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Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society, Inc.
38 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, New York 12572 USA -
845-876-2626
Vegetarian - Vegan - Animal Rights - Health - Nutrition - Environment
The mission of the Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society, Inc. is to promote the vegetarian ethic in the Mid-Hudson (New York) region, educate the community and aid anyone in the pursuit of a totally vegetarian (vegan) cruelty-free and healthful lifestyle.
Newsletters
2003 SPECIAL SUMMER HEALING ISSUE
Letters to the Editor
In response to Special Issue: Recipes for Peace
I am writing about the cover story in the last Vegetarian Society's newsletter. It was a good thing that Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz writing were "collected after Americans liberated Dachau." But to "liberate" the suffering people in Iraq is not?
Writers can now reveal the truth about life in Iraq. The stories can now, thanks to the brave Americans (again) be told. The liberation of all living under brutal oppressive regimes is what I pray for, when I pray for peace. There seems to be an assumption that somehow if a "different" political power were in the White House that the outcomes would be preferable.
The majority of Americans do support the current administration's actions in Iraq, and are far from blind to the realities it represents. It reminds us that some things are worth fighting for.It is my job, as a vegetarian and chef, to introduce people to previously unthinkable food alternatives. Stereotypes are often a barrier for non-vegetarians in consuming, and learning more in-depth about, vegetarianism. It is made more difficult when vegetarian ethics are irresponsibly portrayed in polarizing political agendas. Last month's newsletter opened with "Our government's killing behemoth has been activated" implying that the United States lustfully undertakes the dreadful actions necessary to free the writers in Iraq that we may be blessed to quote one day. I am sad that anyone thinks that of me, and all other Americans who do support the liberation of Iraq.
It is my hope that polarizing political agendas are not a trend for the Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society. I have for years enjoyed events where many open-minded discussions occur between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in the Hudson Valley at Vegetarian Society gatherings. For diverse points of view to exist respectfully… Equals peace.
Respectfully,
Susan Wolfe-HillEditor's Response:
We received many e-mails and phone calls about the cover article in the Spring 2003 issue of Vegetarian Viewpoints. All but Susan Wolfe-Hill's were congratulatory. The Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society values and encourages open discussion of the many sensitive issues surrounding a person's choice to lead a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. We are aware that people become vegetarians for their own reasons, which does not obligate them to any political agenda. For this reason, we do not consider our newsletter to be a venue for any particular political position.
Although the opening sentence of the article Recipes for Peace uses strong language, it is not meant to imply, as Ms. Wolfe-Hill writes, that we believe that the United States "lustfully" undertook the actions that resulted in deaths. The article analogizes killing during wars (including the Nazi regime), and racist abuses, with the desensitization process humans assume against those who are different (the "other"), and compares this with society's desensitization to killing in factory farms. The point of the article is that vegetarianism is a recipe for peace because it does not involve the killing or abuse of sentient beings.
Please feel free to write to us with your views on the issues.
Sincerely,
Constance Young
Editor
Return to 2003 SPECIAL SUMMER HEALING ISSUE
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