I did not see the issue Christian Hibbert writes about so I can't
judge accurately whether vegetarians were really hateful to
meateaters - I know that I, as a vegan, have none of the
difficulties mentioned by Mr. Hibbert concerning cheese as we vegans
use none. I do have some thoughts about hate and love though, as I
view myself as at least a partial disciple of Gandhi, who counselled
people to love the actor regardless of the action.
The best way to change an action is with loving counsel to the
actor towards better action and away from bad action. As to hate,
Eric Blair (George Orwell) seems to have said it right when he said
that the state required a daily portion of two minutes of it in
order to hold sway over its citizens - perhaps without it a
dictatorship like Blair's feared 1984 could never be. There has to
be a bit of hate, however, in anyone responsible for the killing of
animals - or at least callousness concerning their plight so I would
think that any "meat-eater" might be able to examine this attitude
within towards animals if their own guilt feelings about it would
let them.
These days there is an additional callousness which goes along
with "meat-eating" too and that's the callousness towards one's
companion humans who starve because of the waste involved in feeding
foods to animals fattened for slaughter, when the land growing these
foods could be used by growing crops for people. If "meat-eaters"
really cared for people they would realise that in the hour it takes
them to dine 2,000 humans have starved to death. This might make
them want to eat directly thus using a fraction of the land and food
required by their secondary diets now. As to Mr. Hibbert's proposal
that vegetarians countenance slaughter, it hardly seems worth
mentioning save for the fact that some people really believe that
so-called "humane slaughter" really is the issue when, in fact, it
is merely a justification for flesh eaters to carry on their
activities once the "humane slaughter" conditions are observed. The
fact is that no matter how suavely or sadistically an animal - or a
person - is killed that murder is unjustifiable.
Jews like myself are particularly conscious of this because the
Nazis had a habit of telling us that a "shower bath" awaited us
when, in fact, a gas chamber did. The fact that our people were
transported in "cattle-cars" to the concentration camps is another
striking parallel which would make any thinking human, Jew or
otherwise, reflect upon the very real need for the abolition of all
killing of humans by humans and of animals by humans.
What better way to begin upon such a pacifist journey than with
the day to day decision of the average person to kill - or
countenance killing - for food. No, it doesn't make sense for
vegetarians to work for "humane slaughter" nor would it have made
sense for Jews to work for humane gas chambers. The only way to stop
killing is to stop killing. Anything else is illogical.
Bob Pinkus
New Jersey
USA
The Vegetarian
(January 1976).