Same old, same old when encountering militant meaties

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

If TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stuck to the mission of trying to persuade meat-eaters to eat only ethically-raised animals and even keep their own livestock for the table, reared well and allowed to live natural happy lives before being humanely killed, then this topic on the River Cottage forums wouldn’t, perhaps, have become so heated. Conscientious meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans alike can at least surely unite behind such an aim. The less suffering there is, the better.

Unfortunately, though, while I am 100 per cent behind Hugh’s Chicken Out campaign, it irritates me a bit that Hugh is not only an evangelist for the ethical raising and killing of animals, but also, it really seems, for the consumption of meat by just about everyone. He has said, for example, that if you’re going to keep chickens in the garden for their eggs, then why not eat the chickens as well?

I can think of many reasons not to eat the chickens, actually.

It’s true that the in-the-process-of-becoming-ex-vegetarian on his current TV show approached his researchers wanting to start eating meat. Personal choices are what they are, and we all have the right to change our minds, adopt new ideas, go back to old ones, and so on and so forth. We all, every one of us, have the right to be inconsistent, and hypocritical, and in the eyes of others deranged and confused and stupid. Such is life. People are imperfect and never, ever fixed in their views for all time unless they’ve turned to stone.

But it’s the enthusiastic advocacy by Hugh of meat-eating without much if any acknowledgement that there is Another Way, with his public persona on TV at least, that raises hackles for many. Hugh undoubtedly and wholly inadvertently also risks offending those whose religious beliefs demand abstinence from some or all meat and meat by-products. He seems to have a blind side. There’s no doubt he’s a decent and kind chap who wants to see a better world come about. He doesn’t intend to cause any upset at all, and his work on the Chicken Out campaign deserves a medal.

The nation would be in uproar, however, if we had an Islamic chef on prime-time TV talking up halal butchery.

And in the forums there’s some evidence of aggressive, and at times thuggish, omnivores on a mission to convert those of us holding onto apparently ‘childish’ philosophies, and see the need to defend their consumption of meat against anyone who holds a different view on eating animals, and you have a recipe for some classic online bullying and intimidation tactics, as well as a hefty dose of boring and hackneyed anti-vegetarian arguments. For example, plants are alive, so why do you eat plants? Per-lease. It’s all hot air, playground crappery, and flame-baiting. It serves no real purpose.

Egos are strange things and can, for some, easily be reinforced through a few hours spent poking virtual sticks at other people online. They waste their time with me. I will never go ‘ow’ in a public forum, sorry, but no way. Get your kicks on Route 66 instead.

And yes, I’ve tried to intervene thereon but it’s like trying to hold down an injured cat while you apply some healing cream: you’re not always thanked for your efforts, and you’ll likely get scratched to buggery. So my views on militant meaties—my new term for them, as I have only recently decided I dislike the way ‘veggie’ as a word reduces my food ethics to a soundbite, so I’m striking back with the same kind of diminuation—have been sadly but not surprisingly reinforced. My views on conscientious meat-eaters are as positive as ever. I’m with them, even if we don’t eat the same things at table…

The Internet can change views, of course. But it can also make the divisions between people more obvious as well. All that said, I’m pleased to say that there are also many sane and thoroughly nice, decent people posting on the topic in question, and one can only hope sanity—and the recognition of those goals we share—will win the day. Because, out there in the real world, we need more people uniting behind the banner of ‘less suffering, better food, better lives for people and animals’.

And maybe, just maybe, Hugh could think about doing a TV series all about vegetarian cuisine. Now, that would be a way of addressing the perceived gap in his public presentations! I am sure, him being a chef, he has as much appreciation of vegetables and fruit as he does meat, fish and chicken…

categories: animals, healthy planet, rattle bag