legal but thinking it was perfectly fine to eat meat.

Why could i not see that both practises are equally reprehensible? Is there some part of the brain that is shut off from equating livestock reared for food, and cute fluffy animals?

It's strange, and it was a moment at which it all clicked for me, the point of no return.

Has this happened to anybody else? Do any of you look back at your attitudes as an omnivore and wonder why you were like that?
allllll the time!
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by holnrew View Post

Do any of you look back at your attitudes as an omnivore and wonder why you were like that?
Yes and no. I realize that we are all taught values by others in our lives and since others ate meat, I did too. But there were vegetarians in my life for at least a few years before I became vegetarian (and then later, vegan) and I do wonder why I would laugh at them instead of understanding the logic of what they were saying. (Although one was a pescetarian and his argument made no sense at all. lol.)
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by froggythefrog View Post

I think I always felt eating meat was wrong, but thought it was a necessary evil.
Me too. That is the attitude of most omnivores I know, they eat meat but they don't want to think about how it gets to their plates and they think it is "natural" to eat animals because of the food chain. Eating dairy isn't cruel because no animal is being killed for it and we need to drink milk for calcium. Leather isn't cruel because it is a by-product from animals that already are being killed for food. Wearing fur is unnecessary and therefore cruel. I used to think all this too. These attitudes are so dominant in society that it isn't surprising that vegetarians and vegans are still such a minority. It is quite difficult to break out of the values that have been instilled over a lifetime.
 
#9 ·
I guess it's because they view fur as unnecessary, and 'food' as necessary. I used to think certain things were wrong and not others. I agree... it's like the brain just clicks. It just sucks that some peoples will never 'click' like ours have
 
#10 ·
Omnivore blindness.

This is rather ironic, as this JUST occurred between my omni boyfriend and myself. He noted how unhealthy my diet was as I exclude meat. On the contrary, I proved how unhealthy his diet was because he does eat meat. When I went into just a bit of the health facts related to not eating meat his blinders went up. All the words I said went into one ear and out the other. Sure honey, deny the truth.

I would suppose it's a mechanism omni's have. Just shut-up, don't think about it, and shove that bloody rare piece of animal muscle down your throat. Just keep eating it, and think of how good it tastes instead of thinking of the facts.

My favorite facts about veg*n-ism could not be disputed by him, and he became enraged. I told him about all the steroids the animals have injected into them, told him about the extreme brutal cruelty done on the farms, and lastly just of the health benefits [often times, all three are related!] of being vegetarian. And that's certainly only to name a few.

I would suppose my main thing about Omni's is the fact that they do not consume meat the way we are supposed to. Humans are hunter-gatherers. You go out, kill a mastadon, and feed yourself and your tribe for quite a while. Instead, animals are being mass murdered in the most cost-efficient way all the while doing it for omni's to eat their bloody hunk of meat....Buon Apetit!!

I personally feel like being a Veg only makes you a better person!
 
#11 ·
I agree with One as to unnecessary and "necessary". I was a cute-fuzzy-endangered animal lover and a recycling "save the earth"-er while I was an omni. I was raised in a meat-eating family and always assumed that my parents knew best... that meat was a necessary evil. Once I started reading and found out about factory farming, I went veg. Then I was a blind vegetarian for many, many years before it truly sunk in that eating cheese, eggs, and dairy was just as bad for the animals as eating meat. Some people wake up and face the facts while others would rather stay blind out of "tradition" or habit or just to satisfy their tastebuds.
 
#12 ·
Funny you should mention smoking, it is the only thing I can compare it to. When you smoke you justify all these reasons why you smoke, my reasons were that it helps with my anxiety and relaxes me. Then I found out that it did the opposite, made anxiety worse and I found myself out of excuses and had to face up to the fact I was addicted and I was damaging my health.

There must be an evolutionary reason for your mind to just shut off like that.
 
#14 ·
I was watching "Alone in the Wild" with my mother earlier and the chap on their shot a porcupine to eat, she said it was cowardly to do that because he had a gun and the creature was slow... but she had ribs in the oven.

How can she think it's cruel and unkind to kill and eat a wild porcupine when she eats animals that are imprisoned from birth and raised specifically to be eaten?

There are so many occasions on which I want to say things to people, but I know it would just make them angry because they're in denial.

Other recent examples have included my brother in law saying "children should eat lots of meat, meat is good for you" (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary), my sister saying how letting a helium filled balloon float away outside "could kill a turtle", while tucking into a meal for which several chickens had died...

I used to be a bit like that and feel so much better now my eyes are opened. However, I really want to share the good feeling and clear conscience I have but can't because I'll get accused of being a preachy vegetarian and will make people resent me because they don't want to face facts.
 
#15 ·
My dad is exactly the same, what annoys me is when omni's are dead set about animal cruelty and say they love them and everything and then go and eat a load of meat. When I said I was going to go vegan my dad said I should go omni instead. Whenever he says that I feel physically sick at the thought of ever eating meat.
 
#17 ·
I think what gets me most is that most humans don't realise that we are also animals. It's like we are something completely different and unique, and everything else (animals and plants) has been put on earth for our use. We are unique in that we are more advanced in many ways. But we are still just another species... **** sapien. I often wonder why people don't imagine what it would be like if there were another species, more advanced than us. One that could not understand our language, and that decided we were a good source of protein and farmed us. Imagine the horror...
 
#18 ·
"We're top of the food chain"

I hate that one, we're not. We just have tools which aid killing. If we were actually top of the food chain we needn't fear bears, wolves, big cats etc.

I also hate "if we weren't supposed to eat animals they wouldn't taste of meat". Even if you enjoy the taste of meat it's really selfish to continue to take lives just to satisfy your palate.

What really bothers me is that I used to subscribe slightly to that way of thinking, I thought I'd be able to kill my own meat and stuff (when in reality I've cried from killing flies), I saw animals get killed for meat on TV (which was far removed from the actual slaughterhouse process) and felt comfortable with it.

I'm just glad I opened my eyes.
 
#19 ·
I used to teach science and we would have the kids dissect rats. Some kids expressed concern about the rats and I would always assure them that the rats died so they could learn and be better stewards of the Earth.

I can't imagine doing that now.

As a side note: Its always interesting to me how kids always seem to know what's right and recognize BS when they hear it. What happens to us when we become adults?
 
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