A few weeks ago I went to a friend’s barbecue. All the staples were there: a swimming pool, burgers, beer, tofu dogs… Tofu dogs? Yeah, tofu dogs.
The “not-dogs” were provided to accommodate a friend of a friend, who happened to be vegetarian.
Being the curious guy that I am, I struck up a conversation with her about her decision to forego meat.
There were no epic revelations in what she told me. Her main issue is with the treatment of animals in the meat industry.
Asked whether one person’s eating habits actually make any difference, she shrugs and simply says that she can’t, in good conscience, contribute to the suffering of animals.
She didn’t take the PETA approach of equating animals to humans or chicken farms to concentrations camps.
She didn’t demonize those who eat meat, and even expressed tacit approval for obtaining meat through more humane methods, like hunting.
Yes, I had a tofu dog and it tasted like a roasted mouse pad, but what really stuck with me was a lingering sense that my vegetarian friend-of-a-friend has something right; she’s wrestled more seriously with a question I’ve preferred to pass on.
The “meat is murder” arguments of radical vegans are easy enough to disregard if you disagree with their basic premise: that eating animals is unethical, period.
Many people, myself included, believe like any other omnivore that it’s natural and morally neutral for us to eat meat.
But maybe being OK with eating animals doesn’t have to mean turning a blind eye to the way they are treated before reaching our plates.
I’ve never been to a factory farm and I have no idea how to tell whether or not the chicken I get from Wendy’s or the bacon I have for breakfast led a miserable, agonizing life.
But maybe the decent thing to do is find out; an ignorant conscience is not morally equivalent to a clear one.
Recent proposed legislation in Iowa, Florida and Minnesota seems intended to keep the consumers in the dark about abuses in the meat industry by making it illegal to produce, distribute or possess undercover pictures and videos taken inside slaughterhouses and agricultural facilities.
This is not exactly confidence inspiring for somebody who would like to think such facilities have nothing to hide.
But short of starting your own farm or getting all of your meat from hunting, what alternatives are there for somebody who doesn’t want to go vegetarian?
One is to buy meat and dairy items with a Certified Humane Raised and Handled label.
Endorsed by the Humane Society, this label guarantees a higher standard of treatment from birth to slaughter, including providing more than just a cage for the animals to live in.
Of course, whether meat with this label was treated humanely enough is up for debate, but confronting such questions is the right thing to do.
There’s plenty of middle ground between pure veganism and indifferent carnivorousness. Each of us would probably draw the line somewhere different, but only through informing ourselves can we be sure that our behavior comports with our sense of decency.
If you apply your mind to this issue rather than disengaging because it’s uncomfortable, you might find nasty not-dogs more tasteful than Ballpark Franks.
Reach the columnist at dcolthar@asu.edu
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