We Need to Eat Less Meat, But Rigid Perfection is Not The Answer
Veganism isn’t for everybody, and in some ways it can make matters worse
Jainism is an interesting religion. Jains practice ahimsa, which means non-violence. And this non-violence doesn’t just mean no karate-chopping people on the subway, it’s no hurting anything, ever. Jains, for instance, are known to carry small brooms around, so that they can sweep the ground in front of them, lest they step on an ant as they walk.
But ants aren’t the smallest things. We all know that there are smaller creatures out there, microscopic. Creatures you breathe in and out, that live inside you. What about those living things? If Jains have an answer for how to keep such tiny beings safe, I don’t know it.
Vegans hold beliefs which raise similar questions. For instance, the core tenet: eating animals and animal products is wrong, no matter what. But what about the yeast used in making vegan bread? Yeast is a living thing!
No, the living thing needs to have consciousness... Okay, but what is consciousness? How do we define it? And now we’re into a philosophical debate.
Why some groups stay small
Absolutism has problems. For one, we live in an increasingly adversarial, polarized culture that’s averse to compromise. More intolerance is not the answer. For another, any one-size-fits-all solution is going to run into problems very quickly. Adaptability is key. Absolutism gets caught up defending itself, justifying itself, which can obfuscate the more important point — like reducing meat consumption! We spend all our time arguing about the abstract reasoning behind eating or not eating meat, defining the boundaries, and we miss the real, practical elements: eating less meat!
We can’t afford to be absolutist about eating meat when it has any chance of hurting the cause of reducing consumption — and it does. People tend to see vegans as privileged, intolerant, elitist, or perhaps even crazy due to their poor health or nutrition. Perhaps more importantly, psychological studies show that changing hearts and minds does not work through moralizing or being absolutist. Especially not in today’s world.
