I've read enough articles and seen plenty of footage that make it clear that our livestock is treated worse than I'd ever thought possible. If you want to see if for yourself go look it up because I'm not gonna explain the horrible shit I'm talking about. The point is that these animals are abused their entire lives before suffering a torturous death.
I've never been against the idea of eating animals but I am against animal abuse and I just don't know how I can tell if the chicken I'm eating was treated well or not. I'm sure there are higher-end brands of meat that are stamped with a seal of approval but they're sure to carry a steep price tag.
Then I consider all the steroids and crap that's squeezed into these animals to maximize their output. And what about all the preservatives and dyes and other chemical crap we're eating every day? Scientists can't find the causes of cancer? You're fucking eating unnatural chemicals every day! We don't need to spend billions researching a cure if we can just stop giving ourselves the disease.
This applies to non-meat food as well. It sucks. I'd really prefer to eat something that I know isn't harmful but the stuff that claims to be, again, is much more expensive.
People always talk about the things they'd do if they were rich. One of my top concerns would be hiring a vegan chef. Hopefully it'd be a chick and I could just marry her eventually to save some money. I have a feeling a personal vegan chef is pricey.
So yah. This isn't the first time I've considered vegetarianism. One of the main issues I've had with it is the idea of becoming a scrawny, malnourished guy. I remember reading an article about how Toby McGuire took forever to bulk up for Spiderman because he's a vegetarian.
But then, as I spoke with a friend about this last night, I realized that all the most badass animals on the planet are vegetarians. Gorillas, rhinos, hippos, etc. Sure, lions and gators are tough but could they take on an elephant? Could a Great White take on a Blue Whale? Doubt it. As long as I ate enough of the right stuff (peanutbutter, spinach, granola, yogurt.. all that shit is fantastic for you) I'll be alright.
Some more things that have me considering this change are two instances where I've heard vegetarianism being lauded by scientists as a superior lifestyle. Once was in a speculative documentary on what aliens might be like. It was claimed that they'd be 'less physically powerful but significantly more intelligent from having realized the benefits of a vegetarian diet.' That's cool and all. Brains over braun any day. But remember that I want both.
The second quote is much more meaningful. Some guy named Einstein said "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." The fact that he called it an 'evolution' rather than a 'switch' really caught my attention.
And when you think about it he has a great point. All life relies on other life for survival. We can't keep pumping hormones into cattle forever. Our population is getting larger and sicker all the time and our livestock won't be able to keep up. We'll end up making more animals extinct than we already have.
So I don't know. I need to do more thinking about it.
