ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Have a Cow
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Cognitive dissonance is sadly very real with this bunch. Great cartoon!
Have you ever wondered why we treat certain animals like friends and others like commodities or food? For example, dogs and cats are considered members of the family, but we slaughter and eat cows and pigs. Because we think there is a distinction between the animals we love and the ones we eat, we do not think twice about what has to happen to cows, chicken and pigs before they arrive on our plates as food.
In her TED talk, Harvard educated psychologist Dr. Melanie Joy explores the reasons why we are disgusted by the thought of eating Golden Retriever, but happily enjoy beef, pork and chicken. All animals are equally sentient beings, but because we think that eating farmed animals for meat is, “normal, natural and necessary,” we never question our choice to mass slaughter and eat them.
By looking into how our society has normalized the consumption of meat, Joy contends that we all have a choice to remove ourselves from this cruelty, but the first step is awareness. Thinking critically and carefully about the roles we’ve assigned farmed animals versus our pets, we can see beyond the constructs of “carnism” and work towards a more compassionate future.
Here is a link to her talk, which is well worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VrZPBskpg
Melanie Joy is bursting through open doors with her “revelation” that all cultures, including our own, put animals into different categories. Those we eat or from which we get milk, eggs or other products, vs. those we view as pets, vs. those which may be viewed as work animals, vs. those we may find find variously cuddly or frightening and repulsive, are all placed in categories that are mostly culturally and/or religiously determined. These categories vary dramatically across cultures and geography. There is nothing remotely new or revelatory in this. Why should realizing this and acknowledging this fact be a catalyst in anyone experiencing a “paradigm shift” in terms of what they choose to eat?
this captures the hypocrisy that is evident in MANY dog and cat rescue organizations. People were upset that they couldn’t bring in dead animals to eat at an…. animal shelter? bowsers, wowsers…
Molton nailed it! Kudos
Some people will sometimes mistake simple irony or even what they may see as a contradiction, as hypocrisy, when it is nothing of the sort. If one is vegan based on some kind of self-selected moral principle (that all killing or consumption of animals is wrong), then yes, eating a bologna sandwich, whether at an animal shelter or otherwise, could be considered hypocritical. However, if someone who is not vegan, chooses to have a tuna sandwich while volunteering at the same shelter (where, by the way, they are likely feeding cats tuna) then what’s the problem?
As it applies to Molton’s cartoon, and the real world circumstances behind it, the simple truth is that a number of volunteers and general supporters of Brother Wolf did end up feeling alienated because of the sophomoric moralism that was increasingly evident at the organization. This was not good for the organization or the animals. If there is going to be a vegan ideological purity test applied prior to volunteering or offering financial support to the organization, then make that evident right up front. Don’t accept the help and then require that they deal with your reductionist and simplistic moral superiority.
Great representation of how upset omnivores get with vegans because of their guilt, embarrassment and hypocrisy. Their inability to reconcile their positions on what animals they eat and what animals they save and care for is astounding!
Wonderful. You remain a “true believer” and start an animal rescue organization that is “of, by and for” vegans only. And don’t admit or accept any support from any of those half-hearted vegetarians please, much less an (ugh!) “omnivore”! You will remain pure in your sanctimonious piety, and the animals you claim to value will suffer the consequences. Talk about hypocrisy.
I was commenting on the hostile interactions between carnivores(is that better?) and vegans. I was not talking about the animal shelter. Thank you for making my point.
I love the fact that the liberal women in most of these cartoons are portrayed as so unattractive: shapeless bodies, stringy hair, big noses, big glasses, buck teeth; promoting the stereotype that women cannot be both beautiful and intellectual, and that only “ugly losers” have the ability to be high-minded.
If a politically conservative cartoonist, especially a MALE one, did this, he would be pilloried, but Molton gets a free ride, presumably because of his liberal credentials.
This on top of the fact that his cartoons are so bad that he has to spell out what they mean with dialogue. How does this talentless hack stay employed?
I suggest you search YouTube for vegan videos and see how hostile many (not all) of them can be — especially when one of their own leaves the diet due to failing health.
It seems that vegans care more for the welfare of the animals than for the health of their fellow humans. I would hope vegans would care AT LEAST as much for humans as animals, but this doesn’t always appear to be the case. But, there’s certainly anger and hate in any number of groups of people — vegans, carnivores, omnivores, republicans, democrats, etc., etc. I think George Carlin had a good point when he talked about individual people being okay, but when a few of them gather and start wearing the same hat or shirt, that’s when the troubles begin.
Today, some diets have become like religions. Some, I’d say, are more like cults. To my knowledge, there’s never been an indigenous society that was vegan. Today, we have people feeding their carnivore pets (dogs, cats) processed foods containing grains and vegetables. There’s been people who abuse animals by placing them on unnatural diets and forcing their own morality onto their pets with disastrous results (death).
Are humans REQUIRED to eat animals to survive? I think the answer is clearly “No.” But, there’s a difference between surviving and thriving. If one has to take numerous supplements to avoid deficiency and disease, then I’d question whether that’s an optimal diet. But, that’s just me. I don’t care what people do or eat. In the grand scheme of things, nothing really matters.
Vegan activists win arguments because they make points that are so inconceivably stupid that no one can argue or try to reason with them.