In response to Otis R.
Taylor Jr's column "In Berkeley, animal rights going straight to the
meat," I concur that the Direct Action Everywhere protesters could find
more effective ways to argue the case against raising, selling, buying, and
eating meat. I see that they didn't
convince Mr. Taylor to forego the pork "sando" he ordered. Sixteen years ago, they wouldn't have
convinced me.
My younger sister,
mother, her partner, and my son all became vegetarians before I did. I believed
that farm animals were raised only for our consumption and that they
romped happily in the field until they were slaughtered. We all had to die eventually, I reasoned, and
the time for them to die was right before they landed on my plate.
My mind and diet weren't
changed by a sign about animal rights that a local butcher was coerced into
putting up.
I became a vegetarian
the day I saw a brochure showing farm animals that never romped happily before
they landed on my plate but were in essence being tortured every moment of
their lives--caged and treated like inanimate objects, as are the vast majority
of farm animals.
I later became a vegan
when I saw evidence that dairy animals aren't treated much better than other
factory animals, not even the ones whose eggs are labeled "Cage
free."
Learning how livestock
contributes to global warming soon strengthened my conviction as did finding
out how delicious vegan dishes can be.
I'd suggest posters conveying more compelling reasons to
give up meat:
--a poster depicting the
torturous conditions in which most farm
animals--including dairy animals-- are kept captive.
--a poster showing the
impact of livestock on the environment
--a poster showing how
much land would be needed to feed meat to the world population if animals were
given the freedom to graze in nature before their slaughter.
--a poster showing how
delicious vegan dishes can be.
