We received a large volume of letters in response to Philip Dawdy's cover story "Two Sides of Beef," Trevor Griffey's article "The Knock on Nader," and Knute Berger's Mossback column "Come Ride in My Corvair!" Below are many letters that did not run in this week's print edition.
What exactly was the point of Philip Dawdy's article on those "morally superior" vegans and vegetarians ["Two Sides of Beef," Feb. 25]? To reinforce his manliness and insensitivity upon seeing animals dismembered before his eyes? How nice that he feels so satisfied about his dietary choices, but he blatantly ignored that most of the world eats far less animal products than Americans and that Americans suffer from disease and obesity directly resulting from all that meat and dairy. Did I mention the environmental degradation the animal industries impose on our planet? Other than Dawdy's charming account of the slaughterhouse tour, he hasn't done much research.
Diane Venberg
Seattle
First, I would like to thank Dawdy for taking the time to visit a slaughterhouse and a dairy farm as research. I find it unfortunate, however, that he only explores how some cows are treated. I realize that Dawdy had limitations on the length of his article, but to completely ignore pigs and barely mention chickens strikes me as a bit irresponsible.
I find it interesting that Dawdy quotes me as saying that I don't understand "people who know all the issues," when he seems to understand only one of the reasons people decide to stop eating animals. Pretty much every vegetarian and vegan I know decided to kick the meat habit for a different reason. Some do it for health reasons, some environmental, and some simply because they love animals. Many environmentalists don't eat meat because they know that the animal agriculture industry is the second largest source of pollution.
I am also not sure where Dawdy got the idea that vegetarians and vegans cut themselves off socially from meat-eaters. Many of my friends are meat-eaters. My entire family eats meat. I still sit down at the table with all of them.
I thank Dawdy for exploring the issue. I just wish he had done a more complete job of it. And by the way, I rode 3,960 miles on my ride (not the 3,600 cited by Dawdy).
Rachel Bjork
Outreach Coordinator,
Northwest Animal Rights
Network, Seattle
Philip Dawdy might have missed a few things about vegetarianism. I am a vegetarian and have been for 21 years, since I was 7. I stand 6 foot and am reasonably muscled and trim. I chose to become a vegetarian on my own accord. My innocent mind knew clearly that it was a morally wrong thing to eat animals as soon as I was told where "meat" comes from. I put the word "meat" in quotation marks because I believe that "meat"-eaters and especially the industry that supplies them practice denial. When a child is fed, how often does that child ask what this is and where did it come from? Almost never. At a very early age, people develop habits that will stay with them for a lifetime. I think this is especially true about eating habits. I've spoken to thousands of people about the animals that I don't eat, and, more often than not, when I speak about their food as what it is, people are disgusted and prefer to not think about where it comes from. Most of them would never actually kill an animal themselves. The whole thing is quite abstract for many. Blood is juice, flesh is meat, animals are food. This is all brainwashing on a subtle and societal scale.The reality is that meat is dead animals, people don't need to eat dead animals to be healthy ( in fact veg is quite obviously healthier), and vegetarian food is delicious and satisfying.
Yes, to be vegan is to eat delicious food and to feel satisfied. If the vegan meal Dawdy had was not that way, that is the fault of the cooks. I cook wonderful food and have for years. Tofu is not the only resource for protein. And as soon as your big, fat fat-lovin' body adjusts to less fat, then not only do you not miss the fat but it seems very undesirable to eat so much of it. A vegan body feels efficient and clean, and one is more energetic and looks better and feels better. Is cannibalism wrong? Is evolution fact? Are you eating distant evolutionary second cousins? All of the smartest people in history have been vegetarian. Einstein, Socrates, da Vinci, Ghandi, Van Gogh, the Buddha, Thoreau, Tolstoy, John, Paul, George, Ringo, Jefferson. . . . I am not a greasy, dreaded, Nader-lovin' douche bag. Most vegetarians aren't. Having compassion doesn't make one a hippie. A VW bus, a bong with a first name, and a huge collection of Phish shows on tape does.
Zachary B. Harjo
Seattle
I'm not a vegetarian, but I haven't eaten beef or pork since the early '90s and it's highly unlikely, if not impossible, that I'll ever eat beef or pork products again. In most cases, I choose to purchase poultry and dairy products wisely because I don't want to support unnecessary suffering of anything that I choose to eat.
