Regets William Regets Professor Drumm English 111 10/10/2013

Respond and Critique Final Draft

Eating meat has been going on since the beginning of time and will never end. Animal, Vegetable, Miserable was written by Gary Steiner on November 22, 2009, The Sunday before Thanksgiving. Coincidence? I think not. Mr. Steiner knew exactly what he was doing. Publishing this piece five days before the biggest meateating day of the year. He wanted to draw attention, raise controversy, and he succeeded. He simply cannot call the rest of the human race ignorant for eating animals and enjoying it, and to not feel bad afterwards. First of all, eating meat has some very beneficial health benefits that will improve your overall well-being. Steiners article is extremely biased and misinformative. How can intelligent people who purport to be deeply concerned with animal welfare and respectful of life turn a blind eye to such practices. (Pg. 5). Steiner is insinuating that people who eat meat are not intelligent, when, in reality, that is not the case. Beef provides many nutrients and vitamins that suit our daily needs, such as iron, protein, zinc, and B- vitamins. Beef also has healthy fats that are good for the heart. Chicken has all of your daily amino acid requirements. Most meats have protein. Protein is a must if you want to build muscle and have energy. We grow up in a culture where eating meat is the norm. We get a bucket of chicken for the Super Bowl, turkey on Thanksgiving, and a ham on Christmas. We grow up used to eating meat. And thats not a bad thing, either. That is how we, humans, have grown to do ever since the dawn of humanity. We have adapted to living off meat, because it nourishes us with all of our bodys nutrients and vitamins needed to survive. Steiner believes that animals should be treated the same as humans, with rights and with respect. I agree that animals should be treated humanely and with respect, but they should not have the same rights as humans do. Its just silly. Think about that when youre picking out your free range turkey, which has absolutely nothing to be

Regets thankful for on Thanksgiving, (Pg.7) implying that turkeys feel they should celebrate Thanksgiving? Thats just really strange. Steiner quoted Jeremy Bentham saying, Because animals are incapable of abstract thought, they are imprisoned in an eternal present, have no sense of the extended future and hence cannot be said to have an interest in continued existence(pg.6). This is especially true with farm animals. Steiners basically insinuates that all humans and animals are the same. I agree with Jeremy. Its strange because its a wild animal, they dont have a moral compass. They dont have the same brain as humans, therefore they dont think like us, or act like us. Steiner did do something right. He got people talking about the issue, something he obviously cares deeply about. You face quite a few social difficulties as well, perhaps the chief one being how one should feel about spending time with people who are not vegans (Pg.7). Imagine being the only one at the dinner table not being able to animal products. Vegans, Im sure get asked about it every time they eat. Questions like why cant you eat that? Do you think youre morally superior to the rest of us? That must get tiring, having to go thru that everyday. I for one do not care if someone is a vegan. That is their choice, and I respect that. I dont look at someone differently for not eating meat. In fact I give them all the credit in the world for being able to resist the social pressures in a meat- crazed society. Being a strict ethical vegan is something that I cant even fathom doing for one day, let alone a lifetime. This article was written in 2009, and we are still talking about it, four years after the fact. I do not agree with his opinions, thoughts, and his tone with meat-eaters; I do, however, respect his opinions. Steiner knew he wasnt going to change everyones minds about eating meat with just this article. He believed that if he only changed one persons mind, then he did his job. If he made one family choose something else besides turkey on Thanksgiving, then it was worth all the flack he got for writing this piece. Steiner calls meat-eaters ignorant and dumb for eating meat. Killing animals is going to happen no matter what we do. If you want to plant and harvest crops, then you are destroying a land where animals once inhabited. Animals eat other animals. Why? To survive; it is the law of the jungle, which simply means every

Regets man for himself. I dont think that before a cheetah attacks a zebra in the jungle he stops and thinks to himself that he shouldnt do that because the zebra has feelings or is just plain wrong for killing something. Why is that? Its because if he doesnt kill that animal, then he will starve and die. Be the hunter or be the hunted.

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Works Cited
Steiner, Gary. Animal, Vegetable, Miserable. Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the Century. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. 5-7. Print. 21st