Carnism

A few years ago, I was hanging around my living room with family over Christmas break. My sister was home from school, lounging on the couch opposite me, when she asked my dad for some milk. He looked at her, nonplussed. "How old are we, college girl? You're closer to the kitchen than I am." (All this very jokingly of course, he's the opposite of rude) To which she replied, "But I don't like to see the milk poured. It grosses me out."At first, I looked up in complete disbelief, and then burst into laughter. My dad just walked away, shaking his head at such a strange idiosyncrasy. 

Looking back on this instance in light of these readings changes it completely. "We know that meat comes from an animal, but we choose not to connect the dots. And often, we eat animals and choose not to know we're even making a choice." (Anthology 380) This is precisely what my sister was exhibiting, simply on a higher level. Not only was she unconsciously denying the knowledge of where her meat was coming from, but those animals' byproducts as well. Of course I would never accuse my sister of doing this purposefully. Not only that, but I'd never thought I was doing the same thing with meat until recently. 

So for the past few weeks, I've been attempting to become a vegetarian. I'm sure those of you who've gone through this before will understand when I say that it has been extremely difficult thus far. When you break a bone, you never realize how much that tiny bone was used until it hurts every time you move it, or its wrapped in a cast. The very same goes with transitioning from a largely meat-based diet. I had NO idea how much I actually ate it, and how hard it can become to find other options. I've found myself eating PB&J's in my room more and more regularity. Not only that, but it's made me feel somewhat ostracized from my friends, here and at home. I try to subtly suggest restaurants that I know have more vegetarian-friendly menus, and try to avoid talking about food as much as possible. Now, I'm somewhat afraid to go home for spring break, because I know my friends there won't understand. I've found myself making mental concessions for what I will and won't eat. "It is easier by far to conform to the carnistic majority than eschew the path of least resistance." (Anthology 388)

I realize, however, that I'll never be able to go back to eating meat as I did before: carelessly or without scruples. "Nothing can ever be seen in quite the same way again because once you have admitted the terror and pain of other species you will . . . be always aware of the endless permutations of suffering that support our society." (Anthology 403) I'm not quite at a stage where I see animals' faces in my dinner plate, but I can't just see meat either. I hope I can get used to it soon.

found this while searching "ignorance". Not completely relevant, but I thought it was funny.